Terrell Jermaine Starr ― Russia’s Recent Facebook Ads Prove the Kremlin Never Loved Black People

Despite my being a conservative, I place immense value in the writings of Terrell Jermaine Starr. A Fulbright fellow, and expert on the Soviet Union and Ukraine,  Terrell doesn't seem particularly interested in embracing a narrative, so much as recognizing that they do exist and then setting out to find the 'who, why and how' of a story. And perhaps nothing better illustrates Terrell's talent for deconstructing narratives than his recent series “The Black Guide to Russia”.

The series is a must read for anyone interested in how Russia uses race and social media to influence elections: https://www.theroot.com/c/the-black-guide-to-russia. 

Terrell Jermaine Starr lived Ukraine as a Fulbright fellow, and Georgia as a Peace Corps volunteer. Starr has over four years of experience living in the former Soviet Union and more than eight years working as a reporter. 

(The Root) ― "Thousands of Russian-bought Facebook ads that the social media company is preparing to deliver to Congress reveal a very sound knowledge of America’s racial discord. With some of the ads calling for protections of gun rights, warning of the so-called dangers of immigration and of promoting Black Lives Matter groups, the Kremlin has shown a shrewd willingness to manipulate race relations in the United States at any cost to the Americans it once claimed to support: black people."

He continues his commentary: "The USSR financed tens of thousands of black people to study in various republics throughout the union with the hope that they would return to their homelands to start their own Red Octobers. On the U.S. front, the USSR also recruited black Americans to spread its propaganda." 

More: "One of their prized recruits was the great writer Langston Hughes. He and several dozen other black people were selected to act in a USSR-funded filmed titled Black and White, a cinematic chiding of American Southern racism. Hughes details in his autobiography, I Wonder as I Wander, that the black performers were not trained actors; nor could most of them sing for the parts the roles required. (Hughes determined that Russians assumed all black people could sing, dance, play sports and act, so there was no need to vet them for any real qualifications.) "

Continue reading: http://www.theroot.com/russia-s-recent-facebook-ads-prove-the-kremlin-never-lo-1818877990