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TO BE GERMAN, GIFTED & BLACK"
Afroancestral Artists in German FilmBy Akinyi Princess of KOrinda-Yimbo
in my court of justice, any Afroancestral passing on these psychological debilities to their children are
committing the crimes of lifelong mental cruelty, lifelong anguish of the soul andlifelong psychological damage - APKY
On the 26 February 2007, I sat through a discussion in Munichs GASTEIG an
enormous complex housing theatres, operas, libraries, the citys adult education centre,
congress halls, cafs and restaurants. In one of the halls was the discussion event
organised by various organisations of Germans of mixed parentage, with at least one
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parent or grandparent having African blood. In the packed hall were six panellists from
various African-German artists groups (an actress, a sculptor, a female lawyer, a
German scholar & philosopher, a female radio commentator) on the podium including the
German presenter. The discussion was about racial discrimination in the professions.
There were various examples given to prove the fact, such as having no African-German
TV commentators and newsreaders in German TV channels, and when there was one (in
the private channels) their work is pushed from prime time to programmes aired after
midnight. The same went for public radio commentators. Other professionals in branches
such as law, lecturing and medical health have a hard time practising their professions or
winning the confidence of their clients and/or employers. Actors and actresses are
perpetually cast in the roles of asylum seekers, drug dealers, prostitutes, illegal refugees,
paid male lovers or mistresses of some wealthy white woman or man. The man as a
rule earns his fortune by illegal means such as sales of weapons and blood diamonds,
smuggling ivory or finding Western clients for African dictators murdering their citizens
and robbing their countries blind.
All the African-German panelists insisted on the fact that they were Blacks. I later
on wondered why aloud, during the podium discussion. Was it because it was easier to
step into the African turf and be accepted as an equal human being? I provoked a
snowball into rolling whose arguments are too long for an article.
Living in the West awakened in me the realisation that Kenya in particular and
Africa in general, had quite effectively protected me from being conscious of the fact that
the colour of my skin was supposedly not on a par with the pink or out-of-Sub-Saharan-
Africa light brown variety. In retrospect, I count myself exceptionally lucky to have made
acquaintance with this fact when I was already well into adulthood. And this makes me
ponder the effect of these B and W words on small children. What does an Afroancestral
child feel the moment it learns or discovers that its complexion is not beautiful because
its black no matter what its eyesight conveys to it, nor is its kinky hair, its (in todays
world of beauty, actually sensuous) mouth, nose just about the lot and furthermore,
that this fact of being black relegates it and its entire people to the lowest rung of the
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human ladder? Added to this later, comes the absorption of cultural and spiritual/religious
confusion and the naked miseries hinged on poverty! Anything and everything African is
supposedly primitive and heathen or at best backward. No history, no identity, but
stinkingly corrupted. Underdeveloped. Starving. Africans are supposedly riddled with all
manner of abominable diseases no other human species has spewed out into the world.
The entire psyche of Afroancestrals would seem to be one heap ofdisjecta membra! This
child has a great deal of his self-worth ruined for him and might easily develop acute
complexes and resign himself to them.
But the most lamentable is the fact that this was and is a psychological booby-
trap set up nearly four centuries ago to keep on ensnaring and exploding and self-
propagating in the Afroancestral psyche as a constantly inhaled confirmation of their
inferiority. While no one is better at setting up such psychological booby-traps than the
Euroancestrals, no one is better at the servility required to adopt and haul around with
them such subtly corrosive, damaging and damning notions than the to borrow from
Joseph Addisons writing in 1711 Savage Greatness of Soul whose fidelity nobody
can forbear admiring. Afroancestrals have been religiously passing on this corrosive
psychological damnation from generation to generation over at least the last three and a
half centuries, while the Euroancestrals snigger in brisk asides. How many Afroancestrals
have heard the But your skin is not really black, is it? from a Euroancestral? Im black
and proudandBlack is beautifulwere deep-seated screams from the psyche and the
soul, trying to rid themselves of the damnation as best as they could. Neither Malcom
became Malcom X nor did Cassius Clay metamorphose into Mohammed Ali out of some
social fad. Tortured souls and wounded psyches were all out there screaming for some
kind of salvation, some rescue from a festering-wound trap no one quite knew how they
had been caught into and whether death was the single alternative in getting out of the
misery. And yet the booby-trap is still firmly in place and stronger than ever, nearly four
centuries later. Thats Grade A-plus fidelity. We Africans have even never given thought
to the fact that no European religion ever made it to a world religion. Christianity is Afro-
Orient. Euroancestrals appropriated it and instantly made Christ the Jew an Icelander.
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But an African religion has made it to the rank of world religion Candombl widely
spread in West Africa, in Western Europe and the entire Americas. Yet we the Great
Savage Souls dont want to know about it, do we? So we cloak ourselves in the blanket
of being blacks and pray to be invisible. But in my court of justice, any Afroancestral
passing on these psychological debilities to their children are committing the crimes of
lifelong mental cruelty, lifelong anguish of the soul and lifelong psychological damage.
