BY DR MASIMBA MAVAZA
The Ukraine government has acknowledged the racist abuse that Black people are being subjected to while trying to flee from Russian attacks in their country. Scores of African and Asian refugees in Ukraine have told of being blocked at border points as they attempt to make crossings to safety.
From University campus foreign students were kicked out of buses and plainly told you are black and not a human being. Stay behind. One Ukrainian soldier told a Zimbabwean Medicine student that “you are already black already burnt why are you running from the Russian bombs. They will never make your skin any different you are burnt already.
Makanaka Mpofu not her real name was dragged out of a train and told never to try and board any until all Ukrainians are evacuated.
From the day you arrive in Ukraine you will notice that the people are not friendly. In the train they would not sit next to you. They will push to the end. The whole journey they will be starring at you as if you have just grown horns. They make you feel that you are black. In their minds they think a black person is an animal.
Another Nigerian man Speaking to The Independent on Sunday, Osarumen, a father-of-three, said his family members and other refugees were told to disembark a bus about to cross the border on Saturay and told, “No blacks”. Despite challenging the driver and military officers’ orders, they were ejected from the vehicle.
The independent continues “In all of my years as an activist, I have never seen anything like this,” he said. “When I look into the eyes of those who are turning us away, I see bloodshot racism; they want to save themselves and they are losing their humanity in the process. I cannot imagine a scenario where white Ukranians would ever be denied asylum so how they’re treating us is unwarranted. It’s baseless. We are all escaping so let’s push a common thread.” The Ukrainians are racists by nature. They always ask questions like why are you black. Dis your parents paint you black or did they eat black pain before you were born. It is so infuriating and angering when people ask you such stupid questions but you are in their country so you need to behave. Unlike in the United Kingdom you can report abuse to the police in Ukraine the police will abuse you more.
The Russian invasion has brought out the hatred so much hidden in their heartless bodies.
Stranded Indian students ‘watched as Ukrainian pets crossed border to safety’
African, Asian and Caribbean people said they had seen refugees being assaulted and others left needing emergency treatment for hypothermia
Some Indian students were told that they should give way to dogs because dogs are more useful than a black man. Indians are treated in the same category as the blacks.
Indian students in Ukraine who spent days stranded at the Polish border have told of “19th-century racism” as they watched Ukrainians’ pets allowed to cross before they were.
“It all comes down to black and white,” said medical student Muhammad, speaking from a hostel in Lviv on Tuesday. “They are Europeans and we are just Indians.”
Muhammad, originally from New Delhi, said he and hundreds of other foreign students had been denied access to the Polish border and forced to return to the city, 40 miles away, a few days earlier.
“What we suffered in the last three days was the worst thing that I’ve ever experienced,” said his classmate Jayesh. “We were scared for our lives,” added Muhammad.
The two medical students were forced to spend three nights in freezing temperatures at a checkpoint close to the Polish border. Temperatures dropped as low as -6°C and there was no food, water or shelter from the snow.
A soldier cam to us and said go collect firewood thats what you do in Africa is it not? Said Mashumje from Zimbabwe.
The treatment we faced frm the Ukrainian soldiers and the members of the public was appalling. It was unbelievable.
a Polish soldier at the Polish border kicked one African gug in the stomach. The guy started vomiting blood. Je collapsed after a few minutes. He was then rushed to hospital. Tje guards the processed is fast i later learnt that the Ukranian were trying to scatter information as they were aware that the United nations are coming. In the past week, African, Asian and Caribbean people, many of whom are students, have shared reports and footage of themselves being prevented from leaving the country. Some told openDemocracy they had witnessed students being assaulted and others left needing emergency treatment for hypothermia after being barred for days from crossing borders.
Muhammad, 23, and Jayesh, 21, are two of the 18,000 Indian students who were stranded in Ukraine when Russian troops invaded last week. When their flights were cancelled, they tried to make their way out through a land border.
On Friday, they took a taxi from Lviv with a group of students from the city’s National Medical University to the village of Shehyni, where there is a border crossing to Poland. They were stopped at a checkpoint by Ukrainian guards about four miles from the border.
At the checkpoint, Muhammed found there were hundreds of foreign students stuck there, some also from India, as well as others from Pakistan, Nepal and several African countries. They were separated from Ukrainians, who, Muhammed said, were the only people being let through.
“The Ukrainians were going through with their dogs and cats. Even they were treated better than the Indian students,” he said.
The pair said checkpoint guards became violent when attempting to control the crowd, pushing people back and pointing guns at students. “When one woman fell to the ground, a guard dragged her by hair,” said Jayesh, who is from Mumbai A video they recorded of the incident, which was later shared by Indian MP Rahul Ghani on Twitter, shows people in high-vis who Muhammad identified as border guards firing warning shots into the air and dragging people away from the entrance of a fenced-off checkpoint.
