In this open letter to the artistic director and managing director of Heimathafen Neukölln (Berlin), anti-Asian racism is scandalized:
February 6, 2014
Dear Stefanie Aehnelt,
Since you are the artistic director and managing director of Heimathafen Neukölln (Berlin), we are addressing you today with an open letter. We have learned to our dismay that until February 04, 2014, over a longer period of time, despite complaints received, the Heimathafen Neukölln has shown an undoubtedly hurtful image for Asian people as part of its exhibition “I love NK”. In this photo, a blonde white woman wearing a white hometown T-shirt with “I love NK” printed on it can be seen in an East Asian-looking park. Her grinning face reproduces an old and very disparaging racist stereotype by pulling her eyes up into “slits” with her fingers.
As literate and culturally educated individuals, I’m sure we can agree that this portrayal promotes anti-Asian racism. The image conveys the power of being a superior feeling white person in blackfacing fashion making fun of “Asian” looking people while deforming their face into a grimace. Both the cynical caricature of (East) Asians as devious brutes and the myth of the “slit eyes” as typical East Asian attributes have a centuries-old colonial-racist tradition. The journalistic culture in Germany was also strongly engaged in the fight against the “yellow peril” and gladly employed such biologistic enemy images. All the more shocking, therefore, is the fact that this racist aberration was presented publicly as a current artistic contribution at Heimathafen Neukölln in an official setting over a longer period of time. The decisive question is not whether the intention was racially motivated, but the fact that this grimace has a racist effect. In addition, the offending image contribution was planned as part of the exhibition and therefore by no means occurred spontaneously or by chance.
Against the background that Heimathafen Neukölln sees itself as a people’s theater and wants to use this action to promote intercultural coexistence in Berlin-Neukölln worldwide, the anti-Asian racism obviously celebrated here is particularly serious and regrettable. We have already received numerous reactions from many people in the Asian community in Neukölln and beyond; many are deeply unsettled and concerned that even cultural institutions are participating in anti-Asian sentiment and spreading specially produced racist images.
We call on the management of Heimathafen Neukölln to take responsibility and apologize publicly without delay. Furthermore, we urge you to fully and unconditionally clarify this artistic aberration in public and ask you to address the following questions:
1. how did this exhibition come about? Who curated it? What criteria were used to select the image motifs for the exhibition?
2. what reasons led the artistic directors or curators to present this image in the exhibition as a supposedly positive cultural contribution?
3. what were the intentions and goals associated with this selection decision?
4. how can such a picture motif positively convey the message of the exhibition “I love NK”? In a response to a protest letter, they write: “We treat all cultures with respect and humor”. We wonder to what extent the now-departed image “meets all cultures with respect and humor.” Such responses, which seem cynical, give the impression that Heimathafen believes for days and weeks that hurtful and discriminatory images can be used to make popular theater at the expense of minorities in the spirit of Heimathafen’s values. We have a different view of democracy, cultural respect and institutional responsibility towards freedom from discrimination in the migration society.
5. since when do you have knowledge that this racist image is perceived as hurtful? We are aware that the first protest letters were received by Heimathafen Neukölln on 29.01.2014 at the latest. Why did it take until 04.02.2014 for these complaints to be taken seriously and the offending image to be taken down?
6) Did the exhibition organizers or the artistic direction of Heimathafen Neukölln (not) recognize the racist content of this image?
7. has there been any prior reflection on how Asian people at home and abroad will perceive this image? Were the injurious effects not foreseeable or expectable for you, or do such considerations not play a role in your project and public relations work? In a letter in response to a complaint, you stated that you did not need to take “superficial political correctness” into account. How should this statement be understood in this specific case?
8. do you see a contradiction between the form of artistic freedom you define and anti-racist principles such as valuing non-discrimination and intercultural welcome culture? Was it not apparent to the artistic direction, even after concerned inquiries, that the stereotyping image could not make a positive contribution to these goals?
9 In previous responses to complaints from exhibition visitors and concerned individuals, Heimathafen Neukölln has emphasized its intercultural expertise and long experience in dealing with migration issues. How is this competence compatible with the uncritical selection of this image motif and the repeatedly lax response to complaints?
