News

The interest in the topics of "racism", "cultural appropriation" and "decolonization" and the call for change are bigger than ever before. We very much welcome this development, because it is what we always wanted to achieve with our educational work. For decades, however, we were barely heard. Now the interest has grown so much that we can no longer answer all inquiries. For this reason, we will increasingly publish information in a short form from now on, embed relevant videos and link to other websites. We will process the inquiries that we have received so far as soon as possible.

It has become very difficult to find interview partners who are Native Americans and live in Germany. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that we are still receiving the same questions, we have answered countless times already.

Furthermore, most of the projects are planned without the participation of Native Americans. Most of the time, we get contacted shortly before implementation. Usually, we don't get to see the scripts for film and theater productions. However, Native American actors are being sought and they are supposed to make a decision on whether they would like to take part in a production or not - without knowing in details what the whole production is all about. This also applies to advertising campaigns by companies.

Most articles that appear in newspapers and magazines are not about publishing the diverse opinions of Native Americans so that readers can make up their own minds. In most cases, Native Americans are sought to confirm an existing opinion. It doesn't matter whether the interviewees are familiar with the topic or not. It doesn't make a lot of sense to ask Native Americans whether they consider the Winnetou books by German author Karl May to be racist, unless they have researched the subject and read relevant passages from the books. And that is just one example of many. Interviews are often greatly shortened. In addition, statements are taken out of context and all what is left is an altered version. This is very frustrating for the interviewees.

Now we've reached a point where a lot of interview requests are being turned down. For this reason, we will stop providing contacts to interview partners immediately. Instead, we would like to create lists of tips and suggestions to make finding interview partners easier. We ask for some patience.