Yes, they matter – but I hesitated to write about it because it seems almost everybody on this planet is at the moment is on this topic. But that is not all:
My hesitation is not about that I would not agree with the slogan – my hesitation also does not deny the continuous human rights violation by a race theory, which is complete artificial, but has brought so much pain and hurt and destruction on people of colour.
My hesitation – as a human being- to say something is rather about the inside, that I am born into a system I am not able to escape – I enjoyed the fruits of racism, colonialism without being guilty of anything and even all my activism cannot overwrite this birth right.
As I theologian I would say: If there is any meaning in the term “original sin” – then the question of race, the question of white domination is an example par excellence for this theological concept.
As a German I grew up with the sense, that “we Germans” are guilty of Jewish genocide, of Auschwitz and the gas chambers – and I still recall the comments of elderly people in France verbally spitting at us young Germans touring the country.
So I am not sure where my place is in all of this;
while I am observing the hopefully last white right wing macho-stand off symbolized by the egomaniac in the White House and his cronies trying to keep an old world order alive which can’t be resuscitated;
while I am almost unable to watch the over 8-minute agony of Georg Floyd;
while I am aware of so many video clips of unnecessary violence and brutality;
I try to find a way to remain myself:
Observing, acknowledging, standing in solidarity but also knowing that the mark of Cain will always remain with me – innocently guilty
I also know that the yearning for a society without the term “race” can only be given birth if we overcome the prisons of language and perception on all sides but for that to happen there must be a longer period of silence and acknowledgement, of listening and enduring the voices of pain and despair of our wounded brothers and sisters.
There is no cheap solution,
no cheap escape –
protests,
kneeling,
standing together against unjust systems
can only be the starting point for a long journey ahead.
Filed under: General, Politics and Society, Reflection, Society and living environment, South Africa, Uncategorized, black lives matter, Georg Floyd, original sin, race, white, white house
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