Thread by @SharonDoduaOtoo

Last night I reluctantly entered a discussion about the @buchmesse shortlist and then only left about 2% of my thoughts there. It looks einigermaßen ridiculous for me to be commenting seeing as the debate partly revolves around the omission of #AdasRaum. But in my defence
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I do have track record in writing about the marginalisation of Black people in German arts - see for example: My essay on German theatre in "The Little Book of Big Visions" edition-assemblage.de/buecher/the-li… or my article "Correct me if I'm (politically) wrong" micmovement.com/2013/04/correc…
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As well as my statement during the #BlackLivesMatter summer of 2020 (remember that?!) in my speech "Dürfen Schwarze Blumen Malen?"
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So now I'm here, I'd like to add my thoughts to some of the criticisms that #AllZuWeiss, the open letter commenting on the Leipzig shortlist and the situation in German language literature in general has received. Here is the letter: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…
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An often repeated criticism is that many/most of the signatories are based in the UK/US. Black activists and activists of colour in DE having been hearing this argument for time immemorial. "Racism doesn't exist here, it's a US problem" is something we have often been told.
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Or that Blackface & N-Word discussions are imported and have nothing to with Germany. This is ahistorical. Black resistance to racism has been happening since racism began, *whereever* it existed. Just because you don't know about it, doesn't mean it wasn't happening.
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Archiving Black history in Germany has been an uphill battle. We were not meant to survive here. Black German-Cameroonians have been executed for asserting their human rights (Rudolf Manga Bell). Black Germans have been denied citizenship due to colonial laws (Gerson Liebl).
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Black Germans were sterilised (Hans Hauck) & denaturalised (Theodor Wonja Michael). We know of these stories because organisations like ADEFRA, @ISDBund and @EOTOBerlin have been researching, documenting, publishing, community building - against huge barriers
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Please don't erase the work that Black people in Germany have been doing! Quite apart from the fact that as @mahaelhissy correctly states: individuals on the list who *are* German but work in the US/UK are being incorrectly and unfairly expatriated by these remarks.
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The amount of courage it takes for a Black person living & working in this context, dependent on the very structures they would seek to criticise, to sign this letter, should not be underestimated.
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Everyone based in Germany (and is somehow connected to this literature industry) who signed this letter has my deepest respect. Especially those who directly experience racist discrimination and marginalisation. (How many didn't sign, but actually agree with the letter?)
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I have often claimed that Germany is diverse and has always been so. We still live in a society where many queer people are closeted, where many disabled people try to hide their disabilities, where if a person can pass as white, the may feel forced do so.
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That is the real cancel culture. Not the (admittedly sometimes imperfect) attempts to redress the imbalance. My claim is where there is an appearance of homogeneity, there is almost certainly marginalisation. Which means the pursuit of representation will never end
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But I also believe the more representation there is, the better for everyone: for readers, for writers, for bookstores, for publishers, for critics ... everyone! The mutual inspiration will lead to better writing, DE literature will become richer ... and Black stories are 🔥
/End