Nexus5 @Nexus5@fedibird.com

This is an article where you never really know whether you should ever write this in public or not, but here it is. I thought about it for quite some time, but I guess it might be helpful for some people to know this.

Listen: I am not accusing anyone of anything. I have chosen and accepted Germany as my home. This is where I live, I am a German, and I am really happy here. I have spent 74% of my life here, 7.5% in the US, and only 18.5% in my birth country, Turkey (ok, these are rough numbers, but you get the gist of it), so I *am* German. I am a "big fan" of "Rule of Law" and I believe the German constitution is really the best of any constitution out there; and I am here to protect and uphold it with all my power, because I *believe* in it.

My experience with the majority of "Bio-Deutsche" ("Organic Germans", i.e. non-migrant; ... hey, it is a joke here) was overwhelmingly positive, so this article below is not representative of the majority.

But you see, racism is everywhere, and that's why I thought I should make this public (originally, it was sent in a DM to someone, but that's history now, or as the Romans said: Acta est fabula!)

--snip--
I have been on the receiving end of racism (or discrimination) all my life. I am, what is called in Turkey, a "Black Turk". There are also "White Turks".

The White Turks were the privileged ones. They lived in cities. We, on the other hand, lived in villages.

Unless there was an election, White Turks would never visit us. They'd rather talk about how backwardly, primitive and stupid we were.

During election time, they'd come, promise whatever they think would win them the votes, and once the election was over, you'd never see them ever again.

I was born (and "assigned male at birth", i.e. AMAB) in such a dirt poor village that there was no electricity, not even a paved road. The road from the closest town to us was a gavel road - if at all.

I grew up that village. But in the town, outside of the village, I was seen as "that primitive, backward, dark-skinned, stupid kid!"

Then I came to Germany (1979). And here, I was seen as "that primitive, backward, dark-skinned/dark-haired/dark-eyed, stupid kid from a primitive group of people from the Orient".

I was called "Kanake" (‪en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanake‬), "Knoblauchfresser" ("A garlic-eating animal"), and more.

When I reached puberty, I was made very clear that I should never ever touch a German girl in order not to pollute their blood; in order not to breed "half-wits"; in order not to reduce German IQ.

I can keep telling you stories from puberty that would probably make you vomit.

Two months after I started my first apprenticeship in a bank in West Berlin (1986; I was 17), I was informed by a colleague that the head of the branch wanted to fire me. I was aghast. I didn't know of any mistake I had made. That colleague suggested I'd ask to be moved to another branch, preferably in "Kreuzberg" (where the majority of Turks lived). And he also informed me that the head of the branch wants to fire me because he is a known racist.

I said “well, shouldn’t I talk to the Union at least so that they can help me?” - no, I was made clear that nobody would help me.

So I did. I asked to be transferred. I was transferred. Instead of a 10-minute commute, I now had 45 minutes. Instead of being part of the majority German population, I was now "The Turkish guy who takes care of all the Turkish customers", there.

I was told that "... your German is quite good for a Turk... " even after I had lived 20 years in Germany. I was told "... no, you are not like other Turks, you are a good one ...".

I was hired as a "Token Turk" in companies (I realized later on).

And all this even as I was declared to have an IQ of 147 (after a suicide attempt and was delivered into a mental hospital) and finished all my schools as "Best of School" (and sometimes with the addition "EVER").

Even in 2015, some Chairman told me (when they hired me as CTO): "Oh, this is so nice. I always wanted to work with a Turk" (and I was a German citizen for 15 years by then and living in Germany 36 of my 46 years already).

When I called up a bank which had an apartment for sale, told them my name, and asked for the price, they told me the price but also made it very clear, that if I wanted to buy that apartment, I'd need to proof the source of my money was legitimate.

People don't realize when they behave racist sometimes.

My wife, born in Turkey, has lived 85.7% of her life in Germany, 7% US, and only 7.5% in Turkey, and non-migrant Germans still insist on "No, no, originally, where are you from originally" when she answers with "Berlin" to their first question "Where are you from" (she came to Germany when she was 2 years old, but spent another two years working in Istanbul as expat later on).

Even within our closest friends circle there was this interesting experience: we decided every year to travel to the birthplace of another friend for a long weekend. Originally, it was called "to the place where that friend comes from", but then my wife and me said "oh, ok, in our case, then we'll spend an awesome week in Berlin". This was the moment when everybody looked at us and said, very surprised, "... no, no, in your case to Turkey"... no, you lovely friends, we really are not Turks. We were born there, but that doesn't make us Turks. Even our friends hadn't realized - until then - that they never saw us as Germans, and that that behavior was ... racist.

Thus, we changed the title to "where that friend was born".

See, my wife and I, we both speak perfect German, and no, my wife doesn't wear a headscarf, we are not religious, ... there is no hint - except for our names, obviously, and for the fact that my skin gets very dark in summer.

And worst of all: when I go to Turkey on vacation, I am now seen as "Almanci", i.e. for them I am not even a Turk anymore, I am a "German-er". 😢

--snip--

This is the reason why we get a long a lot better with anyone who had to leave their birthplace and go live in a different culture, the so-called Third Culture Kids (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_culture_kid). We immediately connect with those people, we create a bond quickly and I am thinking this is the reason why a lot of our friends are also non-native German; whether they are from Ukraine, US, Syria, Balkans, Romania, Hungary, Japan, Vietnam or, or, or...

Again, don't get me wrong: The racist experience is not a daily matter, but one should know that it is there and it always will. And we, my wife and I, are in a very comfortable situation compared to hundreds of thousands of others who experience it day-in, day-out, because they have a darker skin, hair, eyes; their German is with a (thought beautiful) accent; or because of other reasons where native Germans see that those people are "non-native", i.e., with migration-background, as it is euphemistically called.

And one thing about Bavaria and Public Services here: when I moved to Bavaria the first time in 1994, I realized this is a really a different place wrt how non-natives are treated at by public servants (immigration offices, police, tax authorities, government, etc.). It might surprise many Germans, but I was always treated with the utmost respect, and without any discrimation by any public official here in Germany. Compare that to North-Rhine Wesphalia, Niedersachsen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, or, worst of all, Berlin...