Black People in Ukraine

[Skywalker]

Looking for some accurate information regarding African American men visiting Ukraine. I have seen many mixed messages on this board, but nothing up to date.

Skywalker

[odun]

hey all! m thinkin of going to Ukraine for school...am african,female...but with all the stuff i'v bn readin, am thinkin of changing my parents' minds!the thing is...u cant take the black way of life away. we were brought up to be defensive and dat pple would not like us....but i have a different view anyhow....but how many pple would you tell all that?...its jus really sad....

[JBNUSA]

Here's something fun. In Yalta, I paid 5$us to take a photo with a genuine black person. Really...and I had to wait in line too.

[Hippo]

I'm currently living in Kyiv, Ukraine and doing research for my Master's Thesis.

I have to say that there are virtually NO Black people in Ukraine at all...

I have lived in Kyiv on several occassions... During the Orange Revolution, and for the past two winters.

The only black people you may run into are students attending university. There are very few Ukrainian Black People...

I see a few on t.v. only as singers or reporters on a few news programs.

There seems to be a growing trend of xenophobia occuring in Ukraine... It is coming from Russia.

In case you don't know... Russia is dealing with a huge rise in race-related violence.

Just this past New Years Eve a black guy in Kyiv was beaten to death and there are no arrests or inquiries into what's going on. He was beaten just because he was black. In 2006 there were 8 such deaths and to my knowledge no one has been arrested.

Ukraine is full of corruption and administrative road blocks...

That combined with a general lack of black people makes this country very unfriendly for foreigners of a different skin color. Just because they are not used to them.

This is a country that is becoming really popular for 'sex tourism' and it still has major problems with child abductions and slavery... That is all related to the sex industry.

I think people here are getting angry at foreigners... I WOULD BE IF I WERE UKRAINIAN.

A lot of guys come here from other countries and think that they are better than the local guys... because they have some money.

They act like fools and disrespect the women.

IF your planning on coming here to fool around with the women... I advise you stay away!

I read one post in this "topic" of a guy interested in coming here just to meet some women.

I think those type of people are just supporting the illegal sex trade...

There are poor women that are beaten and held against their will all because of people like YOU!

[mormat]

First, I am Ukrainian, living in Kharkiv. I didn't use to live in Kiev, just have been there several times. Anyway, I haven't seen (or heard about) any fact of conflict between Black and White here.

What can I say around the topic?
I don't think that here is any racism. Not "because we are such a nice guys" but because it is unusual for us to see someone who is distinct enough from 99,99% of the population. We even do NOT think about the difference of the color and so forth. We WILL think about these things in the way provided by our rising experience. If that experience is not good, then our attitude will be correspondingly formed - not too good.
But this is not most likely case.
I think our attitude will belong to the people (inside :-) ) but not to color or somewhat else... The better guys visit our country, the better we treat to these new (for us) guys. ;-)

Therefore... Good guys, go ahead! Come in! :-)

[CameoJoey]

Hi,

In Russia of about 24 months ago 16 or so black men in a dormatory were burned to death. The exits to the door had locks on them etc... It was a mass murder of sorts. These were Africans.
The interviews show that black men in Moscow dare not take the subway after dark. They fear for safety. That is in there words.
Truth of the matter is what was written above from previous poster. Since they don't fall all over American blacks it's safe to say it's not America there.

Camster

[stepanstas]

I also recall watching some news on line and i saw a black woman reporting. I think it was fashion. She sounded flawless and I would never think she was black other than the way she looks. The singer, Gaitana, i never heard of, but she sounds amazing too, and probably better than a lot of true Ukrainian singers.

Someone said something about disrespect of woman. I would never discourage anyone to not go to Ukraine because of what that person said. Facts:
Ukraine is not exposed to a lot of Black people. That is not to say that they don't want to be. As i said earlier, the news in other countries says only bad about Black people about crimes and stuff. If thats all you hear, thats what you assume. Its up to you to prove otherwise.
I don't guarantee that you will be fully respected by all, but some few people in Ukraine have nothing better to do than to fight for fun. I don't have first hand knowledge on this, but thats in every country. In most areas, that wont happen.

Also, about woman - Ruslana has ads about Trafficing
In the end the ad says: A person, not merchandise.

YouTube - Ruslana- Trafficing
YouTube - Ruslana- Trafficing ad