They deserve the cruelest punishment, if with mitigating factors because they themselves
have been victims all their lives. But its time for a take-home pay, people.
The annual meeting of the organisation I nitiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland(Initiative of Black People in Germany). It is a sort of exclusive club for blacks only. Alonethe fact of calling themselves black is ridiculous as the photo show s. Some are long since
blond and blue-eyed. To me they are actually trying to make themselves invisible to thedreaded rejection of the w hite w orld and ghettoizing themselves in the black w orld
complete with their progeny
The Euroancestral or Asiancestral child also encounter the same processes and
experiences as they grow up. But on a different rung. The Euroancestral child discovers
that it and its people are the rulers of the current world (or any other world that has ever
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been, for all the child learns in its society and cares for), and it carries this complex into
its adult life. It is part of the rulers by virtue of its complexion and characteristics. All the
way to economic, military and technological power. It grows up elevated by the fact
that it and its people are not at the bottom rung of the ladder. It is further cushioned by
its peoples apparent cultural and religious clout. The worst that can happen to it is that it
grows up with superiority complexes harmful not only to the others but also to itself as
well. These are what I call Megignoarrogance complexes mega ignorance and mega
arrogance combined which are so characteristic of Euroancestrals. Especially the I
have nothing against other races type. This is why it never even occurs to them to send
emmissaries to Africa who speak at least one African language of the nation they are
sent to. But they would never send one to a European, an Australian or North American
country who does not master the languages spoken in these countries. On the other
hand they would never tolerate an African or Asian emmissary who does not speak the
language of the Euroancestral nation of his mission, to be posted among them.
The Asiancentral child is possibly comforted by the fact that it and its people are
not at the bottom rung of the ladder. Not even in complexion, if perhaps in
characteristics. Apartheid South Africa used this strategy very successfully, creating the
buffer zone of the so-called coloureds as if there is a human being who is colourless!
Moreover, the Asiancestrals have religions however conceived as against African
religions and cultures that have endured or even repelled the impact of the
Euroancestral all-round hegemony. The Euroancestral is not even conscious of the fact
that no European religion became a world religion. Jerusalem long lost or not, their
Megignoarrogance tells them that they are the civilized Christians of Christendom. Once
again, Christianity is Afro-Orient, not European. On the other hand African religions
survived across the Atlantic, incorporating other elements but remaining intact in their
original basic elements, despite the dehumanisation, disorientation and hardships, and
are alive and kicking to this minute.
The reader has noticed that I never use the artificial complexion notions, because
they simply are false and are not a restitution of the truth. The colour black is naturally
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too negative to all human beings in too many ways right up to having a blacklist
reputation or status. Even a black figure is not the sort of person anybody voluntarily
wants to be associated with. The colour black is threatening even to animals of the
jungle. For every living creature but a handful of night predators, it represents evil,
invisible danger, dark powers, treacherous beings, the colour of death itself. In the
human beings various languages, people have black moods, black hearts, black days,
black futures, black sheep in the family, black Mondays or black Sundays, black markets,
black storms, black heavens, black holes, blackguards or even blackheads. The black-box
is actually orange but referred to as black because it is the last harbinger of news after
an aeroplane crash, an unhappy event that always involves loss of human life. What
reason is there for turning the African pigmentation into black when it isnt?
In Germany, there is no Oprah Winfrey, no Denzel Washington, no Halle Barry.
Afroancestral faces as newsreaders or talk show professionals on German screens would
seem to upset the norm, so measures are taken to make sure that the norm is not upset.
Unless the African blood in the person has become as invisible as it was in Sir Peter
Ustinov. Prime time is not for Afroancestrals. Neither are they the heroes or heroines in
films unless as Idi Amin or girlchild victims of FGM.
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Sir Peter Ustinov with children who had just performed a traditional
folk dance for him, at the UNICEF-assisted child protection centre in Takhman district, Cambodia.Sir Peters paternal grandmother was Ethiopian. (Source: UNICEF)
Schwarze Filmschaffende in Deutschland (Afroancestral Artists in German Film) is
an organisation which was established as a professional association in the summer of
2006. Its purpose is to unite the creative talents of Afro-Germans with those of directors,
producers, screenwriters, actors and actresses of African origin, who live in Germany and
share an interest in fostering a more diverse representation of the lives of Afroancestrals
in German film and television. The objective is to satisfy a need, for up until now there
has been no entity that enables Afro-Germans and filmmakers of African origin to tell
their (hi)story from their own perspective. Now, however, there is a way to challenge the
stereotyped portrayal of Afroancestral characters in German as well as Euroancestral
film and television, that has prevailed to date. Their goal is to reveal both past and
present-day trans-cultural processes along with the multiple realities of Germany,
present not only in film but also in television. As Afro-Germans and/or filmmakers of
African origin working in Germany, it is their wish as well as professional duty to take an
active part in the production and telling of their own (hi)story. On the one hand, that
entails challenging the prevailing stereotypes of Afroancestral characters in the German
media depicted as prostitutes, asylum seekers, petty criminals, mistresses, noble
savages or other exotic creatures. On the other hand, it is about creating a neutral space
where stories can be told from an Afroancestral point of view and where new
perspectives can develop. Alternative and diverse characterisation of Afroancestrals in
German-language films can change both self-perception and the perception of others,
thereby making a contribution to contemporary social discourse. They are convinced that
the medium of film can be used to generate significant impetus towards greater
understanding and more open communications.
