One of the challenges I saw recently on facebook was to post a picture of yourself with a black friend to show solidarity for Black Lives Matter. Sad to say, I don't currently have any black friends in Lithuania, or for that matter on facebook, to share in this challenge. The last black friend I had was a Nigerian-American professor at the International School of Management, when it first opened up here in Vilnius. His name was Abel and we would get together from time to time but he returned to the US and we never kept in contact.
I was thinking about him when I saw the Black Lives Matter march in Vilnius yesterday. There were a handful of black persons in the march. LRT interviewed a young black woman from Nigeria, who was happy to see the outpouring of support as she said she has experienced a number of microaggressions as a student in Kaunas. These acts of solidarity do make you feel more welcome as a minority.
Not all Lithuanians were happy about it. I saw on facebook that one of my Lithuanian friends had posted a link to an article by a Lithuanian journalist, who viewed the march as an act of "political pedophilia," as she believed these mostly young Lithuanians were being manipulated by what she called "guest cultural wars." I can understand her in part, as she doesn't see this as an issue Lithuania needs to engage in, but these kids are making their own choices, just like my daughter who very much took the death of George Floyd to heart, despite not having any connection to the events in the United States.
I think in part young persons today have a much broader awareness of society. They don't view themselves as defined by their countries of birth. They see themselves as citizens of the world. It's the old farts who tend to have more nationalist views, and don't understand why these kids aren't protesting against homegrown social injustices. There's certainly plenty of them here in Lithuania.
One of the problems is that wages are depressed in this country and young persons often go abroad to study and work where they think they will have better opportunities. My daughter is currently studying in London. My other daughter moved with her husband to Australia. This is true of many of their friends. Some have come back to start businesses, as this is the only real opportunity you have in Vilnius. Salaried employees make anywhere from one-third to one-fifth that of contemporaries in London or Paris or Berlin. It's not like the cost of living is that much less here than it is in other European cities. I suppose this is one of the reasons it attracts so few expats, black or white.
About the time I met Abel, the Žalgiris Kaunas basketball team was making a run at the Euroleague championship. The team was led by Tyus Edney, who for a brief moment became a national hero because of that precious win. Anthony Bowie was also on that team, but didn't get as much attention as the former UCLA standout. The last time a Lithuanian team had won any kind of international basketball championship was between the wars, after which it became absorbed in the Soviet Union. Tyus was everyone's black friend until he got a better contract with Benetton Treviso the next year. Oh well.
American jazz musicians have come through Vilnius over the years, and I got a chance to meet a few of them. Probably the most wonderful experience was coming on stage with my son to meet Charles Gayle after his performance at the Russian Drama Theater. My son was completely mesmerized by his performance and Charles was glad to see someone young who enjoyed jazz. We had a friendly chat. Had a similar experience with David Murray sometime later.
Unfortunately, no pictures to share of these occasions. They live in memories, which is probably just as well, or I might be accused of "performative posting." After all, I can't really call them my friends or in the case of Charles and David even my acquaintances. They were just encounters, albeit very pleasant ones. Nevertheless, I have a strong affinity with what Black Lives Matter is saying, and for once it seems people are listening.
Comments
Post a Comment