July 18, 2025 • 7 mins
What do you do when the refuge you seek turns out to be just as dangerous as the one you fled? Francine thought she had found safety in Moscow, confidently stating, "I feel safer in Russia than I ever did in the United States." However, her optimism was shattered when racist neighbors attacked her, leaving her bruised and bloodied. Instead of compassion, she faced mockery online, with many believing her naivety deserved punishment.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right.
Question what do you do whenyou run from the fire, only to
land into the furnace?
Y'all All right.
Well, this is what happened toa young lady who left the United
States and ran to the USSR.
All right, all right, all right, peace, family, you're tuning
(00:24):
into the sound of the only onemic podcast, mic Drop Show, and
this is where we break down theday's biggest moves in culture
and community throughconversations that matter.
Now, I'm not here to tell youwhat to think, folks.
I'm just here to lay out thewhole thing for you.
All right, so I want you tobrace yourself for this story.
Okay, Because this is real deep.
All right, so we want to tobrace yourself for this story.
(00:45):
Ok, because this is real deep.
All right, so we're going toget into it.
A black woman from the US by thename of Francine Villa made a
bold move.
This is what she did, guys.
She said I had enough of racismin America and, instead of
staying, she relocated to Russia, thinking it would be a safe
haven and that's her words asafe haven.
But what do you think happened,yo?
What do you think would happenonce she got there?
(01:05):
Right?
She got brutally attacked byher racist neighbors beaten so
badly, her mouth was bloody, herface was swollen and her body
was covered in bruises.
And here's what she postedbefore the attack I'm safer
quote I'm safer in Moscow than Iever was in the United States.
(01:25):
And then the beating came, andit wasn't just covered, you know
, in the BET article that I read.
I also read a Times of Indiaarticle when they picked up the
story and they pointed out howsocial media users were quick to
weaponize her words against her.
Now one person said, and Iquote of all places, you chose
the whitest.
(01:46):
One Another asked, and I quoteagain so how's that safe haven
working out?
Now I'm going to play a clip ofFrancine talking about what
prompted her move to Russia andher experience while living
there, and this clip comescourtesy of the documentary
Black in the USSR.
You can check this out onYouTube.
(02:06):
I want y'all to listen to whatFrancine had to say in her own
words.
Check this out.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I remember, like it was yesterday.
I asked for help from thepolice, where it was like an
emergency, and then I became thevictim.
I had three police officersgrab me and just throw me down
on the ground and I had a bruiseon my hand, bruise on my arms.
I thought they were going tokill me.
(02:35):
I thought they were going toshoot me.
It was by three Caucasianofficers.
It was the worst experience ofmy life that I probably do not
want to ever, ever live again.
I was so shooken because I grewup in a normal Russian Orthodox
family.
You know we're not gangsters.
(02:56):
You know no one has a gun.
We don't have any hoodies.
I thought the police was thereto help me.
Why aren't they helping me?
We don't have any hoodies.
I thought the police was thereto help me.
Why aren't they helping me?
It's history that's repeateditself over and over and over
again and it hasn't been fixed.
When my great-grandfather,george Times, experienced that
discrimination in 19, you know,during the Great Depression
(03:17):
civil rights movement it's thesame thing, just in a different
version.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
We do not cooperate in the company of the arresting
officer.
I don't need that information,just in a different version.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I've been living in Moscow for one year exactly.
I teach English, I'm a teacher,I feel free living in Russia
because in Russia, no matterwhat time it is, I can walk
outside and I'm safe.
We're sitting outside the metroin this little benchy area.
(03:58):
I remember the police officers,two police officers walking
towards us and my heart'sbeating fast like boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom.
Why?
Because you know, living inAmerica, you see police, you're
traumatized and I was like I'mscared.
And then she's like oh, myfriend just moved here from
America and she's Russian.
He's like, really, five minuteslater, that same police officer
(04:23):
comes back with the biggestbouquet of flowers a stranger
and tells me welcome to Russia,you belong here.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Wake up, nigga.
All right, let's be clear.
Let's be clear.
This isn't about Russia.
This ain't about America either.
This is about the global reachof anti-blackness.
Colonialism didn't just buildempires, folks.
It built ideas, ideas that madedark skin synonymous with
threat, with danger.
