Racism | Schools with and without racism

Schools without racism are more of a goal than a reality. Photo: dpa/Philip Dulian “Never again war,” sings rapper Matondo Castlo on Wednesday in the Brandenburg state parliament. He sings: “Whoever saves a human life saves the world.” It says something similar in the Jewish Talmud. Matondo Castlo's appearance in the plenary hall of Parliament is part of the national meeting of the network "Schools without Racism - Schools with Courage".

For example, the Pistorius-Gymnasium from Bernau, the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Gymnasium from Forst, the Free Elementary School from Fürstenwalde and especially many schools from Potsdam that do not have to travel far are represented at the meeting. A total of around 300 children and young people from 73 schools came. Every educational institution in which at least 70 percent of the students, teachers and other staff support this in a secret vote will receive a sign “School without Racism – School with Courage” for the facade. You then commit to taking active action against discrimination and regularly holding project days on the topic.

New additions since the last Brandenburg network meeting are the School for Health Professions from Perleberg, the Bülow-Gymnasium from Stahnsdorf, the Otfried-Preußler-School from Großbeeren, the Schwanebeck elementary and high school and the Zwilling-Scholl-Schule from Bad Belzig - the latter was the 5,000th school without racism nationwide. In Brandenburg, 122 of 859 schools are now taking part.

“We still have to do something,” says State Parliament President Ulrike Liedtke (SPD). This can be expanded further. However, participation is voluntary. On Wednesday, Liedke rattled off the anti-racism clause in the state constitution and added: “How normal is that?”

But unfortunately it's not normal in everyday life. »Courage cannot be prescribed. You have to decide for yourself,” says Liedtke. Even in schools without racism, insults and violence can occur. But the sign on the facade is a promise not to look away. In a democracy, there must also be arguments, says Liedtke. But no one should be disparaged. "It's not a question of right or left."

From the right, from the AfD, a request came to cut off funding for the Courage Network. The state of Brandenburg should stop its payments and prohibit schools from participating, demanded state parliament member Dominik Kaufner (AfD). It's all about fighting against people who think differently, about getting a blank check and arguing uninhibitedly against the AfD, he complained. Kaufner rated a sticker “Recognize Racism” as left-wing extremist. He said: "We don't need this pressure to confess, and we don't need indoctrination in our schools."

The state parliament rejected the AfD's request last week. Carsten Völtzke, managing director of the network at the federal level, thanks the SPD, the CDU and the BSW spin-off “We for Brandenburg” for this. Völtzke remembers his youth in East Germany. “We ran away a lot,” he says. In the 1990s, neo-Nazis roamed the streets with baseball bats and beat up refugees, punks and homeless people. At that time and later they also killed or shot such people. In Brandenburg, 23 victims of right-wing violence have been officially recognized since 1990. Völtzke thanks the announcement made in the parliamentary debate: “There is no neutrality towards racism.”

»Our differences make our schools and our society diverse and strong.«

The AfD was bothered by a network campaign “We are not neutral”. The BSW also rejected the AfD's application. But in his speech, BSW MP Falk Peschel shared the AfD's assessment that the campaign was unacceptable because it interfered in state elections. If someone receives funding from the state, the appearance that they are doing preliminary work for or against certain political parties is harmful. Peschel called on Education Minister Gordon Hoffmann (CDU) to stop this sort of thing.

In addition to State Parliament President Liedtke from the SPD, her deputy Jouleen Gruhn, SPD parliamentary group leader Björn Lüttmann and MP Elske Hildebrandt, and MP Kristy Augustin from the CDU are also present at the network meeting on Wednesday. No other parliamentarians show up. In addition to rapper Matondo, eight other black people and four young women with a Muslim headscarf can be seen in the hall. Children present their project to beautify the hallway in their elementary school. A hand-made world map shows where the parents of various classmates come from.

“Our differences make our schools and our society diverse and strong,” says state student representative Jakob Stamm. "It should go without saying that school is a place without racism, without discrimination." Unfortunately, that's not the case. Stamm encourages people not to laugh when people are made fun of in the schoolyard and then to contradict their friends. This doesn't make the whole world better, but it does make the person affected's day better when they are told: "You are no worse than others." Perhaps there will be more cases of racism in the next few years, Stamm fears. But you shouldn't be discouraged.

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