Black Russian
To try and explain to you how my mind works would have you thinking that I am a lunatic. Maybe someone would put a label of some sort on how I think and try to convince me to take a pill or two, but I never would. My process works for me, and I don’t have a single complaint. I was sitting at my desk doing some research, and for some reason, the question of whether or not there are black people in Russia came to mind.
I jotted it down on a post-it note and kept doing what I was doing. That should have been the end of it until I got ready for the post-it note right? Wrong. The post-it note kept drawing my attention. So, I do what I always do when that happens. I stick it to the bottom of my laptop where I can’t see it. Should be the end of it right? Nope. I went to Google something, and my fingers typed what they wanted. Next thing you know I’m reading this really cool article(sad though) about being black in Russia. Two hours and eleven articles later I have five pages of notes.
Because I like to write, I searched to see if there were any famous black Russian authors. What do you know! Alexander Pushkin is a famous Black Russian Author. Remember The Equalizer? That Pushkin was no literary genius though. According to the articles that I read, there are anywhere from 35,000 to 70,000 black people in Russia. Who knew? Well, I guess the black folks in Russia probably know that they are in Russia, but you get the drift.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is probably one of my favorite personalities and is on my list of people that I would love to meet. I think he is brilliant. A few years ago, he hosted a program called Blacks In Latin America(I know Russia is not in Latin America) and I was shocked to find the disdain for people of color in Latin America. Russia has always had a reputation for not being the most color friendly country. I thought, or maybe I never thought about it at all, that black people were more prominent in Russia and that living in Russia would be the same if not better for people of color in Russia. I think I need to get out more. Maybe one day my passport and a visa (not the credit card) will lead me there.
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