Racism in Russia

Very interesting piece. I'm a 42 year-old African-American guy and I visited Russia in the summer of 1987 as part of a high-school trip when it was still the Soviet Union. While Russia had a much stronger "law & order" central government authority back then and I met many, many cool Russian men and women of all ages; I still saw evidence of the kind of blanket racism directed against people of color the report talks about.

I'm 6'7" and was about 260 pounds then (yes I played football) so if there were any Russians who wanted to beat me up, none had the balls to try and do it - not surprising given most racists are simply cowards who target groups who don't actually threaten them but yet they fear them. You'll rarely find a "racist" physically attack someone one-on-one, it's always a group singling out one person.

Anyway, I was harassed by Soviet customs agents at the airport when I arrived and once I was refused entry into a hotel restaurant by a couple of resentful old Soviet Army veterans; the kinds of guys who get by on small pensions and live in dilapidated "state" apartment complexes and harbor deep mistrust of foreigners. Two men in a car followed us everywhere we walked in Moscow at night; I was the only black person in a group of 14.

Thank God I was never physically attacked as some of the students in this video were (and some of the people who've posted), but I was aware of hostility at times. A Russian professor I had dinner and conversation with told me that Russian racism against people of color usually stems from resentment rather than the kind of indoctrinated, systematic racism based on ignorance (birthers) and fear one finds in the US - and obviously in this comment stream too.

When the Soviet Union was at the height of it's ideological and Cold War battles against the West in the 60's/70's, they made huge efforts to forge ties with poorer African, South American and Caribbean nations in an effort to extend their sphere of Communist/Socialist influence and gain access to the wealth of minerals, oil, gold/precious metals and crops. One of the results was that the Soviets allowed thousands of Africans to come to the Soviet Union and attend their best universities for free. Many working class Russians were locked into a rigid class system (despite Communist propaganda that touted an equal "worker's state"..total BS, never existed) that left them shut out of being able to send their kids to the best universities to become engineers, doctors, scientists, lawyers, musicians etc to gain entry to the "privileged class". Only rich and influential Soviets could send their kids to those schools - with rare exceptions (i.e children of high-ranking military officers, gifted athletes etc.)

So when many Russians SAW Africans in their country, they had a "built-in" internalized resentment towards them that was only magnified by the stark difference in skin color, race, language and physical characteristics. They saw these Africans as having access to privileges they themselves couldn't afford, and they hated them for it. It's still happening.

What's sad is Russia is such a rich, beautiful nation with a rich cultural history that stretches across music, literature, science and math. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, you saw the lifting of a heavy blanket of authority that had kept regional conflicts subdued under the proverbial "iron fist". The conflicts in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia for instance, exploded after the Soviet authorities departed and we all know the horrible ethnic cleansing, murder, torture and violence that resulted from simmering conflicts between religions and peoples that stretch back centuries that were allowed to rage.

Clearly Africans (or African-Americans) Cubans are NOT the only victims of racism within Russia. Nationalist movements and extremist groups that embrace violent Neo-Nazi ideology and fascism (curious given that ACTUAL Nazis murdered tens of MILLIONS of Russians in WWII...yes, racism is THAT ignorant) in recent years have targeted Jews, Muslims, political opponents of Vladimir Putin, journalists, human rights activists, foreigners and other ethnic minorities from various parts of the former-Soviet Union.

What frightens me is how some Russian state authorities quietly tolerate these groups, refuse to persecute them and essentially condone this behavior by doing very little about it. There was an excellent article on the bbc Website yesterday about how Russia treats foreigners seeking political asylum; housing Africans in leaky, cheap, substandard trailers in one of the poorest and most remote regions in Russia; people fleeing violence, civil war or worse for a chance to work and live in peace - worth a look to see how Russian immigration authorities "welcome them":

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13131359

Anyway, don't forget that the VAST majority of Russians do not hold these beliefs. As in America it's always a tiny, vocal, angry fraction of the total populace that embraces extremist ideology based on fear and ignorance. They use violence, intimidation and the spread of misinformation and lies to engineer changes to what they see as "their way of life". Much like the Tea Party.

Sorry for the long post, but this issue has affected me personally in many ways and I felt compelled to share. Remember, most Russians are NOT like the morons described in the video; they are good, hard-working (when they can GET work...) honest people who LOVE to have a good time and struggle to survive and provide for their families in a world divided by ignorance, fear, hate and intolerance.
Culturegist

A big problem, apparently.