This is me and my Black Ukrainian friends hanging out at my house years ago, you racist, Kremlin-loving fucktard. Black Ukrainians date back at least to 1800s and maybe earlier. I know you’re a troll, but some people will actually believe this shit.
First off, this notion that a Black kid can’t, conceivably, be Ukrainians is PR is inconsistent with the fact that Black people have been coming through the Russian Empire since at least Catherine the Great’s reign.
Source: Allison Blakely’s “Russia and the Negro.”
It’s important to bring up the Russian Empire because Blacks were introduced into the region via the Ottoman Empire; Russia didn’t participate in the Black slave trade. It’s not clear when Black folks started populating Ukraine. @ksvarnon may know.
But what’s interesting is that there is a history of Black people traveling through Ukraine. In fact, national poet Taras Shevchenko and Black American actor Ira Aldridge shared a close bond. This was in the 1850s-1860s!
Source: usukraine.org/content/honori…
Aldridge visited Ukraine at least 3 times. Lots of backstory to Shevchenko and serfdom, but the point is that there is a history of Black presence in Ukraine, no matter how small it was. Here’s a painting Shevchenko did of Aldridge.
The highest number of Black people who entered the USSR, after the Empire fell in 1917, slowly started in the 1920s in small numbers as students, special guests, technical workers etc. Numbers blow up in the late 1950s during the decolonization of Africa. Mostly students.
Anyway, Moscow was the first place they went and then they were sent off across the USSR. Ukraine was one of those destinations. It was the second largest republic, lots of technical schools. Now, here is the interesting part: those black students were mostly men.
They weren’t supposed stay. They were supposed to go back to Africa and start communist revolutions. (It worked to “some” extent, but that’s another thread that @ksvarnon is more qualified to discuss than me.) anyway, those dudes made babies with 🇺🇦women, thus Black Ukrainians🤷🏿♀️
How many Black Ukrainians are here? Who knows. Data is hard to come by. When @ksvarnon and I find out, we’ll let you know. Anyway, you walk around Odessa, Kyiv and elsewhere, you’ll see plenty of Ukrainian-speaking black folk born and raised here.
I’m reporting on this very subject, so stay tuned for that. But seeing a Black kid being taught how to use a gun to defend HIS country is only propaganda if you think a black Ukrainian can’t exist. That would be indicative of YOUR racism, not Ukraine’s!
Anyway, here’s me with my best friend, a Black Ukrainian woman who teaches Ukrainian language. ✌🏿
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I am sad to admit, but I am now working on an evacuation plan to leave Kyiv and packing my things just in case I have to go. I don't care how you view this situation, just know I am really worried about my friends and family because the threat of a Russian attack is very real.
This isn't a game for me.
There are thousands of Black people who live here and aren't able to leave as easily as I am because they don't have paperwork to go to nearby E.U. countries. I am writing a story about this now, but just know this is very personal to me.
I'm gonna explain why the progressive call for diplomacy on Ukraine is hollow, lacking in facts, and devoid of context by introducing you to a piece of diplomacy that was supposed to prevent this Russian-made crisis from happening.
Thread.
My thesis is simple: Diplomacy often doesn't work because a. one or all sides is a bad actor (Putin) b. the promises (treaties, memorandums, etc) are broken (i.e Minsk I, II)c. the diplomatic effort was flawed from the jump and this takes me to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
After the fall of the USSR, Ukraine had the 3rd-biggest nuclear stockpile in the world, as they we left over from the USSR. Ukrainian leadership at the time believed that Moscow still wanted to invade them and they were right. Duma officials were discussing such a possibility.
One chapter in my book explores my own growing experience and mistakes I've made about Jewish people and one thing I touch on is that there is a difference between someone who is ignorant of a subject and holding antisemetic views.
I've run into Ukrainians who have said the most ignorant shit about Black folks, but the majority of it was not intended to be harmful. I am HUGE on intentions. I am not one of those, "It's not intent, it's impact" people. We really need to start extending each other more grace
I don’t disagree with the spirit of @RepBarbaraLee and @RepJayapal’s statement to avoid war with Russia, but the framing ignores that Moscow is the aggressor and that NATO is involved because Russia has long threatened many of the alliance’s ex-ussr and satellite members.
Furthermore, @RepBarbaraLee and @RepJayapal’s statement makes very legit fears of military expansionism while ignoring that people here are terrified of Russia (which already invaded and is occupying much of the country) and progressives lack a moral stance against it.
Also, the fundamental flaw with @RepBarbaraLee and @RepJayapal’s statement is that they offer no solutions to how to address Russia when diplomacy fails; also, Russia is escalating the issue, not NATO and I hate military organizations.