Muhammad and Jayesh, who spent the last three years studying for a medical degree, said they were shocked by what they had experienced at the border. “We’ve never felt anything like that. I thought the racism that we saw there, the treatment of Indian people, was like we were living in the 19th century,” said Muhammad.
On Wednesday, Muhammad said he had managed to cross the border to Romania and had been provided shelter and food by the government. Indian embassy officials told him that an airlift was being arranged for students in Romania.
According to the Ukrainian government, there are 76,548 international students from 155 nations enrolled at the country’s universities. The largest group, accounting for almost a quarter of the foreign student population, are Indian nationals. They are followed by Moroccans, Turkmenistanis, Azerbaijanis Zimbabweans and Nigerians.
In the past week, hundreds of Nigerian students have crossed over the border to Poland but many more remain stranded in Ukraine. The Zimbabwean students have been told clearly that their government can only help them once they come to Poland and the Polish do mot want to see the black students. Stranded Indian students ‘watched as Ukrainian pets crossed border to safety’African, Asian and Caribbean people said they had seen refugees being assaulted and others left needing emergency treatment for hypothermia.
Not all refugees are equal the black refugees are less equal than others. Indian students in Ukraine who spent days stranded at the Polish border have told of “19th-century racism” as they watched Ukrainians’ pets allowed to cross before they were.It all comes down to black and white,” said medical student Muhammad, speaking from a hostel in Lviv on Tuesday. “They are Europeans and we are just Indians.”Muhammad, originally from New Delhi, said he and hundreds of other foreign students had been denied access to the Polish border because of their colour and forced to return to the city, 40 miles away, a few days earlier. When their flights were cancelled, they tried to make their way out through a land border.On Friday, they took a bus from Lviv with a group of students from the city’s National Medical University to the village of Shehyni, where there is a border crossing to Poland. They were stopped at a checkpoint by Ukrainian guards about four miles from the border.
At the checkpoint, many foreigners were held by the Boarder Patrol force some were kicked beaten with the butt of the gun some punched in the face just for fun. Several newspapers reported that so many foreigners were being made punch bags. While the world is busy standing with Ukraine, Ukraine and its Polish brothers are taking turns to urinate on the African brothers. African students were separated from Ukrainians, then Ukrainians were the only people being let through and Africans will be left out in the cold. Literarily in the cold. It is winter in Ukraine now and its snowing and the cold is biting like a cobra. The modt painful thing was that dogs were treated much better than the Africans. The dogs were given preferential treatment while blacks were kicked and beaten for nothing.
The way the Ukrainians are treating Africans is bad. According to the Ukrainian government, there are 76,548 international students from 155 nations enrolled at the country’s universities. The largest group, accounting for almost a quarter of the foreign student population, are Indian nationals. They are followed by Moroccans, Turkmenistanis, Azerbaijanis ,Zimbabweans and Nigerians.In the past three days hundreds of Zimbabwean students have crossed over the border to Poland but many more remain stranded in Ukraine where their safety is compromised by both Russians and Ukrainians.
Racist language in the coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will have viewers switching off, writes veteran former BBC journalist Marcus Ryder
In the last week, several videos have circulated on social media appearing to show Africans being denied entry onto trains or through borders, prompting condemnation from the Nigerian and Indian government. On Monday, 28th February Nigeria’s special adviser to the president on diaspora affairs, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said: “Africans are being denied entry through the Ukrainian borders. The minister of foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has taken this up with the Ukrainian ambassador. Our people who want to leave must be allowed to.” As Africans we were in solidarity with Ukraine not knowing that we are stroking a leopard. Shame on Ukraine. The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign affairs was quoted on BBC as saying, “There is no discrimination based on the race or nationality, including when it comes to the crossing of the state border by foreign citizens,” he said. But the United Nations said at a press conference on Tuesday it was aware that some non-European refugees had faced discrimination.Filippo Grandi, the organisation’s high commissioner for refugees, said: “You have seen reports in the media that there are different treatments – with Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians. Now our observations, and we possibly cannot observe every single post yet – but our observations [are] that these are not state policies – but there are instances [in] which it has happened.”There has been a different treatment […]. There should be absolutely no discrimination between Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians, Europeans and non-Europeans. Everyone is fleeing from the same risks,” he added.
One guard at a train station was seen pointing a gun at a black student shouting “you are not boarding the train. You are black already burning will not affect your skin. Wait for the Russians they are coming.
With millions of citizens in Ukraine fleeing the country there have been increasing reports of racism against Black people in Ukraine as they try to leave the country.
The hashtag #AfricansinUkraine is being used on Twitter to highlight cases of racial injustice, and to highlight the ways that Black people are being left behind in the rush to flee danger.
The question everybody asks is do blacks mater. Why the world is silent when black people are being tormented tortured and some left naked in the freezing weather.
For how long will our black people be used as door mates.
Comments
About Author
