Germany’s n-word race debate – BBC
Seven-year-old Timnit Mesghena is an avid reader. In the evenings, she and her father like to sit on the sofa in their flat in Berlin and read to each other. They present an easy picture
Seven-year-old Timnit Mesghena is an avid reader. In the evenings, she and her father like to sit on the sofa in their flat in Berlin and read to each other. They present an easy picture of family happiness.
One of their favourites is the classic children’s book, The Little Witch, an enchanting tale of a witch who flies and birds who talk.
But one day they reached page 94, and a difficult word came up. It wasneger, describing a black boy. It is true that it can mean “negro” in German, but it also means the utterly offensive “nigger”. When the book was written, the former may have been true – but now it is more like the latter.
Timnit’s father, Mekonnen, had no doubts. He is black, originally from Eritrea, and found the word completely unacceptable.
“It made me very angry,” he says. “I know that people use that word to insult me or to give me the sense of not belonging.”
Read More: Germany’s n-word race debate
ida teclemariam March 20, 2013
I had to face that problem in college. The best thing we can teach children is to stare the truth in the eye. We can teach them no matter what they read or no matter what anyone says that every one of us is unique an no one can duplicate us. We are all deserving of love and respect. When they know that, they will have the skill to handle anything false.