In LA's Russian diaspora, feelings of pride jostle with shame, guilt and fear
LOS ANGELES -- The day Russia attacked Ukraine, Alya Michelson's daughter came home from school distressed.
The young girl told her mother that she felt humiliated — ashamed, even — of her Russian heritage. She worried that she would be bullied when her Brentwood classmates learned more about Russian President Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion, which already has resulted in hundreds of casualties and driven more than 2 million refugees from their country.
"You shouldn't feel responsible," Michelson recalled telling the 12-year-old as she sat with her in bed that night. "Especially, as an American, you have no control."
In California, where the roots of the Russian-speaking community date from before the Alaska purchase of 1867, members of the diaspora have found themselves thrust into the center of a war thousands of miles away. Some worry that they will be associated with, and blamed for, Putin's incursion despite having left their homeland years, if not decades, ago.
Others born in Russia who feel tied to Ukrainians by the threads that link their homelands
