Renaming of M Street in Berlin

Subject: Statement by Dr. Philipp Lengsfeld dated 22.01.2015 regarding Berliner M-Straße

Dear Dr. Philipp Lengsfeld,

when I read your statement regarding the announcement of M Street by Dieter Hallervorden in the “Tagesspiegel”, I first thought you had been misquoted. I then visited your website and read the original of your press release. First a small correction: Mr. Dieter Hallervorden was never made responsible for the name M Street by postcolonial activists and activists of the Black community, as you write. Mr. Hallervorden revived the racist practice of Black Facing two years ago in his play “I Am Not Rappaport.” For the African and Black community in Germany, a person who spreads racist stereotypes about Black people is even less likely than anyone else to announce a discriminatory street name. It’s as if Mr. Hallervorden now also received an award for his questionable attitude regarding black facing.

They also write “the accusation that this name is ‘colonial racist, while constantly repeated by a small radical initiative, is emphatically rejected by a majority of urban historians, local politicians and residents.” I take the liberty of contradicting you here: The renaming of M Street was already demanded in 2004 by more than 20 African associations in Berlin with the support of the Berlin-Brandenburg Migration Council. Today, numerous African associations and organizations of Black people throughout Germany support the renaming of this scandalous street name. Instead, they call for honoring an African figure who has actively worked against racism and for equal rights for Black people. In the renamed street – the organizations agree with you – an information point should be established, which gives information about the old street name, the reasons for the renaming and about the personality, who should be honored from now on. Moreover, the district assembly of Berlin-Mitte did not officially reject or refuse the demand to rename M Street at that time – rather, the decision to do so was postponed. By no means did the majority of local politicians – as you write – emphatically deny the racist character of the designation.

The term “Mohr” was and is a designation for Black people – and the opponents of renaming do not dispute this. That M Street was named to honor a large delegation of blacks received in Berlin in 1684 is one of the legends of whitewashing white historiography. On the one hand, only the visit of two emissaries from present-day Ghana, who were to submit to the Elector in Berlin, is historically documented. On the other hand, it is also certain that blacks were anything but honored in early modern Europe. Had the people referred to as “Moors” enjoyed equal rights at the time, the first African scholar in Germany, Anton Wilhelm Amo, would certainly not have come forward with his dissertation on the (lack of) rights of blacks in Europe. If the so-called “Moors” had enjoyed the same prestige here as whites, it would hardly have been possible for the Brandenburgers to justify the enslavement of about 20,000 African people and their deportation across the Atlantic. Even the period before direct German colonial rule in the 19th century was thus already characterized by a strongly discriminatory, racist basic attitude, which was reflected in corresponding stereotypes and foreign designations for black people. Even famous philosophers such as Hegel and Kant – even if this is gladly ignored in Germany until today – spread in their works that black people should be considered as cultureless people.

The so-called “Moors” were usually enslaved as children and taken to Berlin: they had to represent the power and influence of the Prussian rulers as valets, soldiers or musicians. The Sarotti-M, which has since been renamed and modified due to widespread public criticism, is exemplary for this stereotypical entity “Moor,” which must be regarded as a product of colonialist fantasies of white Europeans. The German language, as I’m sure you know, is full of idioms that associate the term “Moor” not only with exoticism but also with devaluation, servility, stupidity, and infantility. The term is therefore, just like the N-word, without a doubt a racist and insulting foreign term for Black people. Consequently, it does not belong on a street sign any more than the names of colonial criminals such as Peters, Nachtigal, Lüderitz, Wissmann and Woermann, who are still honored with street names in Berlin despite all protests.

As Black people, we expect German politicians, and especially members of the Bundestag who serve on the Human Rights Committee, to treat our small minority within German society with respect. For Black people, it is completely unacceptable that white Germans presume to decide what is and is not a racial slur for us.

We look forward to your positive participation in the debate over M Street and its new name, and hope that you will also understand the concerns of the African/Black community regarding this street. In addition, we would like to invite you to participate in our annual commemorative march for the millions of African victims of slavery, slave trade, colonialism and racist violence on Feb. 28, 2015 in Berlin. The march, which calls for a central memorial to our dead in Berlin, will begin at 11 a.m. at the memorial plaque for the Berlin Africa Conference on Wilhelmstrasse and then proceed through the entire M Street.

Sincerely yours,