Politics in Moscow

Soundtrack – Владимир Высоцкий

Here are the questions that Russians will ask you. (Immediately upon meeting you and in this order.) 1) Where are you from? (meaning you and your extended family) 2) What are you doing here? 3) Do you like Moscow? 4) Are you a democrat or a republican AND Do you like Obama? Russians for some reason are remarkably fascinated with American politics, more so even than their own. Even now, even after the election and inauguration are over, people want to know where you stand. If you say you are a republican they ask you if you like George Bush. If you say you are a democrat they look at you suspiciously and say – ‘are you a liberal?’ in a slow, drawn-out sort of way, emphatically pronouncing each syllable of ‘liberal’ and even adding an additional syllable – just to be Russian. Explaining to them that you are neither or that you prefer a third party or no party is like telling them you would like a decaffeinated drink – it makes no sense to them whatsoever. All of this, incidentally, winds up in a conversation about race and racism in America.

One day I was studying in my room with the door shut and I didn’t hear that a guest had arrived. I came out to go make some tea in the kitchen and Maria, my host, was sitting at the kitchen table with her friend, Natalia. When I walked in I explained that I didn’t want to interrupt, I just wanted to make some tea real quick and get back to studying. Natalia insisted (!) that I try some of this Georgian cheese that her mother-in-law had made, and before I could even think about turning it down she handed me a thick slice on some brown bread. Natalia was a very tall, blonde woman with shorter hair and lots of makeup. She was quite fashionable in a way that is only believably fashionable in Moscow, with lots of gold jewelry and long painted nails. She had a loud and commanding voice that made me think, more than once, what an experience it must be to be married to such a woman. She insisted that I sit.

While I was eating she started in with this line of typical Russian questioning. She did throw in a slightly out of the ordinary question about my family and where they live, my answers to which brought her attention to the fact that my parents live in Texas. Natalia was trying to ask me something about Texas that I couldn’t quite understand and then she said quite loudly, in order to clarify, – Marlboros! (bringing two fingers to her lips to indicate smoking a cigarette) Cowboys! (pretending to ride a horse and lasso something) Hats! (saying this in russian but gesturing to indicate the space a cowboy hat might take up on her head) George Bush! (emphatically thrusting forward both hands) She used this as her segue into Obama.

You may or may not know this, but there are certain words here, pertaining to race, which are unspokenly, absolutely forbidden to use in the States, but in Russia are not only perfectly acceptable, but they are literally the only Russian words used when talking about such topics. All Russians want to know how we (Americans) feel about having a black man as a president. Truly that is the crux of all their questioning. And they don’t know the words ‘African-American.’ And “black” in reference to people means something entirely different here. “Black” in Russia means any foreigner, any non-Russian. And it doesn’t matter if your family has lived here for 6 generations, if you’re your family is not “Russian” since the beginning of time, you are part of this underclass that everyone accepts as just a normal part of life. And so Armenians, Kazaks, Uzbeks, (insert any ethnonational identity), are “black people.” This presents a huge problem in the Russian mind and so they use that word we just don’t even say, when talking about our President. I’m taken aback every time I hear it and I have to explain over and over why they just shouldn’t use that word, especially when speaking about American politics and history.

Race is a huge issue here. Everyone wants to know immediately where your family is from, and then they want to talk about your heritage and its place in their heartfelt myth of Russian supremacy.

And they want to know what it is like to have a ----r as a president. It is so completely wrong all over again, every time I hear it, I can’t even tell you. Forget the fact that Obama is truly a remarkable and dynamic leader who has changed the lives of millions of Americans and given new hope to the vast majority of an entire generation… let’s reduce it to a high-contrast discussion of race.

Maria’s friend continued on, asking me about where different colors of people live in my country, and isn’t racism a problem only in the South? Maria, thankfully, has been to the states and is quite a bit more understanding of our politics, and was able to help me explain to Natalia a bit more about the reality of race in the United States.

This woman, Natalia, then asked me what I wanted to do with my degree, would I work in politics or in a foreign embassy? I said no, neither of those was very appealing. Apparently those were the only two careers she could come up with because next she said, not completely without earnest, was I a spy??

Nearing this point in the conversation the kitchen had become entirely too smoky and the cheese and bread (and bewildering conversation) had nearly run out. She and Maria headed out into the entryway so Natalia could do what she had come to do – cut Maria’s hair.