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Oh my goodness!!! ... the Germans are at it again

Discussion in 'Dealing with Prejudice' started by graphicsRat, Jul 1, 2005.

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graphicsRat New Member

I am not one to cut and paste stuff I read for the net, but I just had to paste this one. Here's an email I got yesterday. Its about a zoo in Germany, that plans to exibit a an African village as one of its special features. Read and be bothered.

Anon said:

Racist zoo in Germany

RACISM in a subtle form, but as insidious as ever, is rearing its ugly head in Germany. Camouflaged as ethnography but clearly of doubtful educational purpose, an African village is to be put on display between July 9- 12, in the city of Augsburg.

This project, will be peopled by "artisans, silversmiths basket makers and traditional hairdressers ... situated in a unique African steppe landscape," says the promotional leaflet. Importantly, the exhibition will be sited in the Augsburg Zoo whose director, one Ms. Barbara Jantchke, Ph.D has described as "an atmosphere of exotism", whatever this means.

This project as conceived, is loaded with racial prejudice, and hints strongly at a Nazistic mindset. It is an assault on the dignity of the African, a violation of international laws, and a telling comment on the character and values of the organizers.

Mr. N. Bertrand, an African student, in all civility, reportedly challenged the proposed zoo display in court on the ground that setting Africans in the same place with wild animals amounts to racial discrimination, and abuse of human rights. Furthermore, he sees himself being harassed as a black person who would naturally be identified with the people to be presented in the animal yard and culture show.

The Bavarian administrative court of appeal has thrown out Bertrand's claim. In its view, it is not apparent that the zoo has consciously chosen the place of event with discriminative intentions. The court then concluded that the presentation of African culture in a zoological garden is not a legal issue but rather a question of good or bad taste, which is not a matter for judicial assessment.

We are at a loss to understand how this court failed to perceive and appreciate that it is obviously malevolent in intent to denigrate a human culture by displaying it, alongside and in the abode of animals. Second, the court has displayed poor judgment by failing to appreciate that what is in bad taste invariably offends human values and must be discouraged by all reasonable people using reasonable means such as Mr. Bertrand has attempted.

Third, the Bavarian court conceded to the applicant that although Africans may present their culture in a zoo, this does not guarantee that black people's dignity is not being wrongly wounded. It should also have been clear to the court that any act that wounds the racial or cultural dignity of a people is a breach of civility and a threat to social harmony.
It is in view of these reasons that we express dissatisfaction and disappointment with the judgment of the Bavarian appellate court. This ruling, regardless of its convoluted rationalisation, reflects utter insensitivity and a narrowness of vision unbecoming of a court of justice. We would like to believe that whatever thinking informed the decision of the court is not widely shared by Germans. For, if this decision could emanate from the judiciary, we are constrained to shudder at the mindset that pervades the other segments of the German society.

Just a little over 50 years after the civilised world confronted and decisively defeated Adolf Hitler and his warped-minded doctrine of the superiority of the Aryan race over others, the Augsburg zoo story is a manifestation of racism that should give all civilized men cause for concern. The evil of racism, discredited in scientific circles and debunked by all religious faiths, appears to be well and alive in 21st century Germany.

Ethnography is, like all fields of study, serious business. It is difficult to see how a desire for "exotism" advances knowledge. By situating Africans and their abode alongside animals, the organisers of this exhibition, with, as it now appears, the approval of the judiciary, seek to rob Africans of their humanity and stereotype them in the minds of other peoples of the world.
History shows that stereotyping is usually the first step of a parochial mind toward more despicable forms of racial, religious, ethnocentric and nationalistic bigotry, any of which provides justification for "cleansing' and genocide. But we want to hope that the world will not allow itself to regress into a past of evil. It may be that racial prejudice, like other human ills, will never completely go away. It is imperative upon every citizen of the world to be vigilant, and to stand up against even the slightest hint of racial prejudice and bigotry.

In the specific case of the Augsburg zoo display, it behoves the Africans in Germany and at home, to mobilise all possible pressures against it. The ambassadors of African Union countries have the primary responsibility to lead this effort. Indeed, Nigeria, as the current chair of the union must act as the arrowhead of the campaign to prevent this "show of shame".
It is however re-assuring that there exists in Germany persons who believe in the oneness of humanity, irrespective of race and colour. We commend Norbert Finzch, professor of History and provost of the University of Cologne who alerted the world to the proposed Augsburg zoo project and its racist implications. The professor has suggested, and we fully agree with him, that the African-German community and concerned individuals should send letters of protest to the zoo director's e-mail address at Barbara.jantschke@zoo-augsburg.de. We specifically call upon African leaders at home and in the diaspora, to oppose the proposed racist display.

