• Source: Jean Sagbo

Jean Gregoire Sagbo (Russian: Жан Грегуар Сагбо, born May 10, 1959) is a Beninese-born Russian real estate agent and politician. His position is councilor of Novozavidovo in Konakovsky District, Tver Oblast. Sagbo is the first Russian of African descent, or Afro-Russian, to have been elected to a local council in the Russian Federation. He has been referred to as "Russia's Obama".




Early life and career


Sagbo was born on May 10, 1959, in Cotonou in the southern coastal region of the Republic of Dahomey. He immigrated to the USSR in 1982 to study economics in Moscow. He married a woman from Novozavidovo, a town of approximately 10,000 people located 100 km north of Moscow, and moved there in 1989. He has two children. During his first year in Novozavidovo, his then four-year-old son Maxim was spat upon. Sagbo completed his studies in 1984, and after that, he went back to Benin, but was arrested upon arrival because of his legal status in Russia as well as his political beliefs. He spent 3 years in detention but the Russians secured his release when they heard about the persecution. Sagbo confronted the spitter and eventually other onlookers supported Sagbo. Racial attacks have taken place numerous times in Russia, including 49 times in Moscow in one year according to an advocacy group. Sagbo speaks in French-African accented Russian.
About 10 years prior to his first election, he organized a volunteer effort for an annual garbage collection day. He also planted flowers and cleaned streets in front of his home without pay.
As a councilor, Sagbo collected donations to turn dilapidated lots between buildings into parks. Sagbo was elected in 2010. He has expressed annoyance at being referred to as "Russia's Obama" because the two are both merely black. The position of councilor is unpaid.
Sagbo has been quoted as saying "Novozavidovo is dying...this is my home, my town. We can't live like this." Vyacheslav Arakelov, the mayor of Novozavidovo said: "His skin is black but he is Russian inside...the way he cares about this place, only a Russian can care."




References






External links


First Black Elected Official Defies Racism In Russia by NPR
(in Russian) Article "Our Man from Benin" from Rossiyskaya Gazeta
Russia's first black elected official commands respect

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