Friday, February 23. 2007
Every February, millions of Americans and Canadians celebrate Black History Month, sometimes referred to as African-American History Month or African Heritage Month. While the month-long series of events discusses oppression and prejudices against people of color, the main aim is to recognize the rich history and culture and significant contributions to society made by people with African heritage.
The United Kingdom has a Black History Month in October of every year. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote in February 2006 that the Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland ("Black People in Germany Initiative") has been organizing a Black History Month in Germany since 1990 but I have not found much information on their homepage. In order to shed more light on the history and contributions of black people in Germany, the Atlantic Review has teamed up with Jewels in the Jungle blogger Bill, an African-American who has been living in Germany for years, as well as two Afro-German friends of his: Patrick and Patricia.
"Black Germans? Are you serious?"
Answer: Definitely! About.com guide Hyde Flippo, a retired teacher of German language, history, and literature in the U.S.A. provides some statistics and some history:
Black Germans? Non-Germans may be understandably surprised to learn that there are Afro-Germans (Afrodeutsche), but many Germans themselves are unaware of the concept of a German who is also black (ein Schwarzer). While compared to other minorities, such as the 2 million Turks living in Germany, blacks are definitely a tiny minority among Germany's 82 million people. While EU countries do not keep track of ethnicity, there are an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 Blacks living in Germany today.Mr. Flippo provides a lot more information about African Americans in Germany and lists some famous Afro-Germans which includes well-known entertainers like Roberto Blanco (very popular with older Germans) and singer Xavier Naidoo (a big star with younger Germans), as well as two members of the German National Soccer Team (Gerald Asamoah, David Odonkor), and ZDF-TV network morning news anchor Cherno Jobatey.
While Germany does not have a series of big events labeled "Black History Month," there are nevertheless quite a few projects that highlight Afro-Germans.
Below the jump, this Atlantic Review post presents some quotes from articles about various Afro-German artists and their views on life in Germany, followed by a few thoughts on the concept of Black History Month:
• The Sueddeutsche Zeitung interviewed the Nigerian-German musician Adé Bantu about Afro-German identity issues. Adé Bantu also founded the anti-racism Hip-Hop music project Brothers Keepers e.V. a non-profit organization with over 90 Afro-German musicians and performers including top stars Xavier Naidoo, Mamadee, Afrob, Samy Deluxe, Eased (Seeed), Patrice und Gentleman et Al.
• The documentary "Yes I Am" describes the biographies of several Afro-German artists and "social acceptance of African-Germans offstage" ("gesellschaftliche Akzeptanz von Afrodeutschen abseits der Bühne"). The Hamburger Abendblatt writes that the documentary premiered in German cinemas on February 15, 2007. I imagine that this event could be considered part of a German Black History Month although no one has promoted the event as such.
• "African-German Filmmakers Hope to Open Up 'New Perspectives,'" writes David Gordon Smith in Spiegel International about a special series at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale):
The African-German community has a long history, but the sizeable minority is often overlooked in a country where being German is often considered to mean being white. Now a group of black German filmmakers is trying to change that. (...)The article continues to discuss stereotypical roles in German films and points out "There is no Denzel here" and that "black filmmakers in Germany have a lot of catching up to do compared with the United States, where the Black Filmmaker Foundation is an integral part of the filmmaking scene."
The "New Perspectives" series at the Berlinale is organized by the association Schwarze Filmschaffende in Deutschland (SFD) ("Black Artists in German Film").
• "New Perspectives" also features the documentary, "And We Were Germans," about one of the best-known African-Germans, Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi, who grew up in Germany during the Third Reich. His memoir "Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany" was a bestseller in Germany and was made into a TV movie, as the above Spiegel article points out.
The British Black Information Link describes Black Germans as "Hitler’s invisible victims:"
Their story is largely untold, their battle for compensation mostly fruitless. Thousands of African descent perished in Nazis concentration camps, the New Nation reports today. Many survivors have since died of old age, their place in history forgotten.This reporter spoke exclusively to two Afro-Germans, both in their 80s, who revealed their extraordinary story of living under an ever-present fear of death.
• The Atlantic Review has previously written about the musical "Martin Luther King - The King of Love" which premiered in Berlin on February 2, 2007 and will be performed in churches all over Germany. The well known German TV personality Ron Williams has written the musical and stars as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He has also starred in "One Night of Ray Charles - The Genius of Soul."
Ron Williams was born in California, joined the US Army's military police and came as a GI to Germany in the 60s. He was the first African-American radio-DJ at the US military radio station AFN. He has appeared in countless German shows on stage and on TV. He is a singer, comedian, actor, entertainer, moderator etc. One of his latest projects Mr. Williams received the Federal Cross of Merit in 2004 from the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. Check out his homepage: RON WILLIAMS (mostly in German).
Bill, author of the Jewels in the Jungle blog, informed me that he once met Ron Williams in San Francisco back in the '90's while he was on a business trip in the Bay Area. Bill described a scene from that chance meeting with Ron Williams as follows:
Is Black History Month a good thing?
A Black History Month should not give the wrong impression of Afro-Germans trying to segregate or differentiate themselves, while in fact they just want to be more accepted and seen as ordinary Germans. See the above quote from the Spiegel International article or the above mentioned Sueddeutsche Zeitung interview with Adé Bantu, who says that the most shared common characteristic of black Germans is being German. Links to Africa are not very strong for most. (Perhaps someone could summarize the interview into English. That would be great.)
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