Where black Germans fear to tread.

last updated 8 January 2015

Germany

John Kantara

I’m a native-born German citizen, said John Kantara in Hamburg’s Die Zeit, but I’ll never be considered a true German. That’s because, while my mother comes from the Rhineland, my father came from Ghana. “Afro-Germans” like me know better than anyone else the depth of racism that still exists in this country, decades after the repeal of Hitler’s racial purity laws. During the ’70s and ’80s, when “multi-culti” was all the rage, we thought a colorblind society was within reach. “But then the Wall came down.” With the reunification of East and West Germany came “the first wave of racist violence.” As the eastern states struggled with unemployment and upheaval during their transition to capitalism and democracy, easterners sought scapegoats. The 1990s saw the rise of neo-Nazi groups in Berlin and in neighboring Brandenburg state. African students were beaten up; Turks were murdered. The ugly trend continues to this day. A German politician recently warned people of color coming to Germany for the soccer World Cup this summer to “avoid certain parts of Berlin or Brandenburg.” He was roundly criticized—but he was right. My 4-year-old son wants to know why we aren’t going to a street fair in Brandenburg. I can’t tell him the truth about his country, “not yet.” He’ll learn soon enough.