Sagbo First Black Russian Politician Win

Jean Gregoire Sagbo has been elected as the new councilman of Novozavidovo, a rural community about 65 miles north of Moscow.

The residents of this town would stare at him because they had never seen a man of his colour! 

But some residents have recognized in Sagbo a rare quality, a quality difficult to find nowadays, honesty! He is an honest politician and he was able to convince the people of Novozavidovo of his good intentions.

Sagbo is indeed the country’s first black immigrant elected official. Sagbo is from a tiny West African nation called Benin, Republic of Benin. Sagbo has lived for 21 years and raised his family in this small rural community of 10,000 residents. He is 48 years-old. 

Let us not forget that Russia is plagued with violence and racism. But Sagbo was able to convince the Russians of his town of his clear and long term plan of fighting drug addiction, cleaning up the polluted lake and delivering heating service to deprived homes. 

Sagbo is a man of strong civic ideas who had always cleaned the entrance to his apartment, planted flowers and spent his own money on street improvements. He organized volunteers who started collecting garbage and cleaning up the streets. 

Russia’s black population has always suffered racially attacks but many African students are still attracted by the less costly universities. The Russian universities are indeed less costly than in the west. 

Sagbo is the first Black Russian politician to win. "Novozavidovo is dying," Sagbo said in an interview in the ramshackle Municipal Building. "This is my home, my town. We can't live like this."

According to Marke, an author, poet, songwriter, and activists for the voiceless and underprivileged, “People around the world are curiously asking, is this really happening in Russia, once an incubator of racism and still a somewhat insular society?” 

“But times are changing rapidly, and people around the world, whatever their ethnicity, have similar basic needs for freedom, justice and equality. 

As Sagbo said, "I am one of them. I am home here." 

His skin is black but he is Russian inside,” said Vyacheslav Arakelov, the mayor. “The way he cares about this place, only a Russian can care.” 

Sagbo isn’t the first black in Russian politics. 

Another West African, Joaquin Crima of Guinea-Bissau, ran for head of a southern Russian district a year ago but was heavily defeated.