racism
What helps with awkward consternation?
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"That's the way the world is" – Ciani-Sophia Hoeder often hears this sentence from whites when it comes to racism. He makes her angry. How do you cope with awkward dismay and shrugging?
Ciani-Sophia Hoeder
Racism is powerful. And I am annoyed by your concern, which only reinforces the racist system. It usually starts like this: In order for you to even listen, I first have to unpack all my sad anecdotes about racism. There's a term for that: Racism Porn. It starts with this text and ends with the video that went viral this summer.
How many more have to die in front of the camera?
George Floyd was killed in an arrest in Minneapolis. Even though he said, "I can't breathe," white cop Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. His death was recorded, shared on social networks – the whole world was watching. The Black Lives Matter demos then broke records. Here in Germany too. In Hamburg there were 14,000 demonstrators, in Berlin 15,000, in Munich 25,000. But how many texts in which black people make their trauma public, demonstrate their scars, must there still be? How many have to die like Floyd in front of the camera? We shouldn't forget about demonstrating and watching with autumn this summer. Let's not let the euphoria sail down like leaves from trees. Black Lives Always Matter.
Racism is not invented by black people, it was created by white people. So, strictly speaking, it's not my problem, but yours and that of the whites. Instead of watching more or less powerlessly how black people are underrepresented in the media – because nowhere have I found my Afro curls, my skin color, my perspective – I have created something of my own: "Rosa-Mag", a lifestyle magazine that focuses on and empowers black women in German-speaking countries. Instead of serving Racism Porn, I prefer to write what you can do with your power to be anti-racist. Because this text is not about me and my racism. It's about your racism.
Racism lives from looking away. I often experience a shrug mentality, a "That's just the way the world is. It's unjust", or whites who try to prove to me in endless monologues that they are not racist themselves. Neither change anything. Look instead of away. Say no instead of nothing. Don't be non-racist, be anti-racist.
Racism is a question of power
And you are anything but powerless. You can do more than just listen. Because: You have more power than people who are discriminated against. Use it. At the next security check, if only one person of color is picked out of a sea of white people, ask directly: "Why are you checking this person and not me?" Your daughter and her black friend have the same grades on their school reports, but get different recommendations when transitioning to high school? Draw attention to it. There are too few people who ask uncomfortable questions. Is your uncle making politically incorrect jokes again at the family celebration? Just don't laugh or look away in embarrassment, but explain to him why that's not okay. Otherwise his jokes will get harder next time.
We can all do something about racism. And just because you don't experience it yourself doesn't mean you are powerless. It is up to you to change your environment. As long as you don't do this, you support racism – every single day.
Ciani-Sophia Hoeder is a freelance journalist and founder and editor-in-chief of Rosa-Mag, the first online lifestyle magazine for black women in Germany (rosa-mag.de). She lives in Berlin.
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