It has been three days since Vladimir Putin announced his “Special Military Operation” in Eastern Ukraine. Three days since the Russian President launched missiles across eastern neighbour, hitting various locations, including the capital Kyiv and forcing Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, to enact martial law, sever diplomatic ties with Russia, and order general mobilization.
Over 200 people have already lost their lives, with a thousand more injured and holding on for dear life in many hospitals across the country. Unfortunately, despite all the destruction that has already occurred, the war doesn’t seem to be letting up any time soon, and many residents of Ukraine are still trying to find ways to flee for their lives.
Another issue bubbles under the surface of this blatant disregard for human life, a plague as old as time itself that has proven impossible to separate from the very fabric that makes our world – Racism.
Africans and other black people trying to flee Ukraine into neighboring countries like Poland have reported being discriminated against.
From not being allowed to board the trains alongside white people to being separated from white people at border crossings and barred from entering by border police officers who made it clear that the white Ukrainians were their priority. One would expect that these officers would know to be a source of comfort to all whose lives have been drastically turned around in times like these. International students have also been greatly affected by this racism as many of them have only been in the country for a short while and therefore have limited connections. So far, 256 Nigerians have been evacuated, many of whom were studying in the country.
When confronted by these racism claims, Joanna Tarnawska, Poland’s ambassador to Nigeria, denied them, stating that “Everyone receives equal treatment. I can assure you that, according to the information I have, some Nigerian nationals have already crossed the border to Poland.”
We cannot ignore the African embassies’ role in this ill-treatment of displaced Africans in Ukraine. Unfortunately, the Nigerian government failed to make adequate plans as soon as the need arose, leaving Nigerians to fend for themselves in the face of anarchy. It is indeed a shame to see that although Nigerians and other Africans migrate en-masse to these countries every year in search of a better life, they are repeatedly shown that they do not matter.
Still, when the constant threat of racism and the probability of being treated unjustly and even killed for the color of your skin is juxtaposed against insecurity, poverty, lack of social amenities, tyranny, corruption, and injustice under the rule of a lethargic government that fails at every chance to show any inkling of regard for those who they promised to serve, many pick the former.