Comments on: German toy maker is ultra-clueless http://cluelesswhitewoman.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/german-toy-maker-is-ultra-clueless/ I used to think problems weren't there if they didn't happen to me. Time to end THAT bullshit. Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:15:42 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: rev-I-late http://cluelesswhitewoman.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/german-toy-maker-is-ultra-clueless/#comment-53 rev-I-late Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:15:42 +0000 http://cluelesswhitewoman.wordpress.com/?p=24#comment-53 Germany is a country with a long racist tradition that is embedded in culture, politics, media, representation and everyday life. There is a reason for the peculiar denial that one encounters when asking germans about it: Its the idea that the §rd Reich is a singular event in hiostory for which every german must atone by being demonstratively critical about it. The exaggerated focus on the Reich and National Socialism has created a denial of both germanys colonial past (the first German concentraion camps were built in Namibia, then "German South West Africa:http://www.namibweb.com/ccamps.htm ). Information on the manifold manifestations of everyday racism in contemporary Germany can be found here: Racism in Germany: Sentence in Racist Attack Slammed for Leniency http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,519973,00.html Racism On the Rise in Germany The European Union has published a new report on racism in Europe. Germany comes in for criticism on several fronts, including violent crimes and discrimination against foreigners in the job and housing markets http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,502471,00.html Germany is a country with a long racist tradition that is embedded in culture, politics, media, representation and everyday life. There is a reason for the peculiar denial that one encounters when asking germans about it: Its the idea that the §rd Reich is a singular event in hiostory for which every german must atone by being demonstratively critical about it. The exaggerated focus on the Reich and National Socialism has created a denial of both germanys colonial past (the first German concentraion camps were built in Namibia, then “German South West Africa:http://www.namibweb.com/ccamps.htm ). Information on the manifold manifestations of everyday racism in contemporary Germany can be found here:

Racism in Germany: Sentence in Racist Attack Slammed for Leniency
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,519973,00.html

Racism On the Rise in Germany
The European Union has published a new report on racism in Europe. Germany comes in for criticism on several fronts, including violent crimes and discrimination against foreigners in the job and housing markets

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,502471,00.html

]]> By: matthewross35 http://cluelesswhitewoman.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/german-toy-maker-is-ultra-clueless/#comment-16 matthewross35 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:22:39 +0000 http://cluelesswhitewoman.wordpress.com/?p=24#comment-16 Thanks for this info. I hadn't heard about it and certainly hadn't seen it. Who knows where this person's head was...hopefully this was a simply lack of detail of something. I've heard from other Germans that racism against Blacks is minute and not a blatant problem. What I wonder is what the Blacks that are there collectively would say. It's almost like asking men whether women are being treated fair in the workplace...talk about clueless! I would gather that most men would propose, with good intentions, that gender issues are quelled and relatively fair. These are the same folks that say, again with a clear conscious, that racism is dead and people need to get over it. People may not commit nearly as many overt acts of bigotry, but the structure of our society is still the racist and we are in many cases stratified by our race, class, and gender. Thanks for this info. I hadn’t heard about it and certainly hadn’t seen it. Who knows where this person’s head was…hopefully this was a simply lack of detail of something.

I’ve heard from other Germans that racism against Blacks is minute and not a blatant problem. What I wonder is what the Blacks that are there collectively would say. It’s almost like asking men whether women are being treated fair in the workplace…talk about clueless! I would gather that most men would propose, with good intentions, that gender issues are quelled and relatively fair. These are the same folks that say, again with a clear conscious, that racism is dead and people need to get over it. People may not commit nearly as many overt acts of bigotry, but the structure of our society is still the racist and we are in many cases stratified by our race, class, and gender.

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