It is also not at all in the interest of Germany to sit back and allow this show to go on. The German government must not, for such reasons as freedom of _expression, or any other "reason" let this exhibition hold. It will damage the reputation of Germany in the eyes of reasonable peoples of the world.
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graphicsRat, Jul 1, 2005

#1
SardonicGenie New Member

Well, this is a new one.

SardonicGenie, Jul 2, 2005

#2
roseveltfranklin New Member

This has been done before.
first with the aboriginie in a feeble attempt to illustrate evolution....of course, the dark skin races are still evolving hence they were defined as "less than human"; and also with the american indians...to illustrate mans progression from "savage" to "civilized"

roseveltfranklin, Jul 3, 2005

#3
'Sup New Member
You complain of racism, yet where is blackwomanwhiteman.com ?
Talk about discrimination.

'Sup, Oct 12, 2005

#4
- Like x 1
- List
graphicsRat New Member

[quote='Sup]
You complain of racism, yet where is blackwomanwhiteman.com ? Talk about discrimination.

[/quote]

Dreammark (the owners of this site) have a site for black woman wanting to meet white men and vise-versa, but for some reason, there is little action there. I don't remember what the URL is though, but I'll post it as soon as I do.

graphicsRat, Oct 12, 2005

#5
sunstorm New Member
I think it's called ebonywomenivorymen.com, but it doesn't have a forum. If it did, I'd go right over there and raise holy hell! (<--joking 8) )

I think the owners of this site should just have personals for black women and white men right here. No need for segregation. I've seen other ir personals sites like that, and it just seems to make more sense...

sunstorm, Oct 12, 2005

#6
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sunstorm New Member

There is the small matter of the url, tho... :mrgreen:

sunstorm, Oct 12, 2005

#7
webmaster Administrator Staff Member

sunstorm said:

I think it's called ebonywomenivorymen.com, but it doesn't have a forum. If it did, I'd go right over there and raise holy hell! (<--joking 8) )

I think the owners of this site should just have personals for black women and white men right here. No need for segregation. I've seen other ir personals sites like that, and it just seems to make more sense...
Click to expand...

True, that's the URL -- www.ebonywomenivorymen.com -- but it is still under construction along with www.feeties.com. We're way behind on those sites because we also do web design, programming, system administration, and marketing for a number of other businesses and host their sites.

As far as combining them, paid members here will have access to these other sites, but only to certain areas -- and vice versa. Most likely, you will not be able to respond to ads on these other sites with a paid membership here, and you'd have to sign up for their forums separately.

We purchased software that will hopefully allow that without any major issues, but we want to get it working on the test server first.

For marketing purposes, it's better not to mix them together. To do that, this site would have to be entirely redesigned.

webmaster, Oct 12, 2005

#8
'Sup New Member

Good.
Because I'm a half cast, my Father is a white German. and my Mother is African, lived in England most of her life as she does now.

So What is that supposed to mean GraphicsRat ?"Oh my goodness The Germans are at it again" Well how f*cking dare you. This WHOLE forum is full of discussions of peoples opinions on black stereo types and I agree, some is true, some isn't. So why is this different ? cus the Germans are white ? Blacks arent all thieves, rapists, lazy, whatever. And guess what, not every German is an Aryan, jewish slaughtering, inhuman sadist. Does my Father resemble Hitler ? is he your enemy ? How are you ANY different to the skinheads who feel hatred and stereotype blacks ? your not, your exactly the same except nobody focuses on you because your seemingly the interracial, model citizen and get away with it while the skinheads receive all the sh!t, and I bet your not the only one here either.

P.s Thanks for clearing that up about a place for wm and bw, it was just starting to look like this was an outcast site.

'Sup, Oct 14, 2005

#9
graphicsRat New Member
[quote='Sup]
So What is that supposed to mean GraphicsRat ? .. "Oh my goodness The Germans are at it again" ... This WHOLE forum is full of discussions of peoples opinions on black stereo types and I agree, some is true, some isn't. So why is this different ? cus the Germans are white ? Blacks arent all thieves, rapists, lazy, whatever. And guess what, not every German is an Aryan, jewish slaughtering, inhuman sadist ...

[/quote]

Hello Sup,

You're right. My post was badly titled (Entschuldigung). I admit the exhibiton though in poor taste is/was one person's judgment and does not reflect the the sympathies of all Germans. Its a common mistake and I aplogize.

Anyway, now that we got that out of the way (I hope) welcome to the forum. Tell us about yourself and your dating or romantic preferences.

:smt006

graphicsRat, Oct 14, 2005

#10
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- List
Soulthinker Well-Known Member

Afro-Germans

Sup are you still in Germany or living in the States? I know of some books about Afro-Germans. If you like I will send you a list of them.

