PBS aired a re-run of the entire Germans in America series the other night.  I was able to see the entire series for the first time, instead of taking it in piecemeal.  This four-part series examines German settlers who came to America in the early 18th Century, particularly how they adjusted to life in  America, their experiences in moving and settling westward, and the ways that their descendants have maintained aspects of German culture today.

While I understand the representation of early German settlers is quite ethnically homogeneous, the exclusion of multi-ethnic Germans in the last segment is disappointing.  It provides a fundamentally distorted and inaccurate representation of German