The murder of the young Angolan Amadeu Antonio Kiowa in the town of Eberswalde near Berlin in December 1990 marked the beginning of a series of racist attacks on Black people . While the old Federal Republic welcomed 17 million brothers and sisters from East Germany into the new , unified German nation , Black people in the old East and West sections of our country feared for their lives .
Gert Schramm , November 25 , 1928 . April 18 , 2016
“ Today we feel anger , sadness and fear in view of the wave of racist and right-wing extremist violence that has threatened us Blacks and all other immigrants , refugees and supposedly ‘ non-Aryan ’ people since the German- German unification process ,” the afro look wrote in 1991 .
Since then , racist violence in Germany has claimed hundreds of lives . In 2020 , the Verfassungsschutz ( Office for the Protection of the Constitution ) registered a 10 percent increase in right-wing extremist acts of violence compared to 2019 . And last year , it registered almost 21.000 crimes by right-wing extremists . Even thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall , the color of your skin makes you the target
of hatred , prejudice , fears , and “ erotic ” fantasies . Continuity .
I experienced life in the East and the West since , as you know , I grew up in East Berlin . Your grandfather came from Guinea to East Germany as a student in February 1964 . As his plane touched down at Berlin ’ s Schönefeld Airport in the depths of winter , he never dreamed that 55 years later he would be able to share his story with his grandchildren . How he studied German at the Herder Institute in the town of Leipzig , the so-called Institut der Freundschaft , and met other students from Cuba , Syria and the entire African continent there .
When your grandfather was supposed to return to Guinea after completing his studies , he already had a family in East Berlin . He wanted to stay , but he was not allowed . My childhood was marked by beautiful memories - weekends at my
Get involved , question things . But also stop , listen , and respect each other . Be happy and be proud . Germans and our history .
grandmother ’ s property at Müggelsee , holidays with my mother at the Baltic Sea . But all of this was overshadowed by my father ’ s absence . I missed the mirror , the projection surface , the certainty that there were people who looked like me . And that they have their own story that is more exciting than what little I learned at school about the African continent . Josh and Josie , you are very lucky to have your grandfather with you today . I know that you always listen to him with fascination when he tells you a new anecdote .
A lot has changed in this , our home country , since my youth . Our society has become more diverse , more controversial . A key experience for me was the publication of the book Showing Our Colors . Afro-German Women Speak Out . I remember a reading in the mid-1980s in a Berlin backyard full of Black people . And on the podium were wonderful Black women who shared their own stories and experiences .
We came together , especially in big cities like Frankfurt , Berlin and Munich , and decided to organize the Initiative of Black People in Germany ( ISD ) and the Black Women ’ s Movement ( ADEFRA ). There was a lot of optimism . We started our
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