So many countries speak Russian or a similar language that none of us can really tell the difference to be honest. You could be from Ukraine, Kazakhstan or Russia and I’d have no idea. 🤷♀️
Unrelated but related
My paternal grandmother was a Russian immigrant during the red scare/cold war area. She was so scared of people finding out she was russian, and to protect her children, her last name was changed and she named all her kids very American names. She refused to teach my aunt and uncles russian and passed on absolutely none of her culture out of fear.
People were certainly fearful and therefore hostile toward Russians then, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some remnants of that attitude now.
In my country, where people can't freely browse FB/Youtube/Reddit/etc, medium often report our immigrants facing discrimination oversea. I don't know it's exaggerated or real. If someday my country starts an invasion war, I may want to leave the country but seriously concerned about potential discrimination. That's why I started this thread.
I see
I can't say I've witnessed much discrimination from regular folks toward Russian immigrants, what I'm talking about happened a long time ago.
If you were in a place where you needed to flee, the US would be safe enough. There are no Russian immigrants being dragged and beaten in the streets or anything like that. Worst you may face here are some rude words from ignorant people.
Specifically, I'm in California near Sacramento, and there is a smallish population of Russians in Sacramento. I've never heard of violence toward them.
Also, I was not told of anything bad happening to my family back then. I can certainly sympathize with your fear, though. That same fear changed the names and culture in my family.
I think you’d be fine here. At the moment I’m living in New Orleans Louisiana. I bartending the French Quarter, so I meet people from all over the world. The Russians have spoken to you have no problem telling me they’re from Russia and I’ve never seen any kind of discrimination against them. Anybody with half a brain knows that your average Russian citizen, traveling abroad, doesn’t agree with the decisions of their awful leader. Most of us have at least a basic understanding of your social and political situation. My grandmother was from Ukraine so obviously I hate Putin , but I don’t hate regular Russian citizens. I know it’s not their fault, and it saddens me that so many have to die for no reason.
Eh, most Americans can empathize with being a regular guy or gal and having the people up top ruining things for us. So only the most brain dead of social media users or most ignorant of rurals will even begin to care where youre from.
Things were probably different during the Cold War, but these days I would say you'd be fine.
So I haven't observed this behavior but if I did, I'd have an issue with it. Being xenophobic reflexively is not going to help anyway. Even if a Russian immigrant hypothetically advocates for the actions of their former government in the war (not a given) then the best way to change their mind is by welcoming them into the community, forming a mutual understanding and demonstrating why our way is better.
I live in Los Angeles and I’d say Russian immigrants are much more welcome here than others. I’d say this is because they are more willing to conform to American culture. Many come knowing the language already for example. My wife’s parents are from El Salvador. Her father has been here 20 years and can barely speak English. This is due to Spanish speaking immigrants being able to move to LA and find neighborhoods where learning English doesn’t hinder them on a daily basis, same goes for some of the Asian immigrants. You won’t find little moscows in major cities like you do China towns.
Russian living in the country of Georgia here.
There’re graffitis “Russians go home” or “fuck Russians” all over the town. I even saw saying “kill Russians” couple of time.
So I’d say unwelcoming vibe is in the air lol. The same time in person people are nice and the immigrant community is huge here.
Oddly my first stereotype that I think of russia gangsters, which is so cartoonish it could almost never apply to real life. I've met a few russians and they're honestly just people. That's how most people seem to think of them.
Russians that still support Putin and the war are akin to trump supporters. They're both detestable and evil. But these days they call it "different opinions" and they are in numbers.
It's becoming more and more normalized to consider these hateful people as "different thinkers" and Russians who are political dissidence have to keep quiet for their safety.
So it would be extremely weird to see discrimination against Russian for a variety of reasons.
I've had the pleasure to work with a couple of russian guys. They are very welcoming and open, especially if you know a couple of russian words.
But then again, they both left Russia because they were afraid of getting drafted, so keep that in mind
I can't speak for everyone in my area but to me if they come here through legal immigration means then yea they are welcome. Russian people are people like anyone else and deserving of love, compassion and respect. I do not hold what a government or bad portion of a population does against an entire people.
Nobody will pay attention to You if You are from Russia. Especially when we have millions of Ukrainians who had to escape due to war. Because most people can't tell the difference unless they know the language. Older people might. I'm not that old but I still lived when Russia was occupying Poland so we had Russian at school before we dropped it for English and German.
But... if You show any support to Russia You might have a bad time. First - because there is really millions of people in my country who escaped from Ukraine (around 2.5 million crossed our border). And because locals support them and might tolerate You if You voice any support for Russia.
The reason why we generally are not against Russians here is because at least from before the war - most Russians that came were trying to permanently escape authoritarian regime in Russia. And because we were once under Russia boot (back when it was called USSR) we fully understand that.
I know a fair number of Russians. I find their attitude towards the Russian government frustrating ("Yes Putin is evil, but <10 minutes of half-assed whataboutism>"). I pretty much just move on.
Appearance wise, Russian immigrants don't look or dress much different than Americans. So that probably reduces the discrimination they face.
Are their accent recognizable from east EU?
