Having read about Roya Hakakian in Iran and Zainab Salbi in Iraq, I have now come across Yelena Khanga in Russia, and her 1994 memoir, Soul to Soul (or dusha k dushu).
Listen to this: Her maternal grandmother was Jewish, born in Warsaw, emigrating to the U.S. with her family as a young girl. Her maternal grandfather was African American, originally from Yazoo City, MS. Both interested in leftist politics and Communism, they decided to put their money where their mouth was, and moved to the USSR in 1931. It was there, in 1934, that her mother was born, an African American in the USSR, who became the Russian authority on historic African music. And she met a Muslim from Zanzibar, who left her shortly after their child was born to move back and become independent Zanzibar's first vice president. Shortly thereafter, he was murdered.
Yelena grew up with her mother and grandmother. She was one of the few native blacks in a white society. She was very bright, had perfect pitch, became Moscow doubles tennis champion, and went to Journalism school at Moscow State University.
She knew little about her grandparents. Her grandmother, who was ostracized by her family when she married a black man, did not talk about her Judaism. Her grandfather died at 53; Yelena never knew him. She knew nothing about Zanzibar.
She knew a lot about the USSR. And because her mother was an important figure in Moscow intellectual society, she knew many of the important Russian literati. Her mother had remarried Yegor Yakelev, editor of the Moscow News. And, because she was black, her mother knew the leftist blacks of the world, including Paul Robeson and W.E. Dubois.
In 1985, during the Yeltsin years, the first exchange of journalists between the USSR and the USA was arranged, and Yelena flew to Boston. She was, of course, fluent in English. As a result of this trip, she began to explore both sides of her American family, and eventually met her 92 year old grandmother in Zanzibar.
What a fascinating story.
And the story is only part of the fascination of this book. Yelena Khanga has a totally new and fresh perspective on race relations, and racially based assumptions, that will add much to your understanding of this important topic, and help you (I think) work through issues today.
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Full name of Yelena's father is (Sheikh or Maalim) Abdulla Kassim Hanga. He was my English teacher in Zanzibar. Many things written about this genteleman, on various websites, are incorrect if not outright deformation of character. To start with, I wonder why they have added "K" to his surname and made it "Khanga" away from "Hanga" which was/is his true name. Also, I dont beleive he abadoned his child and wife simply because her wife delivered a baby girl and that he would't allow his wife to speak in front of other men because that was Hanga's family tradition at home as calimed by the wife. I read all this stuff this on articles published on some websites websites.
Abdulla kassim Hanga, my former teacher, was a gentleman and a man of very good character. Let his soul lie in peace.
Taha Abdulla Baharoon
motomoto@gawab.com
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