When I went to London on exchange, one of my house mates was German and a mixed-race guy was interested in her. Initially she didn’t know how to deal with the situation. We all though what is wrong with this girl, Boy likes you, Girl likes boy, simple! She thought of it slightly differently. He was black. It wasn’t that she had anything again people, she just didn’t know how to relate to black people. She admitted that never really interacted with black people before. She grew up in an area where there weren’t any black people. Now I kind of understood where she was coming from but I didn’t at the same time. I became quite curious about the experiences of black people in Germany.
Witnessed is now feeding my curiosity. Witnessed is a book series written by black authors, who live or have lived in Germany. This engaging concept was created by Sharon Dodua Otoo, who realised that people outside of Germany don’t know about the experiences of black people in Germany. She writes “It is also incredible how little voice Black people within Germany have, despite decades of activism, academic research, creative publications and performances. So I thought – fine! If we don’t find recognition within Germany, we surely can on an international stage”.
SOURCE: AFRO-EUROPE
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