During the Lviv media forum, American journalist Terrell Starr, who covered the Revolution of Dignity and now tells American audiences about the war in Ukraine, shared how he is trying convey the truth about the situation in our country.
In his opinion, this should be done through stories, without using the “classical approach”, which can be seen in publications such as CNN or the Washington Post.
Comparison of Ukrainians and African Americans: the experience of Terrell Starr
Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Starr has repeatedly thought about how to correctly present information about events in our state. Including because it is read predominantly by African Americans.
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Then he decided to delve into the history of Ukraine and found “points of contact”.
– To convey the history of Ukraine to Americans, I used my own experience. After all, the history of Ukraine is very similar to the experience of African Americans. The colonization of your state throughout history can be compared to the slavery of blacks in the United States,” the journalist explained.
He also recalled that Ukrainians, like black Americans, only recently gained their independence. If for our state the separation from the Soviet Union occurred in 1991, then African Americans received equal rights with other US citizens only in the 70s of the last century.
– Therefore, when I talk about Ukraine, I remember Putin, who openly uses genocidal rhetoric. Which, in turn, is very similar to racism against blacks, says Starr.
The journalist believes that this approach is working now. After all, people who knew nothing about Ukraine, or believed that Ukrainians and Russians are “the same thing”, now come up to him on the street, thank him for explaining the situation and join in supporting our states.
