Academician, writer, curator and filmmaker Doctor Natasha A. Kelly said that racism against black people continues at the institutional level in Germany, and especially when it comes to black women, the feminism movement ignores the problems of these women.
Kelly stated that she never felt represented in Germany, where she moved as a child.
"I grew up in a small village in northern Germany. Back then, I always thought I was the only one, like I was the only black girl there. But when I moved to bigger cities, I realized I wasn't alone, there was a long history of black people in the country," Kelly said.
Kelly stated that although the black presence in the country dates back approximately 600 years, black history was not included in the curriculum, and that this caused him to focus on race, gender and identity issues in his academic career.
Kelly pointed out that he encountered various difficulties on the way to becoming an academic and continued as follows:
"I struggled to define myself as both black and German. These are not two separate things but parts of a holistic identity. I then had to dig deep to find texts by black writers where I would feel represented in the media, politics, society, school, books, and even university. What helped me through this process was to realize that these issues were not Natasha Kelly's personal issues. These were problems that most of us experienced in society, and these problems were actually related to the fact that we have a collective identity and the existence of black people in Germany dates back nearly 600 years," Kelly added.
"RACISM AGAINST BLACKS IS AT THE INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL IN GERMANY"
Pointing out that there are problems at the institutional level regarding racism against black people in Germany, Kelly said, "One of the biggest problems black people face in Germany is racial profiling by the police. There are also civil rights issues in the context of immigration and refugee policies. We saw the closest example of this in the Russia-Ukraine War. African students were not allowed to leave the war zone because they were black. This shows how specifically institutional racism continues when it comes to the black population."
Kelly stated that the authorities criminalize black people.
"They see us as illegal, inferior and dangerous. This leads to police violence. In Germany, a 16-year-old black boy was recently shot more than 30 times. I'm not sure of the number, but the number of bullets fired from the police's gun was very high and this child was mentally unstable. However, if that child were white, he would receive medical help and support, but this did not happen because he was black," Kelly added.
Reminding that the murder of black man George Floyd by police violence in Minneapolis, USA, on May 25, 2020, had great repercussions around the world, Kelly made the following assessment:
"I'm sorry to say this; It took a man dying across the ocean for the media and politics to listen to what the black community had been saying for centuries. With the killing or assassination of George Floyd, the issue of racism has become a hot topic, and in my years of activism, I have never seen this issue given this much attention. It did not take long for this interest to shift from black people and their lives to white people and how white people think and feel. The issue of racism has literally been usurped from black people."