10. did the artistic quality assurance system in your house fail in this case?
11. how will Heimathafen Neukölln ensure in the future that racist discourses and exclusionary messages are no longer transported into the public sphere in its cultural work?
12. what does Heimathafen Neukölln plan to do after this racist incident to give Asian-marked people the feeling that we can feel culturally as well as humanly comfortable in these spaces and that we are welcome here?
We request you to invite to a public discussion event on this issue in your premises and to provide funds for the realization (such as allowance, travel and hotel expenses,). Representatives of the German-Asian community must be equally involved in the conception, organization as well as on the podium.
14 Since a profound knowledge about Asian Germans, our self-perceptions and perspectives as well as about our diasporic cultural practices seems to be missing in the Heimathafen, we draw your attention to the following publications: Next week, the dossier “Asian Germany – Asian Diaspora in Germany” will be published in the Migration Portal of the Heinrich Böll Foundation (http://heimatkunde.boell.de). Furthermore, a special issue on this topic was published in April 2013 in the culture and society magazine “freitext”. In addition, the Berlin publishing house Assoziation A published the book “Asian Germans. Vietnamese Diaspora and Beyond” (2012) was published. If you are interested, we would be happy to recommend further literature on cultural education.
We thank you for your attention and urge you to comment on our questions and demands. We would be pleased to receive an answer as soon as possible. Since this issue is a public one and has occurred in public, we reserve the right to make public all reactions to this open letter
Contact persons
Dr. Kien Nghi Ha, korientation e.V, info[at]korientation.de, Tel: 0176-51776361
Nataly Jung-Hwa Han, Korea Verband e.V., mail[at]koreaverband.de, Tel. 0179-5782888
Noa Ha, Migration Council Berlin-Brandenburg e.V., noa.ha[at]mrbb.de
Signatory organizations and individuals
Dongha Choe (Photographer, Korea Association, Berlin)
Sera Choi (korientation, Berlin)
Tahir Della (Board Member Initiative Black People in Germany, Berlin)
Mai Ngo Thi Dong (Student trainee, Board VIEW, Berlin)
Meral El (Cultural and Social Scientist, Board of Directors Migration Council Berlin-Brandenburg)Dr. Kien Nghi Ha (cultural scientist, board of korientation, Berlin)
Noa Ha (Urban Researcher, Board of Directors Migration Council Berlin-Brandenburg, Berlin)
Nataly Jung-Hwa Han (Koreanist, Chairwoman of the Board of the Korea Association, Berlin)
Thu Thuy Hänelt-Do (Dipl. Kauffrau, VIEW, Berlin)
Hieu Hoang (Author, Performer, cobratheater.cobra, Berlin)
Kiyomi Ikegana
Jee-Un Kim (Attorney at Law, Chairwoman korientation, Tübingen)
Mai-Phuong Kollath (Dipl.-Pädagogin, Chairwoman VIEW, Berlin)
Daniel Sanghoon Lee (Management Consultant, Board of Directors Korea Association, Dortmund)
Prof. You Jae Lee (Historian, Board of korientation, Tübingen)
Angelika Nguyen (film scholar and author, Berlin)
Mai-Thy Phan Nguyen (Physician, Board of Directors VIEW, Berlin)
Toan Nguyen (educational consultant, member of Bildungswerkstatt Migration & Gesellschaft, Berlin)
Dr. Prasad Reddy (Managing Director of the Center for Social Inclusion Migration and Participation, Bonn)
Rebecca Sumy Roth (Journalist, Board korientation, Munich)
Kimiko Suda (Sinologist, Board korientation; Co-director Asian Film Festival Berlin)
Thi Yenhan Truong (Blogger, Danger Bananas, Munich)
Ko Watari (Lawyer, Hamburg)
Nuran Yigit (Dipl.-Pädagogin, Spokesperson Migrationsrat Berlin-Brandenburg, Berlin)
Dr. Rita Zobel (Japanologist, Korea Association, Berlin)