In the book Heart of Darkness the white people are coming into Africa and turning the native people into slaves. The reason they are doing this is so they can take the ivory. Even though ivory is white it is a dark trade run by dark hearts. The dark hearts beat the life for the white man, who doesn't care for the natives nor Africa. The ivory, which is the tusks from the African elephant, is feeding the greed of the white man and is causing dispear and death amoung the natives. Africa is a dark continent, the peope are black and the foliage is dense, but the real darkness is the whiteness that has come ashore. The white men have lived up to their name, absent of color, and have darkened the soil of Africa with the blood of the slave native and the elephants. Heart of Darkness is not just a book about a journey up a river to find oneself, it involves the racism and butchery of Africa herself.
An example from the movie Heart of Darkness of the racism is when Marlowe has come ashore for the first time. He is dressed in white while the other white men are either dressed as he or in other light colored clothes. This signifies the white power over the natives, imposing that white is cleaner than black, that white is better and stands out more. All the natives are working their hardest while the white men in their white suits stand over and watch. As Marlowe stands on the dock a native comes over and calls his name. Marlowe is shakened by this black man who knows his name and is calling his friends to take his bags. Dressing up in this suit also signifies what the white men want out of Africa. They are looking for the "white gold" ivory to feed their greed.