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.
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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.
Right now, you would think Eastern Europeans would have better things to do with their time than to racially segregate the evacuation process. Still, here we are as a world community reckoning with racism, an issue White Americans and Europeans keep trying to sweep under the rug. According to April Ryan, a reporter and Whitehouse correspondent, "women and children are allowed in, just not Black women and children."
This racist blockade has impacted a 2-month-year-old Black baby whose family is stranded near the Polish border, forbidden from sheltering in place or crossing the border to seek safety. Border guards also threatened a British-Zimbabwean mother at gunpoint, and many others find themselves marginalized and abused by a "racist, armed militia." It's heartbreaking to see racism play a role in this international catastrophe, but history shows Europe is no stranger to anti-Black racism.
The Holocaust Memorial Museum reminds us that "Black people, including African Americans, were also…
