Anti-Racism Statement – Fachgruppe Anglistik der Universität Stuttgart

Anti-Racism Statement

Some of you may have wondered what happened to our last statement regarding our solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, which we had made with one of our lecturers, Whit Peterson. We were informed that it did not conform to §65 Abs. 4 LHG (Landeshochschulgesetz), which reads as follows:

„(4) Die Studierendenschaft wahrt nach den verfassungsrechtlichen Grundsätzen die weltanschauliche, religiöse und parteipolitische Neutralität.“

We were urged to remove the statement from our website.

In its stead we would like to open a conversation on the issue of systemic racism. Given the other duties of the student body stated within the same paragraph of said law, we think this is an urgent topic to discuss:

„(2) Die Studierendenschaft verwaltet ihre Angelegenheiten im Rahmen der gesetzlichen Bestimmungen selbst. Sie hat unbeschadet der Zuständigkeit der Hochschule und des Studierendenwerks die folgenden Aufgaben:

1. die Wahrnehmung der hochschulpolitischen, fachlichen und fachübergreifenden sowie der sozialen, wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Belange der Studierenden,

[…]

3. die Förderung der politischen Bildung und des staatsbürgerlichen Verantwortungsbewusstseins der Studierenden,

4. die Förderung der Chancengleichheit und den Abbau von Benachteiligungen innerhalb der Studierendenschaft,

5. die Förderung der Integration ausländischer Studierender, die einen Studienabschluss in Baden-Württemberg anstreben

[…]

7. die Pflege der überregionalen und internationalen Studierendenbeziehungen.“

We feel strongly that there is no such thing as a neutral stance when it comes to racism. Silence and neutrality in this matter quietly condone racist ideology and behavior. As part of the multidisciplinary field of American Studies and English Literatures and as human beings, we believe it is our duty to speak up at a moment like this. We wholeheartedly reject racist ideology and work actively towards being better allies and anti-racists in the struggle for equality.

As university students, education is an important topic for us, and we believe it should be the foundation of this debate. Therefore, we want to urge you to educate yourselves on the topics of racial inequality, the experiences of People of Color (PoC), and the issues they face in our society. Since we focus predominantly on Literary Studies, we think literary narratives are an excellent way of learning about other people’s lives. Down below you will find a non-exhaustive list of recommendations on classic and contemporary Black and PoC literature.

Whenever racism is mentioned, there is a tendency within European countries to point the finger at the US, express sorrow at the state of affairs “over there” and lean back, assured in the knowledge that this is a problem far away from us, across the Atlantic. That is a fallacy; no country is exempt from racism. Germany for example has never reckoned with its colonial past and this lack of engagement with the atrocities committed during German colonialism have played no small role in the systemic racism still present today. This does not receive its due coverage in educational institutions, so we must take on the responsibility to educate ourselves and each other. To facilitate

the change we need, we must engage in meaningful conversation, not only on issues across the pond – but also in our own country. We would like to make a start by providing some informative resources in the form of links and books.

Sina Eißfeller and Maren Wahle, on behalf of the Fachgruppe Anglistik/Amerikanistik/Digital Humanities

Rozena Maart’s Open Letter to the German Association of American Studies.

Introduction to the topic

Germany:

Polizeigewalt und Rassismus in Deutschland: Oury Jalloh war kein Einzelfall

Racial Profiling: Horst Seehofer will keine Studie – selbst die Polizei findet das „peinlich“

Polizeigewalt: Die falsche Staatsgewalt | ZEIT ONLINE

Tupoka Ogette – exit Racism. rassismuskritisch denken lernen. (Audiobook available on several streaming services)

US:

https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/

Ibram X. Kendi – Stamped from the Beginning

Toni Morrison – Beloved