Jean Gregoire Sagbo is the new Obama. In Novozaavidovo, Russia a black man was elected to Russia for the first time in history. The mayor Vyacheslav Arakelov explains that Sagbo’s ‘skin is black but he is Russian inside.’ As a municipal leader, Sagbo will be marking progressive move away from racism in Russia.
His goal is to aid the disenfranchised, and eradicating drug problems along with pollution in his district. Having lived in Russia for 21 years. Sagbo has been successful as a councilor so far and he has many plans in the future for the his municipality.
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He wasn’t the first black person to venture into politics, Joaquin Crima from Guinea-Bissau had run for a district in Russia but didn’t make the cut. Crima is supposedly a liberal enough for the media to refer to as ‘Russia’s Obama’ but whatever the political grounds are for the nominee, the most salient factor of the situation seems to be the color. It seems to have little to do with where they stand on the political spectrum but the overcoming of skin color discrimination seems to be dissipating in Russia.
