Most of the badness is the handiwork of just one of them, and he doesn’t dance.
In Italy this week, Russian and Ukrainian ballerinas danced together in a benefit show to raise money for the Red Cross (read story here; watch video below).
A lot of the awful stuff that happens in the world results from unthinking people mindlessly stereotyping others based on who they are. When Islamic terrorists attacked the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, every Muslim in our country became a target of haters. Even Sikhs, who aren’t Muslims, were attacked. When the pandemic came to our shares, haters began attacking Asians (and anyone who looked Asian), not limited to those of Chinese ethnicity (Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, et al., became targets, too.) Hispanics born and raised in America have strangers tell them, “go back to your country!” And, of course, nobody is more victimized by stereotyping, profiling, and racial harassment than black people.
One of the biggest knocks against Trump is that he’s a racist who pours fuel on the fires of identity-based hate politics (his Muslim ban, mocking disabled people, wanting the military to shoot Black Lives Matter protesters, etc.). Don’t be part of that.
Martin Luther King Jr. implored us to judge people by “the content of their character, not the color of their skin.” If that’s too complicated, then at least judge them by their behavior. Or if you can’t do that, then don’t judge at all and leave that to God. (It’s amazing how many people who claim to live by the precepts of the Bible either didn’t read, forgot, or choose to ignore that part of it.)
Let’s not despise Russians just because they’re Russians. If they’re already here in America, they’re probably here at least in part because they don’t want to live under Putin’s government. (As for Russians in Russia, keep in mind they’re not free to speak freely; criticizing Putin, or even using the Russian word for “war,” is an imprisonable offense there.) We probably have more Putin lovers at Fox News and in Congress than in our Russian diaspora. Take it out on them, not Russian immigrants or ethnics who had nothing to do with this.