Russia Invades Ukraine; Western Media Get Their Racist On
When Russian missiles began to rain down on Ukrainian cities last week, the media naturally went into overdrive to provide wall-to-wall coverage, trotting out foreign correspondents and war pundits – on both sides of the issue – to explain what was happening.
As Russian troops drove into their neighboring country’s cities with their tanks and armored vehicles, civilians by the thousands began to flee for the borders of nearby countries not controlled by Russia. By some estimates, the war could create upwards of five million refugees.
That’s a lot of displaced people looking for safety. And by and large, the world is united in their sympathy for them. Many countries have announced that they will waive normal asylum procedures and take in the refugees as quickly and with as little red-tape as possible.
According to many (white reporters) in the Western media, there is no question that the Ukrainian refugees are deserving of help because they are more “civilized” than those of other countries like Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.
What they really mean to say is that Ukrainian refugees are “white” and “European,” not brown like Middle Eastern refugees and are therefore more deserving of the Western World’s help. After all, those non-European brown people are always fighting and causing trouble in their part of the world.
As noted by The Washington Post, CBS News foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata stepped in it when he said that Ukrainian refugees were “European,” unlike others fleeing in the Middle East.
“In one notable CBS News segment, senior foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata, reporting from Kyiv, said Friday that Ukraine ‘isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European — I have to choose those words carefully, too — city, where you wouldn’t expect that or hope that it’s going to happen.’ " The Post wrote.
D’Agata later apologized for his remarks, saying he “used a poor choice of words.”
He also has a poor sense of Ukrainian history. The country is no stranger to conflict. It endured both World War I and World War II, the “Great Famine” of the early 1930s, the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the 2014 Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea. And since 2014 there has been war in its Donbass region.
The Washington Post also noted that over at ITV News correspondent Lucy Watson reported from a train station in Kyiv that the “unthinkable” had happened to the people of Ukraine. “This is not a developing third-world nation,” she said. “This is Europe.”
I realize it’s not easy to speak coherently at 4 am in the middle of a war zone, but really people? Is this the best you can do?
Probably the most egregious form of racism was on full display by Daniel Hannan, a former conservative Member of the British Parliament.
Writing in The Telegraph of London, Hannah said of the refugees: “They seem so like us. That is what makes it so shocking. Ukraine is a European country. Its people watch Netflix and have Instagram accounts, vote in free elections and read uncensored newspapers. War is no longer something visited upon impoverished and remote populations. It can happen to anyone.”
Since when did Netflix and Instagram become the height of evolution?
Over at NBC News, London correspondent Kelly Cobiella said on air that "these are not refugees from Syria, these are refugees from Ukraine... They're Christian, they're white, they're very similar."
She was called out by her fellow journalists for saying this. And rightly so.
And the racism is not just confined to Western journalists. Some Ukrainians are guilty of it too.
Speaking to BBC News, Ukraine’s former deputy general prosecutor David Sakvarelidze said that it was harder for him to watch white people fleeing the conflict.
“It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed,” Sakvarelidze said.
The BBC’s presenter didn’t help matters when he replied, “I understand and of course respect the emotion.”
I guess racists gotta racist.
Watching the (deserved) outpouring of support for Ukraine, I have simultaneously been wondering why there hasn't been the same level of support--especially in opening the gates for refugees--for other people in other countries where hospitals and apartment buildings are being bombed, civilians being killed, food and water shortages causing starvation--countries such as Afghanistan and Syria coming to mind. I am afraid the sad conclusion is that it's not so much the terror of war as the color of skin that makes the difference to getting help.