The Russia-Ukraine Conflict – First Effect On Africans

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine started on the 24^th of February 2022, we all quickly started to sympathize with the Ukrainians because we didn’t think it was necessary to ask whether Ukrainians were black or white and whether Ukraine was a country in Africa or Europe.

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The only thing that mattered to us and still does was that “fellow human beings are in danger and they needed our sympathy”.

But videos of Africans being denied the chance to flee the conflict zone, in a war that is not their own, soon started to surface across the internet and this broke the heart of many Africans, both home and abroad.

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But why did the Ukrainian officers choose that form of treatment for their African and other non-white visitors?

Was that a mistake or it is we, the Africans who never understood the message on the wall? A non-disputable message of how many Europeans and the Westerners, in general, see Africans and are always ready to demonstrate it at any given opportunity?

These are simply students and they were not threatening the Ukrainian people by any means or form. Yet, they were subjected to that humiliation. As if they needed to be ashamed of being Africans – for not having white skins and blue eyes.

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African students make up a large percentage of foreign students in Ukraine, around %20.

Morocco tops the list with 8,000 students, followed by Nigerians with 4,000, and Egyptians in the third position with 3,500.

In one video that has been viewed over 2.6 million times, a crowd of Nigerian students can be seen begging with armed border guards. Some kneeling on the ground shouting, “We are students. We don’t have arms.”

This is what we are talking about.

At this same time, many neighboring countries such as Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova, and Romania were welcoming their fellow Europeans. And even though they knew that these Africans were fleeing Ukraine, they decided to come up with some flimsy excuses, bureaucracies, and fancy interpretations of the law.

These are no longer Ukraina officers. These are other neighboring European border guards, treating the African students who were fleeing their European conflict, exactly as their Ukraina counterparts did.

So, I ask the question again: “is that a mistake or it is we, the Africans who do not understand the message written on the wall?”

In case you are thinking that those border guards or the Ukraina officers were confused because they were under the influence of the conflict, now consider the following – political who was been interviewed in Italy. At least, there is no conflict in Italy. So, pay attention.

• “If there is an African woman, fleeing Ukraine. Should they help her or not?
• We need to see”
• “No, if she is fleeing Ukraine!”
• “It’s not easy.”
• “Why is it not easy?”
• “It’s not easy because it’s not easy to know. For this, they need to follow the process. If not, it will become a green pass for everyone running away from Africa,” Susanna Ceccardi, an Italian Member of the European parliament.

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Well, the bottom is this. While it is very clear for those who want to understand that racism is a codified system of oppression that helps the Europeans to take advantage of other people and not seem to be wrong because they are under the pretense of defending themselves, I do not think I need to educate the European on what is racism, because they understand it better than I do.

On the contrary, my message is to the African people and it is simple. As an African, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for because of who are – your skin color, your heritage, and where you are coming from.

You are awesome and absolutely perfect. But stand your grand. Stand your ground for who you are. You are an African and that is the best it can be.

Download the first chapter of The Storytelling Series: Beginners’ Guide for Small Businesses & Content Creators by Obehi Ewanfoh.