Job Discussion Forums

[Travel Zen]

I'm touring the Ukraine in 2009 and I may teach as well. How are Ukrainians towards darker skinned foreigners?

Any experiences, thoughts or ideas are helpful

[ecocks]

Look at the thread on Personal Safety.

To be honest, it's iffy. I had a Ugandan student, very dark-skinned, who was beaten three times in the last year. The hostel he was staying in wouldn't/didn't even throw the guys who did it out.

A Nigerian female said she had occasional verbal comments directed at her but since she didn't speak Russian couldn't say how serious they were.

I have another Nigerian female this semester and will ask her what have her expereiences been like so far.

[Cardinal Synn]

There is an ingrained racsist attitude here, but only to a certain degree. Mostly just ignorance rather than any nefarious intent. There are of course some nazi nutters around, so it pays to be careful, especially at night.
I know some non-white teachers here in Kiev and they seem to get along fine.

[abauer]

From one black person to another, I was in the Ukraine two months ago for roughly 11 days, loved it there (want to go back as a matter of fact). Of course initially, it was strange, I got stared at everywhere I went w/ the occasional point and laugh. I was with my friend(s) the whole time...didn't receive any hostile treatment while I was there. Do you know anyone in the Ukraine? You'd probably better off knowing someone on the ground there according to the reports I've read (please refer to The Jewish Bigotry Monitor) and comparing that with my own experience. It helps to know some Russian (people were floored, esp when they found out that I was American ).

The situation there is no where as near as bad as it is in say...Russia.
I wish you luck and good fortune in your endeavors

Peace in the Middle East

[GabeKessel]

A report released by Amnesty International in July 2008 warned of an an "alarming rise" in racist attacks in Ukraine. According to the report, more than 60 people were targeted in racist violence in 2007, six of them killed; More than 30 people were victims of racist attacks since the beginning of 2008 and at least four had been killed at the time of the report. Rights advocates are puzzled by the rise in hate crimes but they claim government inaction is partly to blame. They also claim the government aggravates the problem by denying that racism is growing and only acknowledging isolated incidents. Rights groups claim Ukrainian hate groups are inspired by their counterparts in Russia, where minorities are assaulted almost every day. Russian skinheads help the local groups, they say, sharing tips and video clips on how to attack and torture their victims and how to safely leave the crime scene.


source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_and_discrimination_in_Ukraine

* On June 9, 2008, a Congolese immigrant Atunga Luwila was found dead on a neighborhood street in Kyiv. Despite the fact that Luwila suffered serious head injuries and a broken neck, law enforcers declined to investigate the incident as a crime, much less a potential hate crime; instead, the police concluded Luilu�s death was accidental, resulting from his falling down after an epileptic fit. A Kyiv City Court refused to open a criminal case, disregarding requests made by Luwila�s relatives and NGOs.
* On May 29, 2008, in Kyiv, Joel Taye Olubayode, a Nigerian national was found in the Solomenskiy district of the city with numerous knife wounds. Police initially stated that the motive in the murder was unknown. The UNHCR, the IOM, and some 30 other nongovernmental organizations urged the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation of the murder, including the possibility that it was racially-motivated. As of the end of July 2008, police were still searching for Olubayode�s killers.
* On March 8, 2008, in Kyiv, Gbenda-Charles Victor Tator, a 39-year-old refugee from Sierra Leone, was walking with his wife near the Obolon market when he was set upon by two youths who stabbed him some ten times. He died on the spot. Four days after the incident, Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko announced that police detained a minor in connection to the murder. The youth was reportedly a member of a skinhead group. As of the end of July 2008, the investigation was still underway and no charges were yet brought. Tator�s funeral turned into a march against racism. In an act of protest over the worsening conditions for foreigners in Ukraine, friends and family of the victim as well as antiracist activists�as many as 100 people�walked in procession through the streets of Kyiv from the morgue to the cemetery.
* On January 27, 2008, in Kyiv, the body of Joseph Bunte, a 19-year old asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was found with 17 knife wounds in the head, chest, and back. In response, the UNHCR and the IOM expressed grave concern and urged the authorities to investigate the possibility that the murder was motivated by racism. The police investigation led to the arrest of two 16-year-olds, reportedly members of an informal skinhead group. The youths were charged with a premeditated murder, although hate motivation was not included as an aggravating circumstance.
* On October 14, 2007, a citizen of Bangladesh died after being severely beaten and stabbed by a group of young men in Kyiv. Police subsequently arrested four suspects�trade school students�but said nothing about the possibility of a racial motivation of the attackers, who took the victim�s belongings.
* On June 3, 2007, in Kyiv, an Iraqi national was found dead near the Nivki metro station with multiple knife wounds. He came to Ukraine seeking asylum. On June 11, 2007, police announced that four suspects had been detained in connection with the murder.
* On March 31, 2007, a 36-year-old Bengali national Abu Bakar was assaulted in the Dnipro district of Kyiv. Bakar suffered fatal wounds to his head and stomach and died within hours of the attack. The police reportedly made an attempt to investigate the racial motives behind this crime, although charges were ultimately filed under article 121 (intentional severe bodily harm leading to death) without reference to any hate motivation.
* On March 17, 2007, Oleksandr Alaveranov, a Ukrainian citizen of Iranian descent, was stabbed six times by an unidentified young man. The witnesses said the attacker was a skinhead, and the victim identified him as a neo-Nazi. Unfortunately, Alaveranov never recovered from the injuries and passed away a month later. The police detained an individual�a known drug addict�in connection with the murder. Witnesses have maintained that the murderer was clearly a skinhead.

