The following three short pieces, translated from the German, emerged from the efforts of activists in the Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (Initiative of Black People in Germany). Each of these short essays was published in Spiegelblicke: Perspektiven Schwarzer Bewegung in Deutschland (Looks in the Mirror: Perspectives of the Black Movement in Germany; Ridha et al. 2016).
Spiegelblicke, as described in the words of its editors,
is a book of essays, portraits, analytical texts, storytelling, and photo reports. The collection opens access to the history of Black people and their movement in Germany. In this volume, fifty Black authors, historical witnesses, and portrait-subjects describe and analyze racist structures in private and public spaces. They document stages in their search for identity and so-called empowerment. The volume is about their experiences during the Nazi era; the history of colonialism and its reach into the present (for example,...
