Today I’m celebrating #TBT by only posting happy memories from Ukraine, starting with this video from Yaremche where people from a corporate retreat welcomed me to party with them the night of June 22, 2021.
I have no idea who this woman is or where she is now, but we enjoyed hanging out together at her company retreat party. The point is that everyone had a great time in Yaremche that night. And the date is June 18, not 22.
This is how I spend most of my summers in the Ukrainian Carpathians: Having fun with Ukrainians who welcome me into their parties. #TBT
Meet Roman, from Yaremche. I randomly found his trout farm walking from my place. These are his two daughters. His farm is a simple, but beautiful place to eat. Check out this beautiful view. #TBT June 2021
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Hey, Marcel. I don't have time, but I have a few seconds for you, bruh. For someone running for Congress, you are awfully ignorance and factually wrong. Here is me challenging a presidential candidate on why Black Americans need cash reparations.
Putin can kill Ukrainians so easily because he doesn't see them as full human beings. Doesn't matter the race or ethnicity. A hallmark colonialism is subjugating folk to less than human.
Put has done this to Ukrainians for years.
I wrote this article back in 2017 calling Russia a supremacist state. It pissed a lot of people off.😂 Folks can nitpick it all they want (and may have a few legit points of contention), but I stand by my thesis.
The way that many Ukrainians say that the average Russian is accountable for Putin is the same manner in which Black folks in America hold the average white person accountable for white supremacy: you are eligible to participate in it, whether you choose to or not.
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.
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.
We’re all severely exhausted from driving. These checkpoints are really destroying our energy. We’ve pulled over to the side of the road to rest. Hundreds of others have done the same.
Putin is making our lives a living hell.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you all for your financial support. For the first time in my career, I’m being paid what I’m deserve and it’s because of your financing my work. I can do independent journalism AND humanitarian work. It’s all possible because of YOU! 🙏🏿☺️✊🏿
This is a main reason why Ukrainians have ZERO sympathy for Russians struggling under sanctions. “The average Russian created this monster” a Ukrainian friend told me of their “indifference to Putin.” This is the attitude of most Ukrainians I speak to here. “Fuck ‘em.”
The Ukrainian attitude towards Russians is that “they are brainwashed slaves” unwilling to collectively die for their freedom. I travel this entire country regularly and talk to hundreds of people. “Brainwashed” and “(Putin’s) slave” are commonly used.
Here in Ukraine, outside of fancy think tank circles full of political correctness, folks here blame the average Russia for what’s happening as much as they blame Putin. There is no trust in Russian society. Putin is the average Russian for those I talk with.
I’m with @AndriyKyiv who is helping Ukrainian refugees reach an EU border that’ll accept them inside their countries. Meet Yulia, her 9-year-old twins Polina and Milana, and her aunt, Svitlana. It took nearly 2 days to get them to safety. Here’s what it took to make it happen.
First, this family is EXTREMELY traumatized and had anxiety levels I’ve never seen in a human being. Before Andriy picked them up, the family was in their basement for 3 days taking cover from air strikes like everyone else. They’d only emerge when Andriy picked them up.