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Russia and Black People - What is the truth?
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zaneth



Joined: 31 Mar 2004
Posts: 545
Location: Between Russia and Germany

PostPosted: Fri Jun 11, 2004 8:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, you'd think not having a history of friction as in America would help things a bit. Nationalism is an interesting thing here. It's different than in America it seems. I don't know if I can give it justice in a short space. There's definitely an ongoing effort to find a sense of identity.

What about Canada. It seems that whenever I hear Canada mentioned in association with Black History, it's always people from America escaping to Canada. But there are problems there as well? I always kind of thought of the situation for blacks as being a bit better in the Commonwealth than in America.

p.s. I don't blame you for not knowing an abbreviation. There's far too much specialized info out there to judge people on knowing or not knowing it. I was just shocked when I thought you were American. For an American black to not know MLK jr. would be, I think, exceedingly strange. But who knows. I grew up in a part of the country with an overwhelming white majority. I'm hardly an expert on what the knowledge base of the average person in the Black community would be.
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blackguy-n-Asia



Joined: 21 Apr 2004
Posts: 201

PostPosted: Fri Jun 11, 2004 5:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A very honest answer, Zaneth.

For a minute, I thought that you and Canucktechie were high fiving each other on telling me that I don't know sh-t.

I agree with you on Canada. In grade school, teachers would talk about the underground railroad ad nausium, you'd think that it was a holy shrine made out of gold. Canada isn't perfect, by any means. Canadians are friendly, but they just hide their real feelings better than Americans, some of whom are proud to be known as people telling you just what they feel.

Canada has taken how it deals with 'foreigners' from America, and in history, there is little difference between how Canada and the North of Amercia dealt with blacks and others.

I really do admire the Russian people and culture, it seems like a bad time for them if they turn on others just because they are not Russian. I hope they get out of the loop, and into glory again. I've seen a program about Russian gangs, some of them turning to the NAZIS as their guide, with flags and all. Can you say 'messed up?'
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waxwing



Joined: 29 Jun 2003
Posts: 719
Location: China

PostPosted: Fri Jun 11, 2004 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well guys what can I say. Too much vodka at Noviy Rim tonight. So excuse any rambling. But the Russians' attitude towards foreigners is not in the least bit strange to me, because my parents grew up in an England where foreigners were virtually unheard of. During the 60s, 70s and 80s it all changed. Experience will change the Russians too. The more that come here, the better methinks. Black, white, yellow or any colour under the rainbow. Davaite priyekhat v rossi. Vsyo ravno.
Miru mir and have a good night.
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Pyccak



Joined: 15 Sep 2003
Posts: 7
Location: Montreal

PostPosted: Sun Jun 13, 2004 6:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Davaite priyezhaite v rossiu. Vsyo ravno???.
Miru mir and have a good night.


Negr is a russia version of Negro, which is black in portuges (and possibly spanish). Seriously if you are planning on going to Russia, you better get used to the idea that people will call you that, because most of them won't mean it in the "*beep*" way. Also "black" means Caucasian in Russia (sounds funny to someone from NA doesn't it?), meaning the darker, middle eastern-looking people of the Caucauses.

Blacks in Russia were a ussialy a lot better off then pretty much in any other "white" country, because the USSR decided that since in the States the blacks are discriminated against Russia must accept them to get a moral edge over the States. Now in the late 90s there was some immigration (very little) to Russia from Africa and as a result the number of blacks increased somewhat and they at least became visible in big cities. But the attitudes changed in the mid 90s with rise of nationalism and xenophobia. As long as there just a few people of colour who wanted to become Russian it posed no problem. But with the increase of those people of colour who were obviously foreigners with their own cultural practices etc. people started to percieve blacks as a thread, i.e. the rasist backlash.

Russians are quite xenophobic. We have a very strong system of "ower own" and "foreigner, alien". "Ower own" doesn't however mean blonde slavic looking people. It's more of a cultural thing. If you speak Russian, say that you are Russian than in 95% of all encounters you will be accepted as Russian. I am Russian, yet my great-grand father was of Lak nation of North Caucasus, and my father has some Roma blood. Or, more famously Victor Tsoi of Korean descent. Or even Pushkin whose grandfather was a black african. Yet if someone starts saying Pushkin was black they risk getting quite a beating, because he was a RUSSIAN whose grandfather was african...

If you guys are interested I can continue, but have to run, sorry for the mistakes didn't have time to edit them.
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jpvanderwerf2001



Joined: 02 Oct 2003
Posts: 1117
Location: New York

PostPosted: Mon Jun 21, 2004 3:40 am    Post subject: race Reply with quote

I'm mixed-race, and lived in Ukraine for two years. During that time, I never really ran into any racism. I did know some blacks who ran into some problems. Oddly, those who ran into the most problems were in larger cities, not the villages.
I know Ukraine isn't Russia, but there are many similarities. In any case, it's a wonderful region, and I hope that anyone who wants to live there doesn't balk because of race. Good luck!
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zaneth



Joined: 31 Mar 2004
Posts: 545
Location: Between Russia and Germany

PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 6:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ryccak, nice to have you here. But I did want to point out that several of your points have been mentioned already on this forum. We aren't totally ignorant.
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Pyccak



Joined: 15 Sep 2003
Posts: 7
Location: Montreal

PostPosted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 1:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

zaneth wrote:
Ryccak, nice to have you here. But I did want to point out that several of your points have been mentioned already on this forum. We aren't totally ignorant.


I am sorry. I just took everything I could remeber about racism in Russia and threw it together in one big post. I appologize if you had to re-read anything you already knew, I hope it wasn't too boring a task. Anyway here is a Russian saying that is relevant to the post. Повторение мать учения - "Povtorenie mat' ucheniya". Revision is the mother of learning.
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zaneth



Joined: 31 Mar 2004
Posts: 545
Location: Between Russia and Germany

PostPosted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Saw a black talk show host on Russian TV this morning.

For what it's worth.
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