I received a small pamphlet in my mailbox at the beginning of this month informing me of the dangers of foreigners. This note wanted me to sign a pamphlet and mail it to the Bundestag telling them to end "Multi-Kulti". It informed me that 25% of people in Baden-Württemberg have an "immigrant background". It went on to give me a list of statistics meant to leave me with the impression that foreigners and immigrants were dangerous. It ended the note saying that foreigners wasted German tax dollars by having the audacity to send their children to school. I crumpled up the note in disgust, before it hit me. I am a foreigner! One of my German BFFs holds dual German/Swiss citizenship, making him one of these scary "immigrant background" folks.
I have previously discussed what I termed "The German Pearl Clutch" and how I wish racism was met with this pearl clutching. This pamphlet in my mailbox was not aimed at me or my BFF. We are the "good" foreigners/immigrants to people like this. What is a "good" foreigner? Essentially that decision is based solely on skin color to these people. Even some Germans who I have thought of as accepting, liberal people will occasionally rant against Turkish immigrants or maybe even the Romani. They will criticize the immigrants' language abilities and their inability to assimilate. Yet this same person will tell me that my accent is "cute" and my desire to blend my own culture with German culture is endearing. If I point this out, I will be informed that the Turks are a permanent problem, while I am a temporary guest. However, if I later talk to them about wanting to stay in Germany long term, I will be greeted by words of encouragement. I am experiencing privilege based on both my race and nationality, plain & simple.
Germany actually did not have birth right citizenship until fairly recently. In the year I was born, babies born to immigrant families in Germany were not granted German citizenship. In my opinion, this has had a profound effect on the German attitudes towards people with immigrant backgrounds in their country. People with non-German heritage are often stuck as a "perpetual foreigner", even though they may have received citizenship. There are similar attitudes going on in the US. I have read reader op eds in my local newspaper calling to repeal the fourteenth amendment and end birth right citizenship in the states. This is nonsense all playing into the same ideas expressed in that pamphlet I received here in Germany.
The language issue is also incredibly relevant to the US, because I hear the exact same dialogue about people with Hispanic heritage back home. I'm guessing everyone has seen some sort of variation on this button before:
I have previously discussed what I termed "The German Pearl Clutch" and how I wish racism was met with this pearl clutching. This pamphlet in my mailbox was not aimed at me or my BFF. We are the "good" foreigners/immigrants to people like this. What is a "good" foreigner? Essentially that decision is based solely on skin color to these people. Even some Germans who I have thought of as accepting, liberal people will occasionally rant against Turkish immigrants or maybe even the Romani. They will criticize the immigrants' language abilities and their inability to assimilate. Yet this same person will tell me that my accent is "cute" and my desire to blend my own culture with German culture is endearing. If I point this out, I will be informed that the Turks are a permanent problem, while I am a temporary guest. However, if I later talk to them about wanting to stay in Germany long term, I will be greeted by words of encouragement. I am experiencing privilege based on both my race and nationality, plain & simple.
Germany actually did not have birth right citizenship until fairly recently. In the year I was born, babies born to immigrant families in Germany were not granted German citizenship. In my opinion, this has had a profound effect on the German attitudes towards people with immigrant backgrounds in their country. People with non-German heritage are often stuck as a "perpetual foreigner", even though they may have received citizenship. There are similar attitudes going on in the US. I have read reader op eds in my local newspaper calling to repeal the fourteenth amendment and end birth right citizenship in the states. This is nonsense all playing into the same ideas expressed in that pamphlet I received here in Germany.
The language issue is also incredibly relevant to the US, because I hear the exact same dialogue about people with Hispanic heritage back home. I'm guessing everyone has seen some sort of variation on this button before:
Now I know what some of you are thinking right now. "But Mietzsche, you have learned German since you were 14. You of all people should be angriest about people who immigrate to a country without even trying to learn a language!" I think quite the opposite. I think I feel more sympathetic to people who speak English as a second language, because of my stay here. It's true that I have very good German. Germans can tell my accent is that of a non-native speaker, though a lot of them have trouble pinpointing where it's from. I generally understand everything going on around me and can communicate fluidly. However, even with all this, I encounter some incredibly awkward and embarrassing moments on a weekly basis. Also, most of my ability to be functional in Germany comes from my contact with Germans. Simply living in Germany would not be enough, most of what I have learned has come from my friends and coworkers.
I have made word mix-ups (saying "doubt" when I meant to say onions, saying "vomit" when I meant to say candles, etc.), I have made some pretty catastrophic pronunciation mistakes, and I have done quite a few things wrong simply because I did not understand the language like a native speaker. I have been in situations where I have had to awkwardly ask the German to repeat themselves multiple times. This is not for lack of trying, these problems just come with the territory of living in a foreign country. I could live here for the rest of my life, gain citizenship, and still have these problems. Preferring your native language over the language of your home country does not warrant shame or deportation. It is natural. Before you jump down someone's throat for preferring their native tongue, think for a second about their day. Maybe they're just exhausted after a day of work and can't think straight. Maybe they've been trying hard to learn English but they started at age 35 and it simply does not come naturally to them anymore. Maybe they do not get enough practice with native speakers on a daily basis.
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