Letter to a White Racist — To Russia With Love
A Russian CEO of his own company created a Facebook post lamenting the fact that the sports App, Strava, places too much focus on Blacks and Muslim women, instead of White men. The photo of the Muslim woman (which I have blurred out) is my work colleague. Time for him to get some therapy and a lesson on diversity and inclusion. I wrote a letter to him inviting him to think, ponder, expand his horizons and engage with me.
Hello Evgeny Vorushilov and Salams/Peace,
I see that you have an issue with Blacks and Muslim women, especially if they play sports. The image of a Muslim woman you posted in relation to Strava, is my colleague and friend. You live in a world of ignorance, hence, it would be worth for you to get to know a Muslim and a Black person; you will open your eyes to the richness of diversity in the world we inhabit. Although your remarks are racist and Islamophobic, I believe in education rather than cancellation, as long as there is no call to violence. You are a CEO of your company and I am surprised that you are cocooned in your shell of ignorance and comfortable in your cultural insecurities. I just did a quick scan of your 810 Facebook friends. Almost all are your fellow White Russian compatriots. Nothing wrong with that, most of us would have natural affinity towards people of similar cultures and ethnicities. In your case, the affinities are not natural but artificially selected because of your aversion to Blacks and other non-Whites. Out of your 810 friends, 6 of them are Turkish and I did notice one other Russian Muslim. It would be worth to get to know those friends very well and learn about their cultures and religions.
So, let’s have an education session here. Consider it therapy. I am sure that the rest of your 803 friends would benefit as well. I would rather you come out of this a better human being than be cancelled into oblivion with no hope of escape.
1. You owe it to yourself to get to know a Muslim woman and find out why she wears a headscarf. Is it the clothing that bothers you or the religion, or both? If it is the clothing then I invite you to learn about the first Abbess Maria Robinson. She represented the Russian Orthodox Church when she became the founder and director of the Orthodox Arabic School in Bethany near Jerusalem in the 1930s. Look for her photo as well as the photo of Nun Martha Wall, who is the director of the school today. What is the difference in clothing between these Russian Orthodox nuns and the Muslim woman in your post? If the Islamic religion is the problem, then this needs further discussion.
2. In 2018 President Putin met Muslim Imams and stated, “Traditional Islam is an integral part of the Russian cultural code, and the Muslim Ummah [community], without any doubt, is a very important component of the multinational Russian people,” he said. He added that he will “definitely support” Islamic education in “major state universities.” So, you see that your President has a more welcoming view of Islam and Muslims. This should not be surprising as there were many Muslim states that were part of the USSR. Out of the 15 republics of the USSR, 6 of them were Muslim majority, namely, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
3. You should also get to know a Black person. There are a diversity of Black/African cultures as there are various White and Asian cultures. You will not fail to see the commonalities we all share as one human brotherhood.
4. You criticise the Left. You can’t stand them. Neither can I, but they have a right to express their views, you cannot cancel them. Let’s not forget that the ‘Left’s’ political philosophies emanated from your own country which once gave birth to destructive ideologies of Socialism, Marxism, Communism, Leninism etc.
5. You state that sports is dominated mostly by White men. Again, this is a claim made in ignorance. Sports sees a wide array of cultures and ethnicities across the world. In the recent Olympics in Tokyo, 86 countries took part in the games. The Russian team was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency for four years because of a doping scandal. Sports is about real sportsmanship, not cheating.
6. You sit very comfortably on the far right of the political spectrum. Reading the comments to your post and your responses, you clearly don’t care if you offend. That’s fine. I have engaged with those on the far right, and these White supremacists are steeped in ignorance. You will benefit from my short video reply to these White nationalists. The link is here: https://youtu.be/xJTwMvnyQYg. I reply to European racists, but I am sure this would be applicable to you.
In conclusion, I hope you do widen your horizons. It is truly liberating. But the first step should be to offer an apology to the Muslim woman you posted on your timeline and apologise to Black communities. I am happy to have a video chat with you. Let’s be better human beings. It’s not that difficult. Really.
Further Discussion With the Racist
(Some words may not be coherent because of the limits of Facebook Translate, but you can get the gist of his responses)
From Evgeny: Thanks you for you opinion! That matter for me(not). I haven’t time for read all this stuff. Good luck!
From me: Your welcome. Please make the time do read it.
From Evgeny: Look at you country and you home, please. Good bye.
From me: I do look at my country and home, and I correct people if they do something wrong. In your post you looked at my country and home and made a comment about my friend. So, I responded. Please read my 5-min response above.
From Evgeny: I don’t care.
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Disclaimer: The views expressed are mine only and do not belong to the company I work for or the political party I belong to.
Author Biography
Hasan Ali Imam was born in Bangladesh in 1972 and brought up in the UK. He has engaged in respectful debate and dialogue with those which disagree with him, which culminated in his candidacy for the British Parliament in 2005. He continues to be involved with the UK Conservative Party in his spare time whilst working for a multinational corporation. Hasan has also been involved with the UK Government’s PREVENT counter terrorism strategy as a trainer to public servants on how to prevent young people from venturing into extremism. He also draws on his own experience of attempted recruitment by extremist groups in the 1990s. Hasan has authored three books.
Firstly, ‘United States of Anger — Why Linda Sarsour’s Rage and Far Left Violence Cannot Move Mountains.’ This book is a response to Linda Sarsour (an American Palestinian Socialist activist), and her far left compatriots who supported the violence and rampage that took hold in the US after the tragic killing of George Floyd.
Secondly, ‘BAME — Breaking Through Barriers.’ This book deals with the race space in the UK. It responds to critics who state that ethnic minorities have not progressed due to institutional racism. He tackles the issue head on and invites critics to dialogue and debate. This book was praised by the British Government.
Thirdly, ‘Aisha and Fatima — Ladies of Heavan. A Sunni Response to Shiaism.’ This is specific to the main Islamic sects of Sunni and Shia. The book captures dialogues that Hasan (a Sunni) had with Shia Muslims over the last 20 years.
A fourth book project is under way for publication in 2023, entitled, ‘Why the Far Right are Far Wrong.’ Yes, you guessed it. It includes responses to the Far Right and dialogue with some of its members.
Hasan has also written an article on ‘Medium.com’ to challenge the anti-vaccine narrative from his own Conservative side, including Dr. Simone Gold in the US, and has invited dialogue and debate with anti-vaxxers. He has also engaged in dialogue with and Israeli Jew and an anti-Israeli Muslim on the State of Israel and the importance of Jews, Christians and Muslims to unite under the Abrahamic brotherhood.
