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Many of my colleagues are calling for Lukashenko to step down but are silent when Donald Trump supports white supremacists.
That’s why it’s almost impossible to be a self respecting Black person in foreign policy circles. Most white FP folks aren’t impacted by Trump’s racism. https://twitter.com/travisladkins/status/1311136410578149377
That’s why it’s almost impossible to be a self respecting Black person in foreign policy circles. Most white FP folks aren’t impacted by Trump’s racism. https://twitter.com/travisladkins/status/1311136410578149377
If we can objectively call Lukashenko a dictator, why can’t my white colleagues in the foreign policy space objectively call Donald Trump a racist and admit that America is a settle colonial state that has only provided some semblance of democracy for Black folks since 1970?
It’s really bothering me that many of my white colleagues can look at Belarus and fight like crazy for their liberation and condemn Lukashenko, but literally have little to say about Trump telling the Proud Boys to “stand by.”
That’s why you don’t see Black folk in these spaces
That’s why you don’t see Black folk in these spaces
As a Black person in Ukraine, I have many conversations with Ukrainians who love American democracy until I tell them that our security forces (aka: police) kill Black folks at more than double the rate of whites.
I reality, many of them think it’s our fault we’re dying
I reality, many of them think it’s our fault we’re dying
I’m writing this in my book, but, here in Ukraine, I’m the FIRST Black person a Ukrainian has had as a real friend or had a serious conversation with. Many have fucked up views about Black people and I have to spend hours de-programming their thinking.
It’s tough.
It’s tough.
Lukashenko’s security forces are killing protesters and carrying out torture and rape. Horrible actions that need to be condemned.
However, cops are killing Black folks here and they are raping women too—more often, too.
No condemnation from white foreign policy circles.
However, cops are killing Black folks here and they are raping women too—more often, too.
No condemnation from white foreign policy circles.
Several years ago, a cop was as convicted for raping Black women in Oklahoma. That he was convicted was rare and an reveals how American police function with similar (not exactly the same) impunities as those in authoritarian regimes. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.kswo.com/2019/08/01/oklahoma-court-upholds-sentence-ex-cop-convicted-rape/%3foutputType=amp
In Florida, voters decided that formerly incarcerated folk with felonies should vote, but the governor override the people and said they need to pay their fees before they can vote. In essence, an American government said Black people most pay a poll tax. https://www.theroot.com/is-this-the-new-poll-tax-florida-house-passes-bill-req-1834301084
In America, people are paying a poll tax to vote and our white foreign policy colleagues are saying what about it? Trump did not confirm he would honor election results and foreign policy folks are saying what about it?
This is a huge problem that is not being discussed openly.
This is a huge problem that is not being discussed openly.
I will add that most Black people who work at foreign policy think tanks or international organizations will not be as open as me because they fear for their jobs.
I can be more free, but that is bad because it assumes that I am the only one who feels this way.
I am not.
I can be more free, but that is bad because it assumes that I am the only one who feels this way.
I am not.
When I do speak out over the hypocrisy in how Eurasia specialists condemn authoritarianism abroad, but are silent about it at home, it makes me a primary target of attack because other Black and POC experts are scared that if they side with me, they will lose work opportunities.
When I watch the Trump/Biden debate as a foreign policy expert, I see too many white colleagues who are silent about Trump's racism and authoritarianism but are ready to kick it in full gear when Lukashenko or Putin abuses their people.
Do you know how sad this makes me feel?
Do you know how sad this makes me feel?
I spend more than a third of my year in Ukraine/other Eurasia countries working to promote these places because I love the culture. Yet, most of the peoples I meet, even those who have lived in America, know nothing about Black people.
Why? They don't have to. They are white.
Why? They don't have to. They are white.
I have met Ukrainians and other Eastern Europeans who have lived in America for years, but never had any Black friends. I have had to tell them that they did not have any Black friends because they had the white privilege not to.
I'm THE ONLY person to confront them about this.
I'm THE ONLY person to confront them about this.
White people do not have to defend themselves and their culture to Eastern Europeans because America has not spent its entire existence pressing and stereotyping them.
I spend hours educating Eastern Europeans on racism in America and it is fucking exhausting.
I spend hours educating Eastern Europeans on racism in America and it is fucking exhausting.
So, I really do feel some type of way when I see white Eurasian specialists giving people in Belarus more moral support than they do their own American citizens.
Yeah, I think that is very fucked up and reveals why the Eurasia field is so extremely white and hostile to POC.
Yeah, I think that is very fucked up and reveals why the Eurasia field is so extremely white and hostile to POC.
Each week, I will bring you a special Belarus episode because I love his part of the world and it is my calling to help open Eurasia up to non-white, non-think tank people. I just go in knowing that my field will not love me back with the same intensity.
Belarusians are hurting. But so are Black folk in America. I have the capacity to advocate for Belarusians AND condemn Trump's white supremacy and authoritarianism. Why can't Eurasia specialists have the same dual energy?
I know why: Because THIS America actually works for THEM.
I know why: Because THIS America actually works for THEM.
Let's be frank: the racist America that is killing, raping and disenfranchising Black people works fine for Eastern Europeans fleeing their authoritarian nations for the U.S. When Eastern Europeans come to America, they are white. And therefore safe.
Safer than Black people.
Safer than Black people.
The America that I fear and will kill me without penalty works fine for Eastern European political exiles because their skin color makes them eligible to integrate into white supremacy and be as racist and/or indifferent to racism as the white people who are born here.
This article touches on how many Ukrainian-Americans can completely ignore racism because of the GOP's so-called tough on Russia stance. Even though we know the GOP isn't tough against Russia. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/23/sports/ukrainian-americans-gop-donald-trump.html
And most Eastern Europeans I know who come to the U.S. do not form strong bonds with Black people because, again, like most native-born white Americans, they do not have to.
This is a huge problem and informs how white Eurasia specialists view America--and ignore its failures.
This is a huge problem and informs how white Eurasia specialists view America--and ignore its failures.
It is close to 10 a.m. here in Ukraine and I have some writing to do and a Ukrainian class to get ready for, but I won't stop talking about the hypocrisy in Eurasia community over how white experts call out Lukashenko but don't call out white supremacy in America.
