Can We Be Compassionate and Angry About Anti-Black Racism in Ukraine?

I wanted to write something profound and helpful about the situation Black people are facing in Ukraine right now. I wanted to provide some context about the racism Black people are dealing with as they try to flee for their lives as Russian troops attack the country. I wanted to write something that would offer up a way to explain what was happening and how we should be thinking about this tragedy heaped upon horror.

But I’m not an expert on events in Ukraine or on Blackness in Eastern Europe. So, I can’t offer a deeply researched think piece. But I am a pretty good curator of information, and I always have an opinion when it comes to Black people in a multicultural world. So, here’s my take about the situation in Ukraine.

Black People Are Literally Being Treated Worse than Animals in Ukraine

The situation in Ukraine is obviously devastating. Vladimir Putin has gone on record saying he will do whatever it takes to take over Ukraine, regardless of the cost of human life and material destruction. The people of Ukraine are literally grabbing what they can and running for the borders to escape the bombing and attacks by Russian forces. But Black people in Ukraine are facing obstacles to getting free.

From a March 3, 2022 report from the Brookings Institute

“There are many reports of Black people being refused at border crossings in favor of white Ukrainians, leaving them stuck at borders for days in brutal conditions. Ukraine stated they would first allow women and children on trains and transport out of the country to flee the Russian invasion. However, it seems they meant Ukrainian and European women and children. Videos show Black people being pushed off trains and Black drivers being reprimanded and stalled by Ukrainians as they try to flee. There are even reports of animals being allowed on trains before Africans.”

Please read the rest of that report from The Brookings Institute to understand the current plight of Black people in Ukraine -Black Africans, Europeans, Americans – as well as the history of Black migration to Ukraine. FYI, 20 percent of Ukraine’s international university population is African.

Media Bias Against Black People Is Nothing New… But it’s Still Shameful

Who gets to be the face of war? Apparently it’s not a Black or Brown face for the western media.

In addition to the racism and prejudice against the Black people in Ukraine, another ugly reminder of the world’s anti-Black bias that we continue to see in the reports coming out of Ukraine, is the false narrative that white Europeans are “too civilized” to be at war. Unlike their Black and Brown “third-world” counterparts who somehow are more cut out for having their countries bombed and attacked by “first-world” countries. Over and over again, mainstream news outlets are commenting on how this war in Ukraine is so devastating because these are “white middle-class people” being harmed. In other words, when Black and Brown people are being harmed – see all of the recent attacks in the Middle East – then it’s not so bad?

From a March 4, 2022 opinion piece by Moky Makura on CNN:

“ CBS, Aljazeera, France’s BFM TV and ITV have all reported the invasion in ways that illustrate deep bias, informed by a belief system that screams of an old-world, White-led, order.

ITV News correspondent Lucy Watson on ITV reporting back to the studio summed up the collective hypocrisy and underlying narrative that the Ukrainian war has exposed when she said: “The unthinkable has happened…this is not a developing, third-world nation; this is Europe!“

This mode of media reporting reminds me of the early coverage of the opioid epidemic. Journalists couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact that the face of the opioid epidemic was actually a middle-class white kid or a white soccer mom who got addicted to pain pills. And so the stories they told were so much more compassionate than the stories of the Black or Brown people who became addicted to crack or cocaine in the 80s and 90s.

The double standards and stereotypes are painful to witness. And the repercussions of these binary versions of good and bad people are dangerous with long-lasting consequences, as evidenced by today’s reporting in Ukraine. White people good and innocent. Dark-skinned people deserve what’s coming to them. It’s so reductive and sad. And so as a member of the journalism family, I wag my finger with humility when I say, We have to do better!

One way to do better, of course, is to have more diverse newsrooms and to tell more diverse stories about Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Please read the rest of Makura’s article for her takedown of the mainstream media and what they’re missing about Africa.

We Can Be Compassionate and Angry about Anti-Black Racism

Out there on Beyonce’s Internet, I’ve seen my fair share of talk amongst Black Americans who feel no reason to care about what’s happening in Ukraine because of their treatment of Black people. This could be a small group of people or it could be a whole bunch. I don’t know. But I do know that people have the right and the obligation to call out anti-Black racism. Even in the midst of a war. There is no justification for the vile treatment Black people are facing in Ukraine right now. The Black people in Ukraine deserve our voices to be raised on their behalf.

But at the same time, as human beings, we are capable of holding both compassion and anger in our hearts. I feel for the people of Ukraine. I am horrified by Putin’s inhumane actions and will do what I can to ease the suffering of the people affected. I don’t ever want to be the type of person who is unmoved by human suffering. Saying that, I know, because of the color of my skin, that there will always be people who would walk right by me in my time of need. But I’m not motivated by a quid pro quo type of morality. I don’t do for others expecting them to do the same for me. I do for others because I’m so moved.

This is Why I Tell Black Stories

Black people deserve Black stories as diverse as they are.

At the end of the day, I think we storytellers – journalists, novelists, griots – have to keep telling Black stories. We have to change the narrative around Blackness. We have to correct the false narratives of the past and tell the true stories of the present and future. We have to tell the stories of the people whose voices are silenced because of the color of their skin or because of the oppressive nature of their governments. We have to tell the stories that white supremacy has driven underground. There are so many Black stories that have yet to be told, that fly in the face of the lies and fairy tales we’ve all been fed. Fairytales that make it too easy for a solider to look in a Black woman’s face and decide she couldn’t possibly be anyone’s princess or queen or happily ever after. This doesn’t mean that other more extreme measures aren’t necessary to rid the world of racism, but I am called to tell Black stories. This is my path.

How Do Your Feel About the Situation in Ukraine?

How has Ukraine’s treatment of its Black citizens and residents affected your perception of the war? Are you able to be both compassionate and angry about the situation? It might be helpful to follow some of the Black experts on Russian/Ukraine relationships to help you sort this all out. I recently started following Terrell Jermaine Starr @Terrelljstarr (Black journalist based in Ukraine) and Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon @ksvarnon (expert on Race and Blackness in the USSR) on Twitter. Maybe you should too.

Bonus: Trevor Noah Breaks Down the Racism in Ukraine

Always on point, Trevor Noah shares his take on what’s happening in Ukraine with regards to the disparity in treatment towards people of color.