Discrimination against Black people fleeing war in Ukraine compounds Russia’s crimes
This past Sunday, many Black pastors and clergy around Kansas City mounted our pulpits to pray for the people of Ukraine. Our counterparts across the United States and the entire world did the same. Over the past week, we have watched in horror as thousands of people instantly became refugees in search of a safe place for their families and children as Russia illegally invaded a sovereign nation. We Black clergy prayed fervently because we understand the fight for freedom.
However, as we spoke to God and unbeknownst to us, our Black and African brothers and sisters at the Ukrainian border trying to escape to safety were being turned away because of the color of their skin. The hashtag #AfricansinUkraine began trending on Twitter, and media outlets in the U.S. and U.K. published articles on the discrimination against Black people fleeing the country. Reports were shared of African mothers holding their babies in bitterly cold weather trying to board trains for Poland, and being removed or denied entry.
As a man of the proverbial cloth, excuse my language when I ask: How in the hell do Ukrainians and neighboring border agents have time to be racist during war? As I pondered this question, images of segregated units in the American Civil War came to mind. The Tuskegee Airmen and buffalo soldiers are forever etched into our history because they battled racism while defending their country.
It dawned on me that racism is harder to stop than Russian tanks barreling down the streets of Kyiv. The hypocrisy demonstrated in this moment is maddening. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeks to garner support from the world by fighting an oppressor — while at the same time, too many in his country seek to oppress others. I guess it goes without saying, white skin seems worth saving more than Black skin.
Imagine what the world would have said if North Africans had closed their borders to white Europeans during World War II. Throughout Adolf Hitler’s campaign, thousands of white Europeans fled to North African countries, where they were welcomed. Stories of Polish people living in Tanzania and other African nations abound. Remnants of Polish refugee camps can still be found today in South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. Those who settled in Africa were treated so well that many of them did not want to return to their homelands after the war.
It is my prayer now that when this war concludes, after the last missiles are fired and Russian tanks are expelled from their land, the people of Ukraine will examine how they treated their neighbor. I pray that their brief experience of being treated as second class themselves, and the realization that they gave similar treatment to others, will affect change in their hearts. After all, it is times of adversity that reveal who we truly are.