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Members of the Black community in Germany will hit the streets of Cologne on Saturday, 18 January to register their protest against the controversial decision of a court that describing people of African descent as “neger” is not necessarily derogatory.
The state constitutional court of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) had ruled on 19 December that sanctioning the leader of the AfD group in the state parliament, Nikolaus Kramer, over the use of the word “neger” amounted to a restriction of his right to free expression.
According to the court, the word “neger” (subsequently referred to as the N-word in this report) is not one of the terms that could only serve to provoke or disparage others and could only be considered derogatory depending on the context in which it is used.
“The N*word is always pejorative and racist!” a statement by organizers of the protest march said. “Black people associate the term with a lot of suffering, discrimination, violence, inequality and dehumanization!”
“For this reason, we want to take to the streets on 18 January 2020 to demonstrate that the N*word should finally be classified as what it is: racist, offensive and derogatory. The use of this word should no longer be normal,” the organizers said.
READ ALSO Black activist petitions against court decision allowing use of N-Word
An activist, Charlotte Nzimiro, has also started an online signature campaign on change.org for the classification of the N-word as racist (Rechtliche Anerkennung dass der Begriff „Neger“ rassistisch ist!) by the Federal Constitutional Court and the State Constitutional Court of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern).
“Let us insist that the term is classified as racist in Germany and that the use of the N-word should no longer be normal!” Ms Nzimiro said.
“We are part of this society and, like every other citizen, have a right to human dignity and equality, which are assaulted by this judgment and gives racism in Germany even more scope for expression,” she said.
“Let us collectively express our indignation and anger!”
Click here for more information on the Cologne protest march.
Sola Jolaoso
To sign the petition for the classification of the N-word as racist, click here
