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Travelling The World While Black Is a Tricky & Dangerous Proposition
Ukraine, Argentina, India and China on my mind.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is currently dominating the headlines across the globe. And rightly so.
The footage of buildings being destroyed, of children and families being displaced are now seared into our subconscious.
And what hasn’t been talked about has been the refugee crisis triggered by the ongoing war in Eastern Europe.
Vast numbers of people have been fleeing from Ukraine to the Polish border to seek refuge and to get into the continent.
Among them are Jamaican and Nigerian students.
But what’s special here is that in the middle of what could be a bloody war, we are also seeing Africans being treated with absolute contempt by the Polish and Ukrainian authorities by being made to freeze for several hours without much hope of being able to leave.
It’s as though Black people cant seem to catch a break from racism, wherever we go.
And before we think that this is a problem that affects only African immigrants and students, allow me to take the time to remind you of what happened not too long ago.
The image of Sonny Weems, the former NBA player now appearing in the Chinese league, being racially abused, by fans of the opposing team went viral around the world, not too long ago.
Seeing the Chinese contingent with their very limited English screaming Nigger go home at Sonny Weems was quite discomfiting. The racial slurs and epithets certainly won’t have been out of place in areas around Essex, London, Glasgow and Manchester in the United Kingdom nor anywhere else around the world for that matter.
