I have learned to deal with racist comments in Erfurt, but this is the only time I've really been thinking about moving out of here. I don't mind being the subject of taunts, I've got a thick hide. But how about Antonio?
Ermutigung und Dank an couragierten jungen Mann
Ein Überfall auf einen jungen Mann am Ostermontag wurde gestern in der Landeshauptstadt diskutiert. Vergeblich hatte er auf dem Anger um Hilfe gerufen, als er eine Asiatin schützen wollte und dafür selbst angegangen wurde. Der Weiße Ring forderte mehr Sicherheit in Bahnen und an Haltestellen.
Erfurt. Weil er sich in der Straßenbahn schützend vor eine Asiatin gestellt hatte, wurde der 28-jährige Mann am Anger von einer pöbelnden Truppe überfallen und geschlagen. Die Polizei war sehr schnell am Ort des Geschehens. Erschüttert war der 28-Jährige, weil keiner der zahlreichen Passanten auf seine Hilferufe reagiert hatte.
For those that can't read German, it basically says that a 28 year-old-man tried helping out an Asian lady, who was being harassed by a group of thugs. Nobody came to his rescue, and he himself was beat up by a gang of two women (!) and a man.
The more details come out, the more angry I become. This happened on an Easter Monday, a holiday, in Erfurt's main shopping drag, and many people were out and about! The man tried asking the tram driver for help. The tram driver's answer? The Man should call the police himself. The gang later kicked the samaritan's cell phone out of his hand.
It also happened to me almost exactly a week before that. I was in a tram, and parked my baby carriage in a spot surrounded by teen-agers. A group of teenaged idiots tried insulting me in Chinese by giving me the chink-eye and calling out "Ni-Hao," then reverted to Spanish, for good measure. I guess they couldn't figure out my ethnicity. The girl in the group saw that I had a child, and feebly tried to stop her pals. Then the ignorant fellow who was doing the most of the insulting then tried to insult Antonio, who was sleeping in his baby carriage. How pathetic. I yelled back at the brutes in English, since I knew I was just gonna get sassed by these punks in German.
It has happened to me before in Erfurt and in Jena, but having Antonio has made me somewhat testier on the subject. I know that I can't shield my son from heartbreak in the future, but I will do everything I can to protect every hair growing on his head. I feel paranoid and paralyzed. What can I do? How can I change this situation? Move out? Join a group that is trying to do something about it? The latent racism of these uneducated thugs disgust me to no end, and they are giving the people of Erfurt a bad name. For people who don't know better, they would generalize and say that Germans are racist. But I do know better, and the Germans who aren't racist should do something and help with the cause.
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7 comments:
I feel really sorry that this happened to you, and that you feel it probably will again. Germans aren't racist as a rule, but there certainly is a minority who are, and unfortunately there aren't enough people like that fellow with the 'Zivilcourage' to confront them. I wish I had some advice for you.
Ugh, I am totally outraged on your behalf.
Racism is everywhere, although in some places it manifests differently than in others. I definitely had Asian friends leave Germany for less - probably to just experience other forms of racism in the places where they ended up. It really makes me pissy with the world.
The tram rider being a dick reminded me of a local story. A German friend of ours witnessed an African woman being talked down to by the tram driver and his buddy on a local train. (She had pushed the button for her stop and he didn't stop, and she went up there to say so.) Our friend intervened, and the driver asked her, "Are you German?" She said yes, and he said, "Then why do you care?"
UGH!!!!!!!!
Ugh to the tram driver who dismissed the woman! I bet he wouldn't have done that to a German or someone who spoke the language fluently!
i have that fear too. i'm scared how my future kids will be treated because of our skin color. though nothing really bad has happened to me here in stuttgart (just little insults here and there), i know of another filipina who was attacked here. someone hit her on the head with a beer bottle.
That's just sad. How can some people be so ignorant and carry so much hate? I just don't understand.
I'm sorry, and I wish I could reassure you, but even half-Asians who speak fluent German get crap (I wouldn't want to move back to Potsdam). I will say that I hardly ever have problems here in Bavaria, so if it's possible to move within Germany, it might be something to consider. But I also think that things will get better in time, as Germany becomes more diversified and so on.
I've never felt discriminated against here in Aschaffenburg. The people have been absolutely wonderful, and in the little village where I live everybody says hello when they see me on the street, although they don't know me at all. I've got a great job, am fully integrated, and have great friends who invite me to their houses for coffee and even for significant dates in their lives where they have parties. Perhaps you could move from Erfurt to another city more racially diverse. My daughter is very happy here - she has never thought of herself as different from her german friends. She is in fact happier here than in Hong Kong where we used to live before. You won't believe the level of racism I received in Hong KOng. I have it so much better now, and wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
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