RUSSIA "WE TOO ARE PEOPLE" NOT SINCE THE TROTSKYITE RIOTS IN THE 
1920'S HAD MOSCOW SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT. WHILE CROWDS OF RUSSIANS 
WATCHED WITH AMAZEMENT, MORE THAN 400 AFRICAN STUDENTS LAST WEEK BATTLED 
RED COPS IN THE STREETS, INSIDE RED SQUARE ITSELF, RIGHT PAST 
NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV'S OWN OFFICE WINDOW . "MOSCOW -- A SECOND ALABAMA," 
SAID ONE CRUDELY LETTERED SIGN, IN RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH . "STOP 
KILLING AFRICANS," WARNED ANOTHER PLACARD . MOURNING BANDS . THE RACE 
RIOT WAS TOUCHED OFF BY THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF EDMOND ASARE-ADDO, 
29, A SECOND-YEAR MEDICAL STUDENT FROM GHANA WHO WAS STUDYING AT 
KALININ INSTITUTE, ABOUT 100 MILES NORTHWEST OF THE CAPITAL . ON 
THE EVE OF HIS MARRIAGE TO A RUSSIAN GIRL, THE STUDENT'S 
BODY WAS DISCOVERED NEAR THE RAILROAD TRACKS OF A SUBURBAN MOSCOW 
STATION . THE SOVIET POLICE CLAIMED THAT ASARE-ADDO, DRUNK, HAD FALLEN 
DOWN IN THE 11 DEGREE-BELOW-ZERO WEATHER AND FROZEN TO DEATH . 
BUT GHANAIANS, WHO KNEW THAT THE MARRIAGE WAS FIERCELY OPPOSED BY 
THE GIRL'S RUSSIAN FRIENDS, INSISTED THAT THE YOUTH WAS STABBED BELOW 
THE CHIN AND TOSSED INTO THE SNOW . QUICKLY SWINGING INTO 
ACTION, STUDENTS AT PATRICE LUMUMBA FRIENDSHIP UNIVERSITY SPREAD THE WORD TO 
OTHER AFRICANS IN LENINGRAD, KALININ, AND AS FAR AWAY AS ODESSA 
AND TASHKENT . THE MESSAGE: WE MARCH ON THE KREMLIN . 
WEARING THE TRADITIONAL RED MOURNING BAND OF GHANA AROUND THEIR HEADS, 
THE STUDENTS GATHERED BEFORE THE GHANA EMBASSY ON A STREET A 
MILE FROM RED SQUARE . "NO TROUBLE," SHOUTED THEIR LEADERS AS 
THE PROCESSION TROOPED OFF, BUT AT THE END OF THE STREET, 
THERE WAS PLENTY . SOVIET POLICE HAD BARRED THE WAY WITH 
TRUCKS AND CARS . WHEN THE COPS REFUSED TO BUDGE, THE 
CROWD BEGAN ROCKING A POLICE CAR, INTENDING TO FLIP IT OVER 
. ANXIOUS TO AVOID BLOODSHED, AND OUT-NUMBERED 100 TO 1, THE 
POLICE GAVE WAY AFTER A BRIEF SCUFFLE . AS ENGLISH-SPEAKING RUSSIAN 
YOUTHS -- MEMBERS OF THE YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE -- BLOCKED THE 
VIEW FROM WESTERN PHOTOGRAPHERS, THE STUDENTS REGROUPED, MARCHED THROUGH THE HEART 
OF MOSCOW SINGING FREEDOM SONGS . BUT THE POLICE REGROUPED TOO, 
AND NEAR RED SQUARE, OFFICIALS COMMANDEERED MORE TRUCKS TO BLOCK THE 
ENTRANCE . LOUDSPEAKERS BLARED "ENTRY TO RED SQUARE IS CLOSED," BUT 
THE AFRICANS SQUEEZED THROUGH A SPACE BETWEEN TWO TRUCKS; AS TWO 
STUDENTS DROPPED A POLICEMAN WITH A FLYING TACKLE, OTHER MARCHERS GRAPPLED 
WITH COPS ON TOP OF THE VEHICLES . "IT'S NATURAL ." 
