Racist Treatment of Africans and Indians During the Crisis in Ukraine

Posted: March 7, 2022 by Mary Oluonye

The Slow Coverage by Western Media

I’m not under any illusions about the racist implications concerning the treatment of Africans, Indians and others in Ukraine, and Western media’s slow response in covering their stories too.

What’s happening in the Ukraine is, without a doubt, appalling and senseless. All this fighting and killing and for what?

In the big picture, what is there to be gained?

But that is not the point of this post.

Glaring disrespect

The point of this post is the glaring disregard, disrespect and racism that we’ve all now witnessed where it comes to the lives of Black and Brown people in a war zone. In Ukraine.

Or anywhere else, for that matter.

I know, I know. Of course, not all Ukranians are disrespectful or racist, but here’s the thing; a significant number of Ukranians in positions of authority, or in positions that can affect the safety or future of other people (Black and Brown ) did display such behavior.

Why was Western media so slow to report on what was happening to stranded Africans, Indians and other Nationals in Ukraine?

News of the Ukraine-Russia conflict has been relentless, yet with all that coverage, I hadn’t heard anything regarding the treatment of Africans, Indians, and other people stranded in Ukraine.

It wasn’t until I happened to catch a discussion on BBC between Matthew Amroliwala and BBC’s South Asia Editor, Lipika Pelham, that I learned of what was happening to Black and Brown people in Ukraine.

And then came the numerous videos filmed by Africans and Indians who were being pushed aside by Ukranian guards, told to get back, and prevented from boarding trains or buses headed to safer locations.

Not to be left out, now that there was public outrage by Africans, Indians and other Nationals, it became an important story for Western media to cover, to prove, too late, that their reporting was, and is not biased.

When it comes to Africa, corrupt leadership is partly to blame for the global disrespect of Africans

Anyway, when it comes to Africa, part of the global disrespect thrown at us is the fault of so-called African leaders who are the first to disrespect their own citizens by placing self-interest and their private bank accounts above the needs of the country and continent.

A country, a continent, and a people without competent leadership, economic power, or true independence will always land at the bottom.

Everyone else will think it is also okay to disrespect them. After all, even their own leaders don’t respect them, others can say.

So, today it’s Ukraine, tomorrow it will be some other country.

Our focus should not be about expending energy reacting to how others disrespect us. Instead, Our collective energy should be spent on ousting incompetent, useless leaders and concentrating on developing self, country and continent.

Doing so will lead to greater economic power and leverage in a world that has shown us, time and time again, that to them, Black and Brown lives are not as valuable as White lives.

#Ukraine #Africans #Indians #racism #disrespect #westernmedia

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