Thread by @terrelljstarr

As a Black man in Ukraine who is risking my life helping Ukrainian refugees reach Europe, I agree with everything @JoyAnnReid said here. She is totally correct about the hypocrisy in how Black and brown refugees are treated by the west vs so-called "white" Ukrainians.

Thread

https://twitter.com/thereidout/status/1501004138460688387

Ukraine is my home and is in my heart. I am so invested in helping people reach safety that I am not engaging the race dynamics about Ukraine vs other refugee issues worldwide. I am too emotionally connected to Ukraine to do that. But that doesn't negate that facts of hypocrisy.

I have an irony about what @JoyAnnReid is saying. My contact to take the first family to the EU border is named Shane. He works at an international NGO. We spoke throughout the two days it took for me to get this fam to the border.

Shane made sure that when we reached the Slovak border, he would be there waiting on us and that mental health care, housing, food and anything else they needed was available. All I had to do was get the family there.

As I said, I used my contacts and those of Andrey to get this family across the country. During that journey, we faced dozens of checkpoints, a wanna-be cop pulled a gun on me and we had to constantly worry about running out of gas as many stations weren't working.

This family composed of a two girls, the mom and aunt. They were traumatized and Andrey and me had to keep them as comfortable as possible. Meanwhile, Shane, the NGO contact, as asking how far we were from the border. He was making sure the fam was OK.

I'll skip past the other stuff during the trip (I'll put it in the book!) and get to the border. There's a foreign line (black and brown folks, basically) and the Ukrainian line. I was in the Ukrainian line because I was escorting the family.

I didn't have too much trouble getting on with the Ukrainian family because of passport privilege perhaps, I am not sure. But I didn't have much trouble at the border at all. Anyway, we get on the bus to the Slovak border and Shane was waiting on us.

The whole time, the family was pleading with me to stay with them and not let them be alone. In the American context this was a sight: a "white" family needing a Black dude from Detroit to take them to safety in the EU. Who'd have though it.

It reminds me of that Black dude in Cleveland who saved that white girl(s) from the neighbor who was keeping them captive and his story about a white girl running into a Black man's arms.

Anyway, I stay with the family the whole time. Once I take the family across the border I see Shane and I give the family to him: a Black British man.

This Ukrainian family was cared for by two Black men the entire time, one of whom risked his safety for them.

Now, I'd have done this for ANY family who needed my help and I am sure Shane would have as well. When it comes to being a good human being, I don't give a damn about race. But what @JoyAnnReid speaks to is that the West certainly does and that is the hypocrisy she discusses.

I love Ukraine and will be here for a lifetime promoting this country and I will stay here to support the refugees that need to leave. I am also one who wants this same reception the West gives Ukrainians to be extended to folks who look like me.

Again, two Black men, one from the U.S. and one from Britain, helped to get this family to the West. Two Black men whose families were once enslaved by the very nations that are giving Ukrainians refuge.

I wish I had a pic of this this exchange between me and Shane.

What I also know is that if Shane and I had different passports, we'd not have been in the position to help this family nor would we get the same reception if WE needed it and that is where the hypocrisy @JoyAnnReid comes in.

We can discuss how wrong it is for Putin to abuse Ukraine. Few people are as outspoken about it as I am. But I can also ask if I needed this help and was from Africa or a so-called "3rd world country" would I actually get it to the degree as the "white" people I'm helping?

I doubt.

And there is nothing wrong in calling that out.

All refugees are not treated equally and that is a fact.

Well, I need to go figure out how to help more Ukrainians and other peoples get to the EU now. I hope this thread was insightful and productive.