The death of George Floyd was probably the first occasion that several friends and Acquaintances have written to me because of a racist act of violence. Some told me how they felt, others wrote that they were there for me. A message caught my eye. “Aren’t You happy to live in the Moment in the USA?” asked a German friend on WhatsApp. “The recent events are, unfortunately, very sad.”
I needed almost a whole day before I could reply. It is not a relief for me that I live in Germany. I’m shocked and frustrated. For years, black men and women are killed and been killed, even by police officers, simply because they are black. George Floyd’s history reminds us that racist violence is sometimes fatal.
Not a Problem solely of the USA
The protests in US cities and now in some European cities, the disappointment and the despair, the feeling Black in the face of institutional and structural racism show. We should not deceive ourselves into thinking that this alone would be a US-American Problem. Racism against Blacks in the Western world is omnipresent.
In London in 2011 there were protests, as police officers of Mark Duggan, a black British, had a shot. In France in 2005, mass protests and riots followed after the two Teenagers Bouna Traoré and Zyed Benna died by a power surge, after they fled from police in a transformer house. A third teenager, Muhittin Altun, was seriously injured but survived. In the same year, verb Oury Jalloh from Sierra Leone, ran in Dessau in the Eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt in a police cell, on a sun tied up.
It may be for some Europeans, just to look at the incidents in the USA and to say that something happened here – but black Europeans can not afford this luxury. For them, racism in Europe is very much alive, despite the fact that the racist police don’t appear the violence here is so uninhibited in the media. This is one reason that George Floyd’s death, the hereafter of the United States has so-called wide protests: The events there open wounds.
of slavery and colonialism, to determine the perception of
In the perception of what it means to be black, to distinguish Western societies is not essential. Their performances are mainly determined by two historical events: slavery and colonialism.
In his book “Afropäisch – A journey through the black of Europe,” writes British author Johny Pitts, the transatlantic slave trade played a significant role in how the West ethnic groups perceives. The through and support – though often unconsciously – the hierarchies in the Western civilizations in the world.
Unfortunately, the representations in the media and the curricula in schools hardly help to change the way we view ethnic affiliations.
The message of my friend who asked me if I was happy to be living in Germany, was clearly ignorant of the everyday racism in this country. The German National action plan against racism, to be referred to black people by 2017 as one of the five groups of people that carry a high risk to experience racism. This, however, came only after the UN had not made the Committee against racial discrimination for years pressure, because Berlin fought vigorously enough against discrimination.
is Hardly any awareness of racism in Europe
in Germany alone in Europe. The lack of mindfulness and the public’s awareness of racism on the whole of the continent is striking. And it is hard to get a clear picture of how racial discrimination People of Color affected specifically, as data are not collected, except in the UK.
in the light of the current protests in the US, it is to assert neither the time nor the place for Europeans, the Situation is better here. You only have to look at Greece and its dealings with the refugees. People of Color, especially Black, often suffer due to the behavior of the authorities and the society as a Whole. Just recently, the European network declared against racism, that ethnic minorities are affected during the Corona pandemic, particularly from Racial Profiling and police violence.
The death of George Floyd reminded once more on institutional and structural racism in Europe – the Aminata Touré notes, rising star of African origin in the German policy in the sky, in a commentary for the online magazine “Bento”: “You have to make clear how to measure a statement like ‘Be be happy here. In the USA, Black shot not be here!’, is.”
we read nothing about the Dead, does not mean that racism in Europe is not a Problem. There is no race to the bottom, when it comes to forms of injustice. Our solidarity we can best show when we mention George Floyd and then racial injustices discuss and how you weigh the lives of people in our own communities – so that we can prevent it.
author: Chiponda Chimbelu
*The post “comment: George Floyd’s death is reminiscent of Europe’s racism” will be published by Deutsche Welle. Contact with the executives here.
Deutsche Welle
