In watching and reading news regarding Putin’s assault on Ukraine, there’s a consistent trend of Western (particularly American) journalists have been making statements, like that of Chris Hannaman of The Daily Telegraph said “They seem so like us. That is what makes it so shocking … War is no longer something visited upon impoverished and remote populations. It can happen to anyone,” or “You know, this is a relatively civilized, relatively European,” from Charlie D’Agata in reference to Ukraine.

As unfortunate as it is, the plight of Ukraine is not unique, and the United States has been the Russia-style aggressor in many world conflicts, like the Vietnam war for one.

Due to focus on the conflict in Ukraine, Western media has been largely silent on issues affecting less wealthy and less white countries. For example, right now in Ethiopia, the Tigray people are increasingly being victimized by systemic state violence to the point where some in the United Nations have labeled it as a genocide, which neither of the afformentioned sources have covered since 2021.

Similarly, the American perception of who is Ukrainian creates an issue as to which refugees the West focuses on helping. Many Ukrainian Rroma, previously known as Gypsies (a term that has long been seen as an offensive slur by many Rroma) have been denied entry into countries accepting other refugees due to a lack of documents. However, the UN agreements regarding asylum seekers and refugees explicitly state that documentation is not necessary to cross an international border if one is seeking asylum. Additionally anti-Rroma racism is deeply pervasive in many countries, including to some extent, the United States.

Many Americans tend to view Europe as consistently stable and democratic, having experienced a long period of removal from violence on their soil. This also makes Americans as a whole more sympathetic to European issues, because it reminds us of what could one day happen here.

This could not be further from the truth. Until the 90s, the border separating Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland was embroiled in a bloody conflict. Post 1991, when the USSR fell, most of the countries in the Eastern Bloc (including Ukraine) were plunged into a time of extreme chaos and instability, marked by conflict, poverty, and oligarchy, much of which still happens today, albeit on a smaller scale. Even as recently as 2001, former Yugoslavian states were consumed by one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 21st century.

Additionally, refugees (usually Latin American or Middle Eastern) from other countries are often denied on the basis of the US lacking resources to help. However, as soon as white, Christian refugees are in need of assistance, these resources materialize. According to NBC news, the Bidin administration has “streamlined” the immigration process for thousands of Ukrainian refugees, proving we did, in fact, have the resources to help over 100,000 people beforehand, we simply chose not to.

Because many refugees from other places speak languages that fall strangely on American ears, and have religions that clash with the elusive myth of a supposed set of American Values, and because their skin has color is often different, their unfortunate situations can only be helped through thoughts and prayers (even though a not insignificant portion of modern conflicts can be traced back to some sort of US foreign aid or “peacekeeping mission”.)

This is not to say that we should not sympathize with the Ukrainian people and take in refugees, but we should apply that same sympathy to the many refugees and victims of the many conflicts around the world.