Is It Racist to Sympathize with Ukrainians?

M illions of Ukrainian refugees are on the move across Europe and have been received by neighboring countries with open arms. Even Hungary, usually criticized for its hostility toward asylum seekers, has been generous in response. American and European commentators have remarked on how shocking it is to see a war in a “civilized” country, affecting people “like us.” To some observers, such as H. A. Hellyer, writing for the Washington Post, this is evidence of “racist biases in Western media and politics.”

Hellyer argues that treating Ukrainian refugees with more sympathy than what we show toward Syrians or Somalians sends the message that “it’s much worse when White Europeans suffer than when it’s Arabs or other non-White people.” Nikole Hannah-Jones has similarly complained about the “supremacy around the media coverage.” While it’s true that there’s a disparity in treatment, and even that this is objectively unfair, to claim that racism is the reason is to misunderstand a fundamental aspect of human nature. The motivation in helping Ukrainians over others is not skin color; it’s a natural sense of solidarity with those who seem most similar and familiar.

As British prime minister Boris Johnson told the congregation at a Ukrainian cathedral in London: “Ukrainians are literally our neighbors. Hundreds of thousands have come to live and work in this country over the decades recently, to make an immeasurable contribution to British society.” Johnson said they were also neighbors “because we share Ukrainian ideals of freedom and democracy and independence.”

The prime minister, speaking in church, added that “even if we did not feel these emotional ties with Ukraine, as we do, even if we did not have the political bond, the geostrategic bond between us — it would still be right to help Ukraine in any way that we can.” Knowing his audience, he invoked the parable of the Good Samaritan.

In the Gospel of Luke, a lawyer asks Christ about the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself, saying, “Who is my neighbor?” All the characters in the parable — the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan — are familiar with the man who has been robbed by bandits and left to die on the side of the road. The priest and the Levite, who ignore him, are (as fellow Jews) his natural brothers. The Samaritan, meanwhile, is his natural enemy. And, yet irrespective of this, it is the Samaritan who shows the man mercy and so is his true neighbor.

If it is easier to empathize with the people closest to us, it is also easier to hate them. Familiarity breeds contempt all too often. Think of the terrible fallout that happens within families, sometimes over relatively small differences. Or the terrible violence committed by people with the same religion over this or that doctrinal variation. Moreover, consider the deep bonds shared by Ukrainians and Russians.

Few people think that because the hue of Afghans’ skin is different from Ukrainians’, their lives matter less. However, differences in appearance, location, and culture do make some people seem more or less familiar. If empathy is the ability to imagine yourself in another person’s shoes, how much easier it is when that person looks and behaves a lot like you.

The origin of the expression “carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders” comes from Atlas in Greek mythology; he’s the Titan condemned to hold up the sky. There is so much human suffering in the world. Millions of children are dying from malnutrition. Families are ripped apart by wars and natural disasters. Political corruption, sexual abuse, disease, death — the list goes on. It’s impossible to react the same to each instance of evil or tragedy. So most people compartmentalize the news and express their strongest emotions for things closest to home.

None of this is an excuse for indifference. The work of relief services and humanitarian organizations remains critically important. As does, for religious people, the power of prayer. Still, the accusation of racism is misplaced. Those leveling the charge might first ask themselves how equally they respond to all the world’s problems.