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Designated Government Agent Ataman
Photo: IMAGO/M.
Popow / IMAGO/Metodi Popow
I was born to parents of Turkish origin in Berlin-Neukölln, grew up there and went to school.
I experienced first-hand what it's like to be discriminated against by other people with a migration background because I didn't fast, wore nail polish and had a best friend.
I kept having to justify myself in the school canteen for not paying attention to whether something was halal or not.
The last time I went to a swimming pool in Neukölln was when I was twelve.
Why?
Because my body became more feminine.
I felt so uncomfortable under the judgmental and desiring looks that I didn't dare to walk to the pool: instead I stayed in my t-shirt on my towel and served my time.
It's important to talk about the fact that discrimination doesn't just come from "white" non-migrant people.
It is naïve, if not even dangerous, to dismiss any criticism of these conditions by saying that the "white" majority society is much more discriminatory.
I don't want to have to debate whether addressing these obvious issues might not fuel racism or play into the hands of the wrong people.
I am writing this article because the traffic light alliance is planning to elect the publicist Ferda Ataman as the new federal anti-discrimination officer.
Imagine living in a world where you are only seen as part of a group that you are assigned to without asking.
It's not your opinion that counts, it's the opinion of that group.
Anyone assigned to this group will be lumped together with you.
If you get the idea that you have a problem with it and don't want to be assigned to a group, you will be accused of racism.
The migrant history of my family does not mean that my opinion is representative of all those people who also have a migrant history and vice versa.
Just as little as Germans stand for all other Germans and should therefore put up with being called "potatoes," as Ferda Ataman did.
Not all "whites" are privileged and oppress minorities.
One should not divide people into groups and make blanket responsibility for things for which they are not responsible.
There should be no us versus them.
There is discrimination and racism against people with a migration background.
But that doesn't mean that you can't criticize people with a migration background, because they too can emanate both discrimination and racism.
It is wrong for privileged
people of color
(yes, they exist!) to stand protectively in front of these people and take their side, silencing the voices of those who suffer from them.
Yes, it can happen that the wrong people try to exploit my opinion for their own ends.
But don't let that stop me from voicing my views.
more on the subject
Federal government proposal: Ferda Ataman should become the new anti-discrimination officer
Anti-discrimination officer: Traffic light postpones election of Ferda Ataman to early July
As an anti-discrimination officer, I would like someone with whom one can discuss without being hit with a racism club.
A person who unites instead of digging the rifts deeper.
Which is committed to the equal participation of people with a migration background, but also addresses political Islam, clan crime and anti-Semitism as clear problems.
Someone who takes action against the fact that many anti-racist alliances are not a safe place for Jews, who does not uncritically support a migrant Antifa movement whose demonstrations call for terror against Israel.
I appeal to the Bundestag to find a person who fights unequal treatment without dividing people into groups and thus promoting discriminatory structures and practices.
The voice that takes the side of oppressed women in patriarchal families is not automatically that of a white old man criticizing racist identity politics.
The voice can also come from a migrant young woman who sees her friend being forced against her will to marry someone her family has chosen for her.
