Since the famous Russian president, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, decided to play Red Alert 2 (Command & Conquer) with his peaceful neighbors Ukraine, a lot of tragedy was generated, and a lot of civilians either ended up dead or found themselves in a big wave of war refugees to the neighboring countries. I was watching this sort of reports on different channels, and this one got my attention (on DW - Deutsche Welle).
Part of a couple of interviews with different Ukrainians, somewhere in there is this one:
Joseph and a couple of his buddies were caught on the wrong side of the fence, being students in Ukraine at the invasion moment. Now, without making too many comments, we have to make at least some remarks.
First of all, I assume that being a Nigerian student in Ukraine, is not quite common, even if it seems that the number is not that small either (an estimated 4000 in 2020). But still, an exotic appearance, coming from a different culture. Since they're students, I assume that they will go back in Nigeria after studies (4-5 years) so probably we cannot even talk about a partial integration with the local culture as well.
But what really bothers me in this article is that Joseph played the racism card as a natural and DW chose to push this narrative. Which I don't think it's fair or it matches real life and the current tragedy of the Ukrainian people, that lived there for a lifetime. These people have their lives destroyed now; they're separated, their houses are or might be destroyed in this war (which has no end in sight). If Joseph is so concerned about real racism, he shouldn't be there in the first place (among the other 4000 students), and taking advantage of a system which is mostly supported by the Ukrainian taxpayers. And Ukrainians helping first Ukrainians is not that a crazy idea, if you live in the real world and not in a woke and virtue signaling one.
If you think this is harsh, check this out:
But even after the invasion, no African country has announced concrete plans for the evacuation of its citizens.
‘’Many of the African governments do not simply have a sense of responsibility to their citizens,’’ Ibrahim Anoba, a fellow at US-based Center for African Prosperity at the Atlas Network, told Al Jazeera.
Nigerian student unions in Ukraine said they made several calls to the Nigerian embassy in Kyiv without getting a response.
‘’There has been no embassy response,’’ Anjola Ero-Phillips, president of the Nigerian Students Union in Lviv, told Al Jazeera. ‘’All they say is check the website and the last update on the website is January 26. Everybody is absolutely on their own,’’ he said.
So meanwhile, Joseph and his buddies arrived safely in Poland, helped by other people than his own. By Ukrainians, Polish. Nigeria gives a shite about them. And yes, sometimes, someone else gets priority instead of you; sometimes you feel like you're discriminated (and possibly you are). But there are also a lot of situations when you're getting treated the same as the others, if not better.
So next time when you want to play the racism card, maybe check the environment you're in, and make sure that your claims are matching real life. Not to break your dreams Joseph, but life is quite unfair by its own nature.
And for real now, get rid of that pink hat with bom boms. You're not five anymore.
