I have just watched a podcast titled “Are Russians Racist?” and I understand that these podcasters want to attract viewers, which is one reason they use sensationalist titles. The truth is that these kinds of titles are very narrow-minded but common on the internet, such as “Are Chinese Racist?”, “Are Germans Racist?”, and “Are Poles Racist?”. The answer is no. At birth, no human, regardless of where they were born, has DNA that codes them to be racist. Such DNA does not exist. In fact, there are black people who are racist against whites and also against other blacks. An example of this is that in some African countries, there is favoritism toward lighter skin.

As a black person, I understand that some human beings are racist, regardless of their nationalities. Last night, I was walking on the streets of Curaçao, where 85% of the people are black. For some reason, a white woman saw me coming towards her and her partner, and she held her purse very tight. We passed each other and quickly made eye contact. I won’t lie; I felt angry about that and wanted to say something to her, but I didn’t. At the end of the day, if she felt threatened by me when she was surrounded by so many other black people, that’s her problem.

We cannot force people to like us; even laws or policies won’t accomplish that. I believe that we will be respected by respecting ourselves first, and then other people’s respect should automatically come. Obviously, everyone would like to be liked by everyone, but for me, being respected is a must. Ask people from the Russian Caucasus region if they feel discriminated against. Ask Asian people in general if they feel discriminated against. The difference, in my view, is that these other ethnicities don’t victimize themselves; Some blacks do.

Study Hard + Work Hard = Respect.

By Luis de Andrade