I very much agree with the point of your essay. I too have noticed the difference in how this invasion is being treated and how the refugees are being treated in comparison with other wars in countries where the people are not primarily fair skinned (white). Please know my deep concern with what is happening in Ukraine is motivated by my brother having made his home there since 1991 when the USSR broke up. He went there to consult with the Ukrainian government on how to form a democratic form of government, he fell in love with the country and its people as well as the work he was doing. He made his home there and continued to consult every since. He married a Ukrainian woman there and has built his life there. While war and the devastation it leaves on the every day people, this war touches me personally because of my brother and his wife. My heart is broken as I hear from him as he and his wife are providing humanitarian aid and trying to help people get out of the country and as I worry for both of their safety because the work he did.
I do think the fact that this war has played out over such a short time, people didn't believe Putin would invade the whole country, it comes across as a David vs Goliath type war because of the military power differences, and the fact that it has played non stop on TV, the newspapers, the internet, and Facebook has been in part the reason it has gotten so much more attention than so many of the other wars going on across the globe. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan was and is just as horrible. Sadly it did not get the attention that it deserves as the refugees from there are still in desperate need of help. I am deeply sorrow for how some have talked about this war in Ukraine in the terms they have about it "not being a 3rd world country", "It's people with blue eyes that look like us", etc.... Far too many white people are tone deaf when it comes to the racism they speak, I have been guilty of this myself in the course of my life. It has to be exhausting for people of color to constantly hear and see these things. It also has to be exhausting and heartbreaking to point it out when it happens. I am sorry for the pain this causes people of color, I really wish the world would change, that this country would change, that white people would change; it feels like one step forward and two back right now but I believe the words of Theodore Parker in his Third Sermon of Religion,
"Look at the facts of the world. You see a continual and progressive triumph of the right. I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.
Things refuse to be mismanaged long. Jefferson trembled when he thought of slavery and remembered that God is just. Ere long all America will tremble."
The world is changing, abet slowly, we cannot see when we will ever see the death of racism but I do believe the day is coming although not likely in my lifetime. Take care and know that there are white people who work at being better, fighting their own inherent racism, and fighting for Civil Rights because Civil Rights are human rights and no human should be judged by their perceived skin color.
I very much agree with the point of your essay. I too have noticed the difference in how this invasion is being treated and how the refugees are being treated in comparison with other wars in countries where the people are not primarily fair skinned (white). Please know my deep concern with what is happening in Ukraine is motivated by my brother having made his home there since 1991 when the USSR broke up. He went there to consult with the Ukrainian government on how to form a democratic form of government, he fell in love with the country and its people as well as the work he was doing. He made his home there and continued to consult every since. He married a Ukrainian woman there and has built his life there. While war and the devastation it leaves on the every day people, this war touches me personally because of my brother and his wife. My heart is broken as I hear from him as he and his wife are providing humanitarian aid and trying to help people get out of the country and as I worry for both of their safety because the work he did.
I do think the fact that this war has played out over such a short time, people didn't believe Putin would invade the whole country, it comes across as a David vs Goliath type war because of the military power differences, and the fact that it has played non stop on TV, the newspapers, the internet, and Facebook has been in part the reason it has gotten so much more attention than so many of the other wars going on across the globe. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan was and is just as horrible. Sadly it did not get the attention that it deserves as the refugees from there are still in desperate need of help. I am deeply sorrow for how some have talked about this war in Ukraine in the terms they have about it "not being a 3rd world country", "It's people with blue eyes that look like us", etc.... Far too many white people are tone deaf when it comes to the racism they speak, I have been guilty of this myself in the course of my life. It has to be exhausting for people of color to constantly hear and see these things. It also has to be exhausting and heartbreaking to point it out when it happens. I am sorry for the pain this causes people of color, I really wish the world would change, that this country would change, that white people would change; it feels like one step forward and two back right now but I believe the words of Theodore Parker in his Third Sermon of Religion,
"Look at the facts of the world. You see a continual and progressive triumph of the right. I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.
Things refuse to be mismanaged long. Jefferson trembled when he thought of slavery and remembered that God is just. Ere long all America will tremble."
The world is changing, abet slowly, we cannot see when we will ever see the death of racism but I do believe the day is coming although not likely in my lifetime. Take care and know that there are white people who work at being better, fighting their own inherent racism, and fighting for Civil Rights because Civil Rights are human rights and no human should be judged by their perceived skin color.
Thanks so much, Judith! Appreciate your support and encouragement.