I pass the road leading to the exits from cologne Germany and a shiver runs down my back as I notice a sign. Regional election were about to take place those days at the german province of NordRhein-Westfallen. Dozens of posters were hanged three meter high and scattered along the road. It is a picture of dark masculine arms clinging onto white bars. I guess that the oversize palms, with a skin tone that is sightly darker then mine were suppose to evoke intimidation but i have actually felt compassion towards the imprisoned giant. The title of the poster in German means "lock up multiple offenders". Although the "prisoner" doesn´t have his face in the picture, there is no place left for imagination as to who the criminal is, or if to be precise where is he from.
The far right parties in Germany have been inspired by their Swiss equivalents that have recently passed a law against immigrants and their descendants that are involved in criminal activity; criminals with foreign background could be deported out of the country. Now braking the law seem to be a privilege which is expropriated from foreigner. considering this rhetoric, bounding crime and ethnicity together, is it inevitable that the judgment of ethnic attributes as a criminal property seeps in so deep to the minds of so many?
In the beginning of this month two Neo nazis committed suicide in a track in the (east German) town of Zwikau. a police investigation followed a confusing revelation regarding to them as the responsible to a series of killings that occurred during the recent decade (Döner Mörder) of shops owners of Turkish/ Greek extraction and one German policewoman; altogether ten people. The brutal killings had similar characteristics as the victims were shot in their faces and the operations occurred during daylight: classical identifications for hate crime . Yet the so called "brown cell" could have proceeded uninterruptedly with its actions since It was nowhere near of getting caught. The police investigation was heading on the wrong direction and the best evidence is the composite pictures of the witnesses drawn from memory, appearing on this page. Through those images the police hoped to locate suspects or witnesses that will lead to the killer. Underneath are the actual offenders pictures that were been hidden for a long time in the police´s archive. The pictures were taken to the police station in 1996 after a demonstration.
All along the police fantasized about Turkish underground mafia with custody and protection fees, bonds and heavy punishments and the idea of a foreign hate crime victim didn't really cross their mind. Was it the witnesses or police officers who assembled those portraits through filter of prejudices ? Compositing those ethnic properties while digging out images of random by passers and sheltering right wing violence.
It reminds me of another way authorities handled racist assault which occurred in Germany 2009 and was "reported on the back page in German media" (The Guardian, Anja Seelinger).
An Egyptian woman named Marwa al Sherbini had a defamation trial against the young Alex Wiener whom she sued due to racist remarks he made in public. At the courthouse-He stubbed her eighteen times to the eyes of her three years old son and the judge. As her husband rushed to her help and struggle with the Wiener, two alarmed policemen have shot him while assuming him to be the aggressor. as a result he was heavily wounded. The lawsuit her husband, Mr Azim raised against the court (judge and cups) was dismissed, while the aggressor was sentence to life in prison.
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