Alliance of Afrodiasporic and Decolonial Initiatives criticizes the intention of CDU politicians to continue to tolerate the racist insult M. in public space and welcomes the declaration of intent by SPD and Greens to rename the street of the same name and the subway station after Anton Wilhelm Amo in the near future.

The alliance Decolonize Berlin e.V., consisting of ten Afrodiasporic and decolonial associations and societies, strongly protests against the proposal of high-ranking Berlin CDU politicians published in the Tagesspiegel on July 13, 2020, to retain the discriminatory Berlin street name and merely comment on it. In it, Zeller, Henkel, Lengsfeld and Lemke admitted that the historical foreign designation "M." for people of African origin is today to be "considered insulting and racist" and that the subway station should therefore be better renamed. The street name, which dates back to the time of the Brandenburg-Prussian enslavement trade around 1700, should nevertheless remain, the conservatives demand.

Im Gegensatz dazu begrüßt Decolonize Berlin e.V. die Entscheidung der SPD und von Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in Berlin-Mitte, sich hinter unsere Forderung nach einer zeitnahen Umbenennung der M-Straße in Würdigung von Anton Wilhelm Amo zu stellen, dem ersten Rechtsgelehrten und Philosophen afrikanischer Herkunft an einer preußischen Universität. 

At the time of the street's naming in the early 18th century, Amo had been brought to Europe as a minor from present-day Ghana by the Dutch West India Company and "given away" to Duke Anton Ulrich of Brunswick and Lüneburg-Wolfenbüttel. In 1714, the boy, who had been made a "Chamber M.," was "bequeathed" to his second godfather, Duke August Wilhelm, who offered Amo the opportunity of an academic education. Amo studied, learned several old and new languages and later taught in Halle, Wittenberg and Jena. His honor by renaming M Street is now supported online by over 10,000 people.

„Selbst die CDU erkennt nun an, dass der Straßenname rassistisch ist. Er muss daher umgehend aus dem öffentlichen Raum verschwinden, ohne dass dabei die deutsche Beteiligung am transatlantischen Versklavungshandel und die Geschichte Schwarzer Menschen in Deutschland unter den Teppich gekehrt wird. Berlin muss ein Zeichen gegen Rassismus setzen und endlich auch sie im Stadtraum ehren.“

Tahir Della, Vorstandsmitglied von Decolonize Berlin e.V..

E-Mail:
vorstand[at]decolonize-berlin.de

More:
– Decision of the SPD in Berlin-Mitte
– Resolution of B90/The Greens in Berlin-Mitte
– Online Petititon of the alliance Decolonize Berlin e.V.
- Neighborhood Initiative Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Strasse of the Institute for European Ethnology of the HU Berlin