On January 10, 2008, in Kyiv, over a dozen young men attacked Charles Asante-Yeboa, a citizen of Ghana and the president of the country�s African Center. Charles was on his way home from a visit with a man from Nigeria who had been a victim of a violent attack a few days earlier. While waiting at a bus stop near the Shuliavska metro station in the early evening, Charles was attacked from behind by a group of young men. One of the attackers first hit him with a metal bar in the back of the head, as others�up to 15 persons�joined in kicking and beating the victim with a variety of objects. Asente-Yeboa was also stabbed in several places, including one deep wound in the back of his head. He heard his attackers say �let�s slit his throat� and �no, let�s cut his head in two.� The attackers eventually fled when a car approached. He was taken to the hospital in serious condition. As of August 2008, no charges have been brought against the perpetrators in this case.

# On January 10, 2008, in Lviv, in a pizzeria located on the ground floor of a building that houses foreign students, a young man attacked a patron with dark skin, beating him in the head with a wooden chair. According to students, similar racist attacks in the vicinity of the university are a frequent occurrence.



http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/discrimination/reports.aspx?s=ukraine&p=violentatt

Also, please see this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7499364.stm

[Cardinal Synn]

[jpvanderwerf2001]

I'm mixed (1/2 black, 1/2 white) and taught in western Ukraine for two years (2001-03). I never once had what I would perceive as "racially motivated" problems. I faced plenty of ignorant questions and comments about the topic, but was never fearful.
Good luck!

[Cardinal Synn]

[nugget31]

mmm 60 a year does sound less but then Ukraine has a lot less dark skinned foreigners than for example - London, England... You have to take into account ethnic population levels and also the level at which police or other authorities of the relevant country would be willing to admit to crimes or react to the crimes. I could halve the crime rate in London at the stroke of a pen if I denied half the crimes ever happened.

Also 41,000 racially motivated attacks in the UK would probably include a lot of different races - so the fact that England welcomes so many people of different races will obviously increase the possibility of racial attacks by ALL of these different ethnic groups, including against each other - if a Chinese person attacks an Indian person in England that might be classed as a racial attack but it's not likely to happen in Ukraine because there just aren't enough Indians or Chinese who live there. You can't compare multi-cultural societies racial crime figures with non multicultural countries.
Also that 41,000 figure includes religiously motivated attacks which is another subject altogether and is not about skin colour..

London is a multi ethnic city and in any one day if you walk around all day you will see people of almost every nationality, mostly getting along but sometimes not.. Violent racist crimes occur but are usually widely condemned by society and there are a significant amount of different ethnic groups to bring pressure on government bodies to react to crime and be accountable. The police force contains dark skinned officers. More than 15% of Londons police force are from ethnic minorities (according to latest figures)

Let's compare that to Lviv, Ukraine where it's quite common to walk around all day, possibly all week (or month) and never see a dark skinned person.. There are no really large communities of dark skinned people (some students are studying medicine) and there IS a general racist attitude amongst white Ukrainians. For example, it's ok to use the N***** word to refer to a dark skinned person, it's ok to pull the slitty eyed gesture when referring to Asians and you won't get much negative reaction to a dark skinned person being killed in the city center (which did happen recently). There is not one dark skinned officer.

I teach English here and I find a lot of students (not all, but a lot) do have a racist attitude and do not want too many dark skinned people coming here. Their words, not mine. That doesn't mean that darker skinned people shouldn't come - maybe the opposite ..but it's good to be aware of the existing attitudes.

Saying that I have also seen some dark skinned people have written that they didn't have too many negative experiences so that's great and hopefully if the ethnic population does increase in Ukraine maybe they'll be less xenophobia and more acceptance. If one day Ukraine becomes as multicultural as England then it will probably have the same benefits and negatives - a great sharing of cultures but with it the racism that comes from the stupidity of the mindless, brainless few..