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.

Race and Ethnicity: We must combat Prejudice

According to Hermstein & Murray (2008), almost every year, researchers in the U.S. ask a representative sample of U.S. adults to rank racial and ethnic categories with regard to overall intelligence.

Survey research shows that people in the United States tend to view some racial and ethnic categories as more intelligent and trustful than others.

Social scientists consider any such differences a reflection of environment and culture rather than innate intelligence!

Do we have to downplay our ethnicity as a way to avoid prejudice and discrimination? I do not agree with that!

The fact that some of the terrorist attacks have been carried out by Arabs encourages some people to link being Arab or holding an Arabic name with being a terrorist. Of course, this attitude is unfair because it blames an entire category of people for the actions of a few individuals!

According to Ali & Juarez (2003), Ali, Lipper, & Mack (2004), and Hagopian (2004), People holding an Arabic name around the world have been targets of an increasing number of hate crimes and many feel that they are subject to "ethnic profiling" that threatens their privacy and civil liberties.

Charles Hamilton (1967) described institutional racism as "racism at work in the operation of social institutions, including the economy, schools, hospitals, the military, and the criminal justice system."

Racial profiling, in which police or others in power consider race or ethnicity to be, by itself, a sign of probable guilt, illustrates the operation of institutional racism.

It is difficult to hold an Arabic name today because people would always look at you with suspicious eyes! When you are asked at the immigration to "Please, wait here" or "can you follow me, please", your heart will drop straight down at high speed! oh yes just because of your name!!! You are called Fatma or your name start with Abdul and that is it! They will keep you longer at any immigration post and then with no explanations or apologies, you will be asked to continue your journey.

But how can you continue your journey after you had experienced racial profiling! All these experiences at the airports, at the consulates to ask for visas, or at the embassies are great examples of intolerance and prejudice.

But we all live together in the same world and it should be a world were people live together in it and not against each other.

That is why I believe that teachers can fight discrimination, prejudice, and racism in classrooms through educational programs designed to recognize cultural diversity and to promote respect for all cultural traditions.

In France, a law passed in March 2004 that outlaws the wearing of "conspicuous religious symbols" in public schools. The law has aroused immense controversy because it forbids Muslims female to wear hijab. In December 2003, people demonstrated in Paris to protest a law forbidding Islamic veils in French schools.

But what most of the people in France do not understand, women who wear the hijab made the personal decision to wear it. They explain that at the root of the hijab is the philosophy that a woman should be regarded for her personality, mind, and abilities rather than her physicality. Well, that is their choice and we have to respect it! According to Mariam Rahmani, "the Hijab encapsulates the spirit of independent thought."

But in France, most of the people view the Islamic Hijab as a symbol of male oppression. But believe me, most of the women who have decided to wear the hijab have chosen to do so. Legislation of the law in March 2004 in France had only succeeded in ostracizing the women who have decided to cover their head!

We are all living in the same planet so no one should suffer discirmination because we choose to live differently, wear differently, or hold different names!