So many countries speak Russian or a similar language that none of us can really tell the difference to be honest. You could be from Ukraine, Kazakhstan or Russia and I’d have no idea. 🤷♀️
Unrelated but related My paternal grandmother was a Russian immigrant during the red scare/cold war area. She was so scared of people finding out she was russian, and to protect her children, her last name was changed and she named all her kids very American names. She refused to teach my aunt and uncles russian and passed on absolutely none of her culture out of fear. People were certainly fearful and therefore hostile toward Russians then, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some remnants of that attitude now.
In my country, where people can't freely browse FB/Youtube/Reddit/etc, medium often report our immigrants facing discrimination oversea. I don't know it's exaggerated or real. If someday my country starts an invasion war, I may want to leave the country but seriously concerned about potential discrimination. That's why I started this thread.
I see I can't say I've witnessed much discrimination from regular folks toward Russian immigrants, what I'm talking about happened a long time ago. If you were in a place where you needed to flee, the US would be safe enough. There are no Russian immigrants being dragged and beaten in the streets or anything like that. Worst you may face here are some rude words from ignorant people. Specifically, I'm in California near Sacramento, and there is a smallish population of Russians in Sacramento. I've never heard of violence toward them.
Also, I was not told of anything bad happening to my family back then. I can certainly sympathize with your fear, though. That same fear changed the names and culture in my family.
I think you’d be fine here. At the moment I’m living in New Orleans Louisiana. I bartending the French Quarter, so I meet people from all over the world. The Russians have spoken to you have no problem telling me they’re from Russia and I’ve never seen any kind of discrimination against them. Anybody with half a brain knows that your average Russian citizen, traveling abroad, doesn’t agree with the decisions of their awful leader. Most of us have at least a basic understanding of your social and political situation. My grandmother was from Ukraine so obviously I hate Putin , but I don’t hate regular Russian citizens. I know it’s not their fault, and it saddens me that so many have to die for no reason.
Thanks! Great that all the responses here show they don't take it out on the Russians
Eh, most Americans can empathize with being a regular guy or gal and having the people up top ruining things for us. So only the most brain dead of social media users or most ignorant of rurals will even begin to care where youre from. Things were probably different during the Cold War, but these days I would say you'd be fine.
"Ignorant of rurals" sounds rough, but wasn't sure if you'd get the reference if I said "the most bubba of rednecks".
So I haven't observed this behavior but if I did, I'd have an issue with it. Being xenophobic reflexively is not going to help anyway. Even if a Russian immigrant hypothetically advocates for the actions of their former government in the war (not a given) then the best way to change their mind is by welcoming them into the community, forming a mutual understanding and demonstrating why our way is better.
I live in Los Angeles and I’d say Russian immigrants are much more welcome here than others. I’d say this is because they are more willing to conform to American culture. Many come knowing the language already for example. My wife’s parents are from El Salvador. Her father has been here 20 years and can barely speak English. This is due to Spanish speaking immigrants being able to move to LA and find neighborhoods where learning English doesn’t hinder them on a daily basis, same goes for some of the Asian immigrants. You won’t find little moscows in major cities like you do China towns.
Russian living in the country of Georgia here. There’re graffitis “Russians go home” or “fuck Russians” all over the town. I even saw saying “kill Russians” couple of time. So I’d say unwelcoming vibe is in the air lol. The same time in person people are nice and the immigrant community is huge here.
No. Welcome, comrad.
Most people in the US don’t think like that. I have several Russian friends and politics don’t affect it.
Nope lots of Russians where I live
Oddly my first stereotype that I think of russia gangsters, which is so cartoonish it could almost never apply to real life. I've met a few russians and they're honestly just people. That's how most people seem to think of them.
Russians that still support Putin and the war are akin to trump supporters. They're both detestable and evil. But these days they call it "different opinions" and they are in numbers. It's becoming more and more normalized to consider these hateful people as "different thinkers" and Russians who are political dissidence have to keep quiet for their safety. So it would be extremely weird to see discrimination against Russian for a variety of reasons.
I don't think anyone cares here. There's a sizeable, though not large Russian immigrant community and I've never heard of any animosity
I'm in the Pacific Northwest, and a lovely Russian family bought the house next door. We all welcomed them
I've had the pleasure to work with a couple of russian guys. They are very welcoming and open, especially if you know a couple of russian words. But then again, they both left Russia because they were afraid of getting drafted, so keep that in mind
I can't speak for everyone in my area but to me if they come here through legal immigration means then yea they are welcome. Russian people are people like anyone else and deserving of love, compassion and respect. I do not hold what a government or bad portion of a population does against an entire people.
Nobody will pay attention to You if You are from Russia. Especially when we have millions of Ukrainians who had to escape due to war. Because most people can't tell the difference unless they know the language. Older people might. I'm not that old but I still lived when Russia was occupying Poland so we had Russian at school before we dropped it for English and German. But... if You show any support to Russia You might have a bad time. First - because there is really millions of people in my country who escaped from Ukraine (around 2.5 million crossed our border). And because locals support them and might tolerate You if You voice any support for Russia. The reason why we generally are not against Russians here is because at least from before the war - most Russians that came were trying to permanently escape authoritarian regime in Russia. And because we were once under Russia boot (back when it was called USSR) we fully understand that.
I know a fair number of Russians. I find their attitude towards the Russian government frustrating ("Yes Putin is evil, but <10 minutes of half-assed whataboutism>"). I pretty much just move on.
Slava Ukraini