With less than, and this sister, she learned the hard way that
(04:59):
you can change your location,but you cannot change the system
.
All right, now this is thething the backlash that she's
getting online.
That's a whole other form ofviolence.
Instead of solidarity, a lot ofpeople are clowning her.
Instead of being empathetic,they're throwing memes and,
(05:21):
instead of asking how we protecteach other, folks are saying
she deserved it.
Now, you know it's kind of atwisted mindset.
If you think about it, allright, but you know, as a black
woman gets beat on foreign soiland your first reaction is
laughter, all right, but now wegot to, you know, got to bring
this to you family.
What does escape even look likefor us in 2025?
(05:42):
Can you escape this?
Can you think you can justleave and just never follow you
If you can't be black and safein America and if you can't be
black and safe in Russia, if youcan't be black and safe on your
job or in your neighborhood orin your own skin?
Where do you go?
We got to stop dreaming of safespaces and start building them.
(06:03):
How we do that spiritually,mentally and physically, because
if we keep waiting for whitesupremacy to play nice, we'll be
waiting forever.
The Only One Mike podcast isavailable on all major platforms
.
You're streaming your podcastson, so, wherever you listen,
that's where we are.
Please check out our youtubechannel to catch up on our past
and current episodes and don'tforget to rate the show and
(06:25):
subscribe also.
Um, I just want to just stopand say thank you for all of the
new subscribers to the show.
You know, as I said before, theshow is starting to grow,
starting to get a little wingsat least this section of the
show, um, and I wanted to saythank you and hope that you keep
liking and subscribing and alsosharing these topics so that
(06:46):
way we can have some type ofdiscussion about it and also
helps more than you know.
Follow us and connect with us onInstagram and X slash Twitter
at the only one Mike P, facebookand LinkedIn at
TheOnlyOneMikePodcast, and youcan email us at TheOnlyOneMike00
at gmailcom.
You can call or text us at302-367-7219.
(07:11):
Your voice your questions.
Your take could be featured onthe show.
So what do you think y'all?
She got a little wake-up call,you know, thinking that she can
run away from your skin prettymuch.
You can't do that.
You don't think you're going tojust run away from your
appearance and how you look andhow people perceive you.
Unfortunately, that's the worldwe live in.
(07:32):
Carl Gerard, the only one Mikepodcast.
Mike drop show Peace.
All right.
Question what do you do whenyou run from the fire, only to
land into the furnace?
Y'all All right.
Well, this is what happened toa young lady who left the United
States and ran to the USSR.
All right, all right, all right, peace, family, you're tuning
(00:24):
into the sound of the only onemic podcast, mic Drop Show, and
this is where we break down theday's biggest moves in culture
and community throughconversations that matter.
Now, I'm not here to tell youwhat to think, folks.
I'm just here to lay out thewhole thing for you.
All right, so I want you tobrace yourself for this story.
Okay, Because this is real deep.
All right, so we want to tobrace yourself for this story.
(00:45):
Ok, because this is real deep.
All right, so we're going toget into it.
A black woman from the US by thename of Francine Villa made a
bold move.
This is what she did, guys.
She said I had enough of racismin America and, instead of
staying, she relocated to Russia, thinking it would be a safe
haven and that's her words asafe haven.
But what do you think happened,yo?
What do you think would happenonce she got there?
(01:05):
Right?
She got brutally attacked byher racist neighbors beaten so
badly, her mouth was bloody, herface was swollen and her body
was covered in bruises.
And here's what she postedbefore the attack I'm safer
quote I'm safer in Moscow than Iever was in the United States.
(01:25):
And then the beating came, andit wasn't just covered, you know
, in the BET article that I read.
I also read a Times of Indiaarticle when they picked up the
story and they pointed out howsocial media users were quick to
weaponize her words against her.
Now one person said, and Iquote of all places, you chose
the whitest.
(01:46):
One Another asked, and I quoteagain so how's that safe haven
working out?
Now I'm going to play a clip ofFrancine talking about what
prompted her move to Russia andher experience while living
there, and this clip comescourtesy of the documentary
Black in the USSR.
You can check this out onYouTube.
(02:06):
I want y'all to listen to whatFrancine had to say in her own
words.
Check this out.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I remember, like it was yesterday.
