Why do African Americans love Russia?

I started to suspect it back in D.C. The suspicion grew in me throughout our trip, in Phoenix and Tucson, in Portland and New York, in Philadelphia, and now in Atlanta it blossomed into a realization of the truth, pure and simple: man, African Americans love Russia and Russians! Well, not all of them, perhaps. I mean, I didn't have a chance to speak to every one of them.

We were warmly welcomed in the African American community of Atlanta. After a while, our hosts showed us to the church hall. As we stood awkwardly in the hall during a religious service and people stared at us, I felt somewhat uncomfortable. But then our hosts interrupted the minister, apologized and said: "Brothers and sisters, these people are from Russia." In a moment the hall exploded! Some people started clapping, others were cheering, still others were stretching their hands for a handshake. It was both astonishing and very pleasing.

Here are a few quotations: 1) “We appreciated what the Soviet Union did for us. It was our friend and ally. Today Russia is our friend. It’s kind of hereditary”; 2) “The US used to fight for everybody’s rights. If you are such a champion of human rights and freedoms around the world, how about your own country?”; 3) “Our children don’t carry that baggage and that burden any more”; 4) “Will Obama become President? Who can tell? To move up, you sometimes have to move out. The question is: are Americans ready to accept all of its parts as a part of a whole?”; 5) “Obama energizes young people”; 6) “Sunday 11 a.m. is the most segregated time in America. Blacks go to their church, and whites go to their church, and Hispanics to theirs”; 7) “Bush wants Russia’s neighbors in NATO. What arrogance! What idiocy! They put Putin into a corner. And, of course, he says Russia will point their missiles at America. And what did they want? Obama, in my opinion, will bring more credibility and more thinking into policy.” [The summarized opinion of all I had seen or heard in America is this: if Obama becomes President, relationships with African, Asian countries and Russia may become warmer, given he can act on his own and not be told what to do. The way African Americans welcomed us in the South makes you believe they do remember what the USSR did for them.]