A local newspaper in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil illustrated its front-page story on Tuesday with a photomontage of monkeys groping a woman to depict African and Arab men who had allegedly gotten into a bar fight.The police had to intervene after an African man and an Arab man got into a fight involving a woman at a local bar on the weekend. The headline reads, “Arabs and negroes fight over our prostitutes.” The photomontage shows two monkeys groping a white woman in the foreground. In the background, a group of black men are sitting around a table, having a drink, the men pictured are students at a local university and had nothing to do with the alleged incident.I was in class yesterday when the university’s foreign student advisor called and told me to come to his office as soon I could. When I got there, he asked me to close the door behind me. He showed me the newspaper. I couldn’t believe what I saw on the front page. I was shocked. First of all, why would a story about a bar fight be on the front page? You would think that would be reserved for real news.He asked me if I recognized the men in the background of the photo. I did but not very much as i had only come across them a few times,He told me that this was awful, but that it was a provocation, and asked me to talk to these students and ask them to stay calm. Because I speak better Ukrainian than most African students, I often act as a coordinator between the administration and the anglophone students.Back at the university, we saw other students, Ukrainians, reading the newspaper. I saw some of them laughing at the picture. I told them, “You think this is funny? You think this is normal? In a few months, Ukraine will be hosting the Euro 2012 football championship, which is going to attract lots of foreigners. You can’t act like you’re in a Soviet state anymore.”
I really don’t know why they even give visas to African students, since it’s clear they don’t want us here. I want parents back in Africa to know they should stop sending their children here. At university, we’re excluded. In my class, we African students always sit together – few Ukrainian students will speak to us.Outside university, it’s even worse. I usually go straight home, because it’s dangerous to be out at night. Black people get insulted and assaulted all the time. We live in fear. Not long ago, I was coming back from the supermarket and a group of men just knocked me down and hit me over and over. They took off when I started to scream. There’s no point reporting it to the police – the first thing they always say when an African man walks through the door is, ‘We’re going to deport you.’
Racism is a reality of everyday life in Ukraine. I recently went to make some photocopies with a Ukrainian student. He asked the store owner for a stapler; he gave him use of it, free of charge. I went back by myself the next day; suddenly, I had to pay to use the stapler.
It’s hard for us to defend ourselves, because there’s a real language barrier for most of us. But I hope we will be able to get a meeting with the newspaper editor, so he can explain himself.”
-Culled from a student’s online correspondence
