The first thing I thought of reading this was how you could write the exact same about the rural midwest US. I was the only kid in my class who had ever seen a black person face to face, and that was because I lived in Florida first. My grandma still calls to warn us to stay inside if a non-white person is spotted near town (usually a utilities guy fixing power lines). They just have no experience with the wider world and know only the stereotypes they echo back and forth to each other.
The peace corp warning does a good job framing it as it is, but it’s important to remember that “innocent” ignorance can still carry real violence and hatred.
Yuuuup. Mom came from a small Midwest town. Only black person was the town gardener. Incredibly sheltered and literally did not know any black people.
When she moved it was the best thing that happened to her. (Own words)
She had a black friend where she moved and was shocked to see her harassed by a store owner. When she asked her friend about it she said “girl this is every day”.
Profound life changing experience but not everyone is willing to change and learn.
For me it brought back memories of volunteering for a development agency as a white European in rural Cambodia.
Most people from the villages who came to the hospital I worked at had never seen a white person. Many were scared of me and my colleague because they were convinced we were ghosts. Every day people were pointing at me and shouting over the whole street or the market “Look! A white person!!” (Not in so polite words, though). And often small street stalls and businesses refused to talk to us, because they didn’t stop/listen long enough to realise I try to speak Cambodian (Khmai) with them.
I’m not saying this is racism towards me, a white person. But I feel the reaction towards the “unknown” might be similar.
Crazy. Can’t even imagine what it would be like to be a person of color or black in the Russian army.
Simple: here gun. There enemy. No turning back.
Did you hear what they’re doing to men from India? They’re doing the same in Africa - offering “jobs” then giving them little training and sending them to the front lines.
Total cannon fodder.
Damn… welcome to the Slavic region, I guess.
If there’s a consolation price, at least you’re not Roma - or as they’re so “warmly” called, “the gypsies”. They have snow 0% rights, especially in Romania, the country that has fucked the Roma people a thousand times over.
European racism is so fucking old world that it’s not even nazi. Nazism is relatively fresh and young. This is old European imperialism.
Not all “Slavic” countries are the same. Not all regions are the same. Western Slavs (Czech Republic), Southern Slavs (the Balkans), and Eastern Slavs (Russia) are all different. No one is going to call you the n-word in Prague any more than they would in America.
The issue with Ukraine is that they have no tourism from outside the region so even well meaning people will not know how to act. They might ask if you know LeBron James or whether you can play basketball, just to strike up a conversation. They literally don’t know that’s insulting.
Think about what you know about Ukraine:
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They’re in a war.
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They like vodka.
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…
Sunflowers/ sunflower oil is produced in abundance
wheat/flour also
chernobyl is there
Stalins soviet unión starved it’s people to death
the people could have chosen a leader to lick putins ass, but instead chose democracy and voted in a former comedian
2016 (14?) armed forces looked like a cast off of old soviet era gear, they saw what was coming and changed/started modernización
And also one of my absolute favorite paintings is from there (the second one still is, they relocated it at the start of the war)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reply_of_the_Zaporozhian_Cossacks
Huh…im no scholar but i know a little more about Ukraine than i thought.
Right but that’s also hard to start a conversation with. Like if you ask them, “Hey is Chernobyl really that bad?” they might get offended. The average Ukrainian is not proud of that.
Yeah thats not a good icebreaker. Like, “Soooooo… 9/11, never forget, right?”
I worked with Ukrainian immigrants decades ago and found them all to be extremely easy to converse with. They do almost all the work for you and their sense of humour is top notch. TBH you really could ask that question and they’d laugh, make some quip, share their sandwich and next thing you know you’re having dinner at their place tomorrow.
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