"Decency Is Not Enough": Even after Germany Welcomed in Millions of African Migrants, Black Lives Matter Now Label the Country Racist

The Black - Lives - Matter movement is known mainly from the USA, among other things the police there against blacks. Why do you organize a demonstration in Germany under the same name?



Josephine Apraku : Racism is also alive in Germany and painful everyday life for many black people. For example, they do not have the same access to education, to the employment and housing market. They are pulled out of circulation during police checks, disproportionately often, and they experience racist violence . And their identity as a German is recognized.



ZEIT ONLINE : What do you mean by that?


Apraku : In the US, for example, it is not at all questionable that blacks have a US citizenship. Terms like Black American are quite self-evident. Black people in Germany, on the other hand, are not thought of as German after many generations. The term Afrodeutsch is for many a contradiction. In their logic one can not be black and German.



ZEIT ONLINE : On the other hand, blacks are being shot on the street in the USA. This does not sound like a state that should be modeled on anti-racism.



Apraku : When we deal with the issue of racism, we quickly organize the violence - as if resistance were necessary only when real life is threatened. I believe that it is always worthwhile to work for equality and equal participation. For example, if the human rights are not respected by a friend, then that is always my human rights. If we are universally committed to equality, then we are always committed to ourselves.