ONCE AGAIN POLICE GAVE WAY . THE HORDE RACED ACROSS RED 
SQUARE, UP AN INCLINE NOT FAR FROM NIKITA'S WINDOW (HE WAS 
OUT INSPECTING AN ECONOMICS EXHIBITION), PAST LENIN'S GRANITE MAUSOLEUM, AND ON 
TOWARD THE HISTORIC SPASSKY GATE THAT LEADS TO THE INNER KREMLIN 
GROUNDS . AT THAT MOMENT THE HUGE IRON GATES CLANGED SHUT 
. USING SOUND TRUCKS, THE POLICE PLEADED WITH THE STUDENTS TO 
DISPERSE, BUT FOR TWO MORE HOURS THEY ARGUED AND JOSTLED WITH 
POLICE . OGLING THE DEMONSTRATION WERE THOUSANDS OF RUSSIANS, WHO WATCHED 
FROM THE STREET AND FROM THE WINDOWS OF GUM, THE BIG 
STATE-OWNED DEPARTMENT STORE, UNTIL EMPLOYEES CURTAINED OFF THE UNCOMRADELY SCENE . 
FINALLY ABOUT 100 STUDENTS WERE ALLOWED TO INTERVIEW SOVIET MINISTER OF 
HIGHER EDUCATION VYACHESLAV ELIUTIN, WHO PROMISED AN INVESTIGATION OF THE STUDENT'S 
DEATH . IT WAS A STORMY, TWO-HOUR SESSION, WITH AFRICANS DEMANDING 
AN END TO ALL FORMS OF OFFICIAL DISCRIMINATION . "AFRICAN STUDENTS 
GET BEATEN UP EVERY DAY," ONE PROTESTED . "AND SOVIET POLICEMEN 
DO NOTHING ." NEITHER DID GHANA'S AMBASSADOR TO MOSCOW J.B. ELLIOT 
. NEXT DAY, AS STUDENTS AGAIN MASSED NEAR THE EMBASSY, HE 
CLOSED THE BUILDING (FOR "REPAIRS" TO DAMAGED FURNITURE), RAISED NO OBJECTION 
AS POLICE HERDED THE ANGRY GHANAIANS AWAY . ELLIOT TRIED TO 
LAUGH OFF THE MELEE, DISMISSED TALK OF WIDESPREAD BIAS AGAINST STUDENTS 
AS NOTHING BUT "RUMORS ." RELATIONS WITH SOVIET STUDENTS ARE CORDIAL, 
HE INSISTED . "BUT IT'S NATURAL TO TAKE A PUNCH AT 
EACH OTHER ." FUTILE PROTEST . EVEN KREMLIN PROPAGANDISTS DID NOT 
MAKE THAT NONSENSICAL CLAIM . INSTEAD, THE RUSSIANS CLAMPED A TIGHT 
CENSORSHIP ON THE EMBARRASSING AFFAIR, FOR TWO DAYS DID NOT PRINT 
OR BROADCAST ONE WORD ABOUT THE RIOT ALL MOSCOW WAS TALKING 
ABOUT . FINALLY, IZVESTIA ISSUED A STERN WARNING TO THE STUDENTS, 
TOLD THEM TO "RESPECT SOVIET LAWS" OR GET OUT OF THE 
COUNTRY . PRAGUE HAS ERUPTED IN TWO RACE RIOTS WITHIN TWO 
YEARS . LAST FEBRUARY IN SOFIA, BULGARIAN MILITIAMEN WIELDED CLUBS AGAINST 
200 GHANAIANS WHO WERE MARCHING DOWN THE MAIN STREET DEMANDING NOTHING 
MORE THAN THEIR OWN CAMPUS ORGANIZATION . IN MOSCOW, AFRICANS HAVE 
BEEN SMOLDERING FOR YEARS OVER THINLY DISGUISED RACIAL DISCRIMINATION . EXCEPT 
FOR A TOKEN NUMBER OF RUSSIAN STUDENTS, THE DINING ROOMS AND 
DORMITORIES OF LUMUMBA U . (WHICH AFRICANS SARDONICALLY CALL "APARTHEID U 
.") ARE SEGREGATED . AFRICANS FIND IT DIFFICULT TO DATE A 
RUSSIAN GIRL . STUDENTS SQUIRM AT THE STARES THEY GET IN 
PUBLIC AND OBJECT TO POOR SERVICE THEY OFTEN RECEIVE IN RESTAURANTS 
. DESPITE PROFESSIONS OF BROTHERHOOD, MANY RUSSIANS STILL THINK AFRICANS ARE 
HALF-CIVILIZED STRANGERS WHO HAVE JUST EMERGED FROM THE JUNGLE . " 
WE TOO ARE PEOPLE, NOT ANIMALS," CRIED ONE SIGN CARRIED BY 
STUDENTS WHO SURGED THROUGH MOSCOW'S STREETS LAST WEEK . TO WHICH 
ONE RUSSIAN REPLIED, OBVIOUSLY GROANING UNDER THE WEIGHT OF THE IMPERIALIST 
WHITE MAN'S BURDEN: "WE HELP THEM AND GIVE THEM AN EDUCATION 
. THEN THEY TURN AGAINST US ." 