I asked for help from thepolice, where it was like an
emergency, and then I became thevictim.
I had three police officersgrab me and just throw me down
on the ground and I had a bruiseon my hand, bruise on my arms.
I thought they were going tokill me.
(02:35):
I thought they were going toshoot me.
It was by three Caucasianofficers.
It was the worst experience ofmy life that I probably do not
want to ever, ever live again.
I was so shooken because I grewup in a normal Russian Orthodox
family.
You know we're not gangsters.
(02:56):
You know no one has a gun.
We don't have any hoodies.
I thought the police was thereto help me.
Why aren't they helping me?
We don't have any hoodies.
I thought the police was thereto help me.
Why aren't they helping me?
It's history that's repeateditself over and over and over
again and it hasn't been fixed.
When my great-grandfather,george Times, experienced that
discrimination in 19, you know,during the Great Depression
(03:17):
civil rights movement it's thesame thing, just in a different
version.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
We do not cooperate in the company of the arresting
officer.
I don't need that information,just in a different version.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I've been living in Moscow for one year exactly.
I teach English, I'm a teacher,I feel free living in Russia
because in Russia, no matterwhat time it is, I can walk
outside and I'm safe.
We're sitting outside the metroin this little benchy area.
(03:58):
I remember the police officers,two police officers walking
towards us and my heart'sbeating fast like boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom.
Why?
Because you know, living inAmerica, you see police, you're
traumatized and I was like I'mscared.
And then she's like oh, myfriend just moved here from
America and she's Russian.
He's like, really, five minuteslater, that same police officer
(04:23):
comes back with the biggestbouquet of flowers a stranger
and tells me welcome to Russia,you belong here.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Wake up, nigga.
All right, let's be clear.
Let's be clear.
This isn't about Russia.
This ain't about America either.
This is about the global reachof anti-blackness.
Colonialism didn't just buildempires, folks.
It built ideas, ideas that madedark skin synonymous with
threat, with danger.
With less than, and this sister, she learned the hard way that
(04:59):
you can change your location,but you cannot change the system
.
All right, now this is thething the backlash that she's
getting online.
That's a whole other form ofviolence.
Instead of solidarity, a lot ofpeople are clowning her.
Instead of being empathetic,they're throwing memes and,
(05:21):
instead of asking how we protecteach other, folks are saying
she deserved it.
Now, you know it's kind of atwisted mindset.
If you think about it, allright, but you know, as a black
woman gets beat on foreign soiland your first reaction is
laughter, all right, but now wegot to, you know, got to bring
this to you family.
What does escape even look likefor us in 2025?
(05:42):
Can you escape this?
Can you think you can justleave and just never follow you
If you can't be black and safein America and if you can't be
black and safe in Russia, if youcan't be black and safe on your
job or in your neighborhood orin your own skin?
Where do you go?
We got to stop dreaming of safespaces and start building them.
(06:03):
How we do that spiritually,mentally and physically, because
if we keep waiting for whitesupremacy to play nice, we'll be
waiting forever.
The Only One Mike podcast isavailable on all major platforms
.
You're streaming your podcastson, so, wherever you listen,
that's where we are.
Please check out our youtubechannel to catch up on our past
and current episodes and don'tforget to rate the show and
(06:25):
subscribe also.
Um, I just want to just stopand say thank you for all of the
new subscribers to the show.
You know, as I said before, theshow is starting to grow,
starting to get a little wingsat least this section of the
show, um, and I wanted to saythank you and hope that you keep
liking and subscribing and alsosharing these topics so that
(06:46):
way we can have some type ofdiscussion about it and also
helps more than you know.
Follow us and connect with us onInstagram and X slash Twitter
at the only one Mike P, facebookand LinkedIn at
TheOnlyOneMikePodcast, and youcan email us at TheOnlyOneMike00
at gmailcom.
You can call or text us at302-367-7219.
(07:11):
Your voice your questions.
Your take could be featured onthe show.
So what do you think y'all?
She got a little wake-up call,you know, thinking that she can
run away from your skin prettymuch.
You can't do that.
You don't think you're going tojust run away from your
appearance and how you look andhow people perceive you.
Unfortunately, that's the worldwe live in.
(07:32):
Carl Gerard, the only one Mikepodcast.
Mike drop show Peace.
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