Soulthinker, Oct 25, 2005

#11
SardonicGenie New Member

webmaster said:

sunstorm said:

I think it's called ebonywomenivorymen.com, but it doesn't have a forum. If it did, I'd go right over there and raise holy hell! (<--joking 8) )

I think the owners of this site should just have personals for black women and white men right here. No need for segregation. I've seen other ir personals sites like that, and it just seems to make more sense...
Click to expand...

True, that's the URL -- www.ebonywomenivorymen.com -- but it is still under construction along with www.feeties.com. We're way behind on those sites because we also do web design, programming, system administration, and marketing for a number of other businesses and host their sites.

As far as combining them, paid members here will have access to these other sites, but only to certain areas -- and vice versa. Most likely, you will not be able to respond to ads on these other sites with a paid membership here, and you'd have to sign up for their forums separately.

We purchased software that will hopefully allow that without any major issues, but we want to get it working on the test server first.

For marketing purposes, it's better not to mix them together. To do that, this site would have to be entirely redesigned.
Click to expand...

Makes sense to me.

SardonicGenie, Oct 25, 2005

#12
'Sup New Member

Re: Afro-Germans

graphicsRat said:

Hello Sup,

You're right. My post was badly titled (Entschuldigung). I admit the exhibiton though in poor taste is/was one person's judgment and does not reflect the the sympathies of all Germans. Its a common mistake and I aplogize.

Anyway, now that we got that out of the way (I hope) welcome to the forum. Tell us about yourself and your dating or romantic preferences.

:smt006
Click to expand...

Yes, it is a common mistake and one of many that society should consider before complaining again and again about discrimination. But how much Germans are in the media complaining compared to most minorities about how they're being stereotyped and discriminated ? Hardly none of them. It is unfair.
Sorry to use such words also GraphicsRat, it was wrong and I am sorry. Just gets to me that stereotyping is 2 way but every treats it as 1 way.
I do not have dating preference really. African, aryan, oriental, asian I like them all. I guess I'm out of character on this site haha. You ?

Soulthinker said:

Sup are you still in Germany or living in the States? I know of some books about Afro-Germans. If you like I will send you a list of them.
Click to expand...

Hi. I live in Germany, I live with my Father. I've never been to USA. What books? I do not think I understand what you mean lol :shock: but send if you like.

'Sup, Oct 30, 2005

#13
Soulthinker Well-Known Member

Books on Afro Germans

Hallo Sup,
I know of some books about Afro-Deusche and in my info you can e-mail me. Hope to hear from you.

Soulthinker, Oct 30, 2005

#14
'Sup New Member

Ok then. How about aim / msn ?
I dont use mail. :roll:

'Sup, Nov 1, 2005

#15
Soulthinker Well-Known Member

Sup

Sup I have AIM and MSM. On MSN it is Paphand. Hope to hear from you.

Soulthinker, Nov 11, 2005

#16
'Sup. New Member

Yes I said I added you. I think my post was deleted :?

'Sup., Nov 11, 2005

#17
Soulthinker Well-Known Member

MSN

Sup l look forward of hearing from you.

Soulthinker, Nov 18, 2005

#18
tuckerreed New Member

actually sup I have to address your little rant. how is it discrimination for this site to be for black MEN and White women!!!??

there is nothing wrong with white men or black women creating their own sites, it is not discrimination for a black man who dates/marries white woman to have a site devoted to that social group, any more than it is for a football club to have a website devoted to supporting their OWN club.

discrimination would only take place if we didnt allow black women or white men to post opinions here.

there is a lot of discrimination on this site, especially if you have a different political position, although the people now posting are a bit more tolerant, not open minded just more tolerant. if you go to www.blackplanet.com and tell the black people that they cant have an all black site because that is discriminatory, they will first insult you and then they will delete all your posts

so stop whining my lil german friend and READ the post fully before ranting and raving about discrimination--i have been to europe many times(not with the us military) and the racism is just as bad as it is here, they just make idiotic laws to try and control speech

tuckerreed, Nov 19, 2005

#19
SardonicGenie New Member

tuckerreed said:

actually sup I have to address your little rant. how is it discrimination for this site to be for black MEN and White women!!!??

there is nothing wrong with white men or black women creating their own sites, it is not discrimination for a black man who dates/marries white woman to have a site devoted to that social group, any more than it is for a football club to have a website devoted to supporting their OWN club.

discrimination would only take place if we didnt allow black women or white men to post opinions here.

there is a lot of discrimination on this site, especially if you have a different political position, although the people now posting are a bit more tolerant, not open minded just more tolerant. if you go to www.blackplanet.com and tell the black people that they cant have an all black site because that is discriminatory, they will first insult you and then they will delete all your posts

so stop whining my lil german friend and READ the post fully before ranting and raving about discrimination--i have been to europe many times(not with the us military) and the racism is just as bad as it is here, they just make idiotic laws to try and control speech
Click to expand...

I made an effort not to respond to his rant this time.

SardonicGenie, Nov 19, 2005

#20

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