Is Black History Month a good thing? Should Germany celebrate such a month?
A Black History Month should not give the wrong impression of Afro-Germans trying to segregate or differentiate themselves, while in fact they just want to be more accepted and seen as ordinary Germans. See the above quote from the Spiegel International article or the above mentioned Sueddeutsche Zeitung interview with Adé Bantu, who says that the most shared common characteristic of black Germans is being German. Links to Africa are not very strong for most. (Perhaps someone could summarize the interview into English. That would be great.) While an annual Black History Month is great to draw attention, it would be even better to focus on Afro-German contributions throughout the year rather than just during the annual Black History Month. The highschool curriculum for instance could include a bit about the first Africans in Europe and at least briefly mention Anton Wilhelm Amo, who was one of the first famous Afro-Germans. Germany’s genocide of the Herero in 1904 should be mandatory te
