Opinion: What it means to be born Black in Germany

Josephine Apraku, CNN

Editor’s Note: Josephine Apraku is an author and scholar of African Studies, as well as a consultant on diversity. The views expressed in this commentary are their own.

BerlinCNN — 

As I move around my hometown of Berlin, I’m frequently complimented on my excellent command of German — sometimes, even after I’ve explained to the person I’m speaking to that I was born and raised here. All too often, the follow-up question I get is, “But tell me, where are you really from?”

It’s as if cognitive dissonance won’t allow some people to believe that one can be both Black and German at the same time.

If it’s not more widely known that Germany has a Black population said to number a million people, it is perhaps because there’s not a central Black town or city or neighborhood. Most of us grew up isolated, strewn throughout the country as one of the few Black people — sometimes the only Black person — in our schools or communities.

At the elementary school I attended for example, I had the alienating experience of being the lone Black child. That, despite living in a bustling metropolis — Germany’s largest city, in fact.

It is hard to group Black Germans — sometimes also referred to as Afro-Germans — under one umbrella; there is no one description that encompasses the diversity of Black people here.

Continue reading.

Explore this virtual exhibit to learn more on racial perceptions.

Find more Breaking News here.