Blacks in Russia need our support

At a time when movies such as the Oscar-winning “Crash” and the Emmy-worthy reality television series “Black.White” have caused many Americans to engage in serious dialogue on race and its relevance in our society, blacks in Russia are far too frequently becoming victims of race crimes due to the resurfacing of neo-Nazi groups in St. Petersburg, the country’s second largest city.

There have already been over 40 race related attacks this year, resulting in seven deaths and 79 injuries, according to reports.

Last year, there were 28 deaths and 366 injuries related to race crimes.

The typical targets are young, black college students studying abroad in the former world super power.

Recently, a 28-year-old student from Senegal was gunned down and killed at a nightclub.

The growing trend should strike a cord with Americans not old enough to remember the Holocaust.

The video package put together by CNN depicts these groups as a terrorist fraternity on line (one group calls themselves the The Party of Freedom), showing them lined up training to kill by utilizing both hand to hand combat and sniper tactics.

Making matters worse, the Russian judicial system has often opted to charge those accused of these heinous crimes with “hooliganism”, a crime that carries a small penalty.

While Russian authorities are working to remedy the problem, it would be nothing short of an injustice if the United Nations and the United States don’t step in to protect these people before history repeats itself.

-Nick Birdsong for the editorial board.