Thread by @IU_embassy

Precious example of insulting and racist statement of a grand-daughter of #Tolstoy.
Perfect proof of necessity of #russianCulture #cancelling
English version is in 🧵
#russiadisintegration
#BlackLivesMatter

1. "Approximately in 1704, my great-great-great-(...) grandfather Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy, who served as the Russian ambassador in Constantinople, got an order from Peter I to deliver to him a couple of smart little Africans.

2. It seems that the tzar wanted something worthy to come out of them, in comparison to the relaxed and lazy white boyar youths.
P. A. Tolstoy didn't know where to get smart ones, but he assumed that noble origin of the Africans could serve as at least some guarantee of quick wit

3. So he did not buy ordinary kids on the market, but he liked a couple of blackies, acquired a year before by the Sultan. Whether they were captives or hostages, the opinions of historians differ.

4. Giving a bribe to anyone who needed it, Tolstoy sent an overland expedition to Russia, covered his tracks in this story and continued his dangerous service.

5. The kids arrived in Russia; the eldest did not show special talents that the tzar needed, he became an oboist, and the youngest - well, the youngest, as you know, became the "Arap of Peter the Great" and the great-grandfather of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, Our All.

6. Now, when no one will say a good word either about the empire, or about racism, or about bribery, or about the abuse of minors, or about violations of all conceivable human rights

7. - now, on birthday of A.Pushkin, I want to bow down to the earth and thank imperialism, racism, tyranny, corruption and lawlessness for the fact that, intertwined and melted down in a big cauldron of history, they presented us, our homeland, like this, a truly royal gift.

Tatyana Tolstaya, a 🇷🇺 writer, TV host, publicist, novelist, influencer and essayist from the Tolstoy family boldly manifests a full spectrum of her views on race, slavery, corruption, child abuse and culture. In the late 80s - 90s she lived in the US and taught at 🇺🇲universities