Discussion on Racial Terminology in Russia

You can't say the word "Negro."

I made a video like this about a year and a half

ago.

Today I'll add a little more to it. I understand that position.

Russia isn't America, there was no slavery here. I say

whatever I want.

Basically, anyone can say whatever they want.

To be honest, I myself don't really

dwell on it much.

Could one of my ancestors have been a slave?

No, I was born in Russia,

in a completely different

social, cultural, and

spiritual environment.

Just as you don't dwell on the fact

that you or your ancestors

were once serfs.

Nobody has called me "Negro"

to my face for a long time.

Mostly, they call me by my name,

just as I don't call Kiryukha white.

There are also members of my race

in Russia who weren't born here

and grew up in a different

cultural environment,

and for them it's still

A problem. It affects them.

Whether you need to take that

into account is up to you.

There is, of course, this view that if you say something

without intending to offend

someone, and they get offended,

it is not your problem, it is the problem of the one

who gets offended.

And I will probably allow

myself to disagree with that.

Some might call it weakness, but I think there is a certain

beauty in seeing someone

meticulously choose their words

so they are understood or do not offend

the person they are speaking to.

I think it is very beautiful.

And I do not think it is weakness.

And in general, what I said is not

only about the word “Negro,” but

maybe it is

all complete nonsense.