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The founder members of SFD Schwarze Filmschaffende in Deutschland (Black the i rw o r d , n o t m in e! Artists in German Film) are w riters Anne Benza-Madingou und PhillippaEbn; director, Winta Yohannes; producer, Nataly Kudiabor; and actresses CarolCampbell, Araba Walton and Nisma Cherrat.
Anne Benza-Madingou
writer
ArabaWalton
actress
CarolCampbell
actress
NatalyKudiabor
Head of
NismaCherrat
actress
WintaYohannes
director
development
1. Chairperson: Carol Campbell
Carol Campbell is a member of the German Film Academy. She was born in Munich,
Germany in 1966 and moved to Berlin at the age of five where she completed her
secondary school education in 1984 by taking the German Abitur examination. She went
to Paris, France in 1986 after her dance training, which she had begun while she was still
at school, and spent four years as a solo dancer at the Lido and at the Moulin Rouge.
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Back in Berlin Carol started work as a television presenter (VIVA, VOX, ZDF) and shortly
after that came her first acting roles in Tatort (Crime Scene, ARD) and the RTL three-
part series Julia. In 1998/99 she spent a year in Los Angeles where she participated in
a range of acting workshops and seminars.
On her return to Germany came several television and cinema roles including one in
Pfundskerl (SAT.1), working alongside Ottfried Fischer; Edel & Starck (SAT.1);
Tatort (Crime Scene, ARD); Du oder Keine (Only You, ZDF); Herzflimmern
(Vital Signs, ZDF); Jedermanns Fest (Everymans Party, cinema); and various
presenting roles at Daimler Chrysler, Siemens, Adidas, Hugo Boss, IBM, Debis and CeBit
corporate events, among others; she was also co- founder of the online Berlin film
industry forum, film.lounge.berlin. In addition to acting and presenting, Carol has worked
as a successful media training coach in recent years.
2. Deputy Chairperson: Philippa Ebn
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Philippa Ebn is the founder and director of the forum fr filmschauspiel e.V (Forum for
Film Acting), a further education institution for acting professionals. Furthermore, in
November 2004 she founded an acting troupe called abok that brings to the stage
contemporary, urban drama by African and Afro-European writers. She is currently
writing a stage play and a screenplay for a feature film.
Treasurer : Araba Walton
Artist and singer, Araba Walton, was born on 4 November 1975 in Simbach am Inn,
Lower Bavaria, Germany. After taking the German secondary school Abitur examination
she studied theatre studies in Munich and then went to London, where she completed a
three-year course at the ArtsEd School of Acting. In the years that followed, she had
acting roles in various West End and Off West End productions.
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At the end of 2001 she moved to Hamburg for a leading role in the successful musical,
Der Knig der Lwen (The Lion King). After a two year stint, however, she decided to
renew her commitment to acting and made Berlin her home. Araba Walton is a
permanent member of the Berliner Logentheater and the theatre group abok. This year
she appears in a leading role in the feature film, Sunny Hill by Luzius Rueedi.
Premiering at the Berlinale with NEUE BILDER (New Perspectives), SFD Schwarze
Filmschaffende in Deutschland (Afroancestrals Artists in German Film) is targeting both a
German and an international audience of film goers and industry professionals. The
official screening of the SFD film series NEUE BILDER will take place within the Berlinale
Panorama section. To accompany NEUE BILDER, SFD has prepared a complementary
programme of films, a multimedia exhibition, a series of lectures, and a discussion on the
subject of "Afroancestral People in German Film" with a top-notch panel of speakers. The
SFD film series NEUE BILDER (New Perspectives) comprises a total of six films: three are
fiction productions, one is an animation and two are documentaries.
Todd Ford und Diegonante (Zwischen)
Ezra Tsegaye und Sebastian Khne (Turmspringer)
Branwen Okpako (Landing)
John A. Kantara (Und wir waren Deutsche)
Winta Yohannes (Cherish)
Otu Tetteh (You are welcome)
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Image from "Zwischen" (In Between) Image from "Turmspringer" (Tower Jumper)
Image from "Landing" Image from "Und wir waren Deutsche"
(And We Were Germans)
Image from "Cherish" Image from "You are welcome "
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The SFD film series NEUE BILDER (New Perspectives) was screened in the Berlinale "Panorama"section as part of the official programme of the Berlinale 2007, and they won prizes from theinternational jury in Berlin.
Apart from that SFD has organized the complementary Programme of the same
title NEUE BILDER: Besides a series of lectures visitors were welcomed to two panel
discussions on the subjects Afroancestral People in German Film and The Power of
Imagery.
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