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Only One Mic Podcast
Carl Jerard, Brooklyn Dre, and JRob welcome you to The Only One Mic Podcast. We are joined each week by authors, activists, advocates, community leaders, and professionals from several walks of life who would like to offer their experience, expertise, or commentary on the various topics you will be interested in learning.
Only One Mic Podcast
She Found Out the Hard Way: Racism follows you wherever you go!
What do you do when the refuge you seek turns out to be just as dangerous as the one you fled? Francine thought she had found safety in Moscow, confidently stating, "I feel safer in Russia than I ever did in the United States." However, her optimism was shattered when racist neighbors attacked her, leaving her bruised and bloodied. Instead of compassion, she faced mockery online, with many believing her naivety deserved punishment.
All right. Question what do you do when you run from the fire, only to land into the furnace? Y'all All right. Well, this is what happened to a young lady who left the United States and ran to the USSR. All right, all right, all right, peace, family, you're tuning into the sound of the only one mic podcast, mic Drop Show, and this is where we break down the day's biggest moves in culture and community through conversations that matter. Now, I'm not here to tell you what to think, folks. I'm just here to lay out the whole thing for you. All right, so I want you to brace yourself for this story. Okay, Because this is real deep. All right, so we want to to brace yourself for this story. Ok, because this is real deep. All right, so we're going to get into it.
Speaker 1:A black woman from the US by the name of Francine Villa made a bold move. This is what she did, guys. She said I had enough of racism in America and, instead of staying, she relocated to Russia, thinking it would be a safe haven and that's her words a safe haven. But what do you think happened, yo? What do you think would happen once she got there? Right? She got brutally attacked by her racist neighbors beaten so badly, her mouth was bloody, her face was swollen and her body was covered in bruises. And here's what she posted before the attack I'm safer quote I'm safer in Moscow than I ever was in the United States.
Speaker 1:And then the beating came, and it wasn't just covered, you know, in the BET article that I read. I also read a Times of India article when they picked up the story and they pointed out how social media users were quick to weaponize her words against her. Now one person said, and I quote of all places, you chose the whitest. One Another asked, and I quote again so how's that safe haven working out? Now I'm going to play a clip of Francine talking about what prompted her move to Russia and her experience while living there, and this clip comes courtesy of the documentary Black in the USSR. You can check this out on YouTube. I want y'all to listen to what Francine had to say in her own words. Check this out.
Speaker 2:I remember, like it was yesterday. I asked for help from the police, where it was like an emergency, and then I became the victim. I had three police officers grab me and just throw me down on the ground and I had a bruise on my hand, bruise on my arms. I thought they were going to kill me. I thought they were going to shoot me. It was by three Caucasian officers.
Speaker 2:It was the worst experience of my life that I probably do not want to ever, ever live again. I was so shooken because I grew up in a normal Russian Orthodox family. You know we're not gangsters. You know no one has a gun. We don't have any hoodies. I thought the police was there to help me. Why aren't they helping me? We don't have any hoodies. I thought the police was there to help me. Why aren't they helping me? It's history that's repeated itself over and over and over again and it hasn't been fixed. When my great-grandfather, george Times, experienced that discrimination in 19, you know, during the Great Depression civil rights movement it's the same thing, just in a different version.
Speaker 1:We do not cooperate in the company of the arresting officer. I don't need that information, just in a different version.
Speaker 2:I've been living in Moscow for one year exactly. I teach English, I'm a teacher, I feel free living in Russia because in Russia, no matter what time it is, I can walk outside and I'm safe. We're sitting outside the metro in this little benchy area. I remember the police officers, two police officers walking towards us and my heart's beating fast like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Why? Because you know, living in America, you see police, you're traumatized and I was like I'm scared. And then she's like oh, my friend just moved here from America and she's Russian. He's like, really, five minutes later, that same police officer comes back with the biggest bouquet of flowers a stranger and tells me welcome to Russia, you belong here.
Speaker 1:Wake up, nigga. All right, let's be clear. Let's be clear. This isn't about Russia. This ain't about America either. This is about the global reach of anti-blackness.
Speaker 1:Colonialism didn't just build empires, folks. It built ideas, ideas that made dark skin synonymous with threat, with danger. With less than, and this sister, she learned the hard way that you can change your location, but you cannot change the system. All right, now this is the thing the backlash that she's getting online. That's a whole other form of violence. Instead of solidarity, a lot of people are clowning her. Instead of being empathetic, they're throwing memes and, instead of asking how we protect each other, folks are saying she deserved it. Now, you know it's kind of a twisted mindset. If you think about it, all right, but you know, as a black woman gets beat on foreign soil and your first reaction is laughter, all right, but now we got to, you know, got to bring this to you family. What does escape even look like for us in 2025? Can you escape this? Can you think you can just leave and just never follow you If you can't be black and safe in America and if you can't be black and safe in Russia, if you can't be black and safe on your job or in your neighborhood or in your own skin? Where do you go? We got to stop dreaming of safe spaces and start building them. How we do that spiritually, mentally and physically, because if we keep waiting for white supremacy to play nice, we'll be waiting forever.
Speaker 1:The Only One Mike podcast is available on all major platforms. You're streaming your podcasts on, so, wherever you listen, that's where we are. Please check out our youtube channel to catch up on our past and current episodes and don't forget to rate the show and subscribe also. Um, I just want to just stop and say thank you for all of the new subscribers to the show. You know, as I said before, the show is starting to grow, starting to get a little wings at least this section of the show, um, and I wanted to say thank you and hope that you keep liking and subscribing and also sharing these topics so that way we can have some type of discussion about it and also helps more than you know.
Speaker 1:Follow us and connect with us on Instagram and X slash Twitter at the only one Mike P, facebook and LinkedIn at TheOnlyOneMikePodcast, and you can email us at TheOnlyOneMike00 at gmailcom. You can call or text us at 302-367-7219. Your voice your questions. Your take could be featured on the show. So what do you think y'all? She got a little wake-up call, you know, thinking that she can run away from your skin pretty much. You can't do that. You don't think you're going to just run away from your appearance and how you look and how people perceive you. Unfortunately, that's the world we live in. Carl Gerard, the only one Mike podcast. Mike drop show Peace.