UNAPOLOGETIC BLACK OPINION

When It Comes to Ukrainian Suffering, Only White People Matter. Here's Why

Black immigrants and citizens were blocked from leaving the war-torn country.

Allison Wiltz M.S.
5 min readMar 1, 2022

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Photo by Tina Hartung on Unsplash

Now, Eastern Europe faces renewed attacks from Russian President and former KGB intelligence officer Vladimir Putin. Despite the protests from the international community and Russian citizens, Putin ordered troops to invade Ukraine, completely disregarding their democratic system of self-governance. Putin is acting like an impetuous child, seemingly ready to destroy the world if he doesn't get his graham crackers, even going so far as to threaten nuclear escalation.

But despite the violence which has engulfed the nation as of late, some White Ukrainians have enforced racist policies barring many Black immigrants and citizens from fleeing the war-torn country. Unfortunately, when it comes to Ukrainian suffering, it seems only White people matter. On one end, they are asking for sympathy, financial, and sociopolitical aid from the international community. On the other end, White Ukrainians have shown an unwillingness to extend a lick of kindness to Black people facing the same threats from the Russian military.

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Allison Wiltz M.S.

Black womanist scholar and doctoral candidate from New Orleans, LA with bylines @ Momentum, Oprah Daily, ZORA, Cultured #WEOC Founder. allisonthedailywriter.com