Obama, Russia And The Question Of Color

Marena Kamenev writes a piece for Time on the subject (hat tip: Marion Thorpe). "It was December, the start of a dreary Russian winter, and Barack Obama's face was staring down at pedestrians walking along Moscow's gray streets. But the photograph of the U.S. President wearing a black suit and a smile had nothing to do with his election win a month earlier. It was part of an ad for a chain of tanning salons called Sun People, which was using Obama's picture to promote the benefits of booking some time on their sun beds. In March, the President's image appeared in another new ad campaign: this time for ice cream. On posters for Duet, a stick of vanilla ice cream with a shot of chocolate running through the middle, a cartoon Obama stands grinning outside the White House underneath the caption, 'The Flavor of the Week! Black in White!' When Obama first entered the race for President, many Russians could not get past his skin color. Prior to his win, tabloids constantly referred to him as 'the black-skinned candidate' and the Russian public, not overly concerned with political correctness, seemed happy with the label. But as Obama prepares to visit Moscow on Monday, there are bigger issues at hand, and Russians are starting to warm to the American President as they look beyond his pigmentation and turn their focus to his policies."

Ms. Kamenev's article about Russia and President Obama continues: "'I remember during the U.S. election campaigns, Russians always brought up the fact that Obama is black and some newspapers linked it to his abilities as a President,' says Galina Kozhevnikova, deputy director of the Moscow-based SOVA Center, which monitors racially motivated crime in Russia. According to Kozhevnikova, the spike in hate crimes toward black people living in Russia at the end of last year — including one incident in December in the southern province of Volgograd when a black student from Rhode Island survived a brutal stabbing — was related to the attention that the Russian press was giving Obama's election race. But Kozhevnikova adds that since Obama took office in January, racially motivated crimes against black people in Russia have dipped to pre-election levels. 'Racism in Russia has always been widespread and will always be a problem,' she says. 'But I don't think the fact that he is black is an issue today.'

What Russians hope to get out of President Obama's visit: "Even if this week's talks come to nothing, some Russians are hoping that Obama's visit will help improve the country's image to the rest of the world. 'We are always portrayed as harsh, with horrible human rights and no democracy,' says [40-year-old travel industry worker Yevgeny] Abashin. 'We have been trying to change this image for 10 years.'" But only time will tell if Obama's policies prove effective. "We don't know Obama, but we are testing him to see what he can do," says [pro-Kremlin political scientist Gleb] Pavlovsky. "I think in either case the Kremlin will give him a chance. It will be like repaying a debt we owe to the United States for their faith in Gorbachev." When it comes to the U.S. President, at least, it seems Russia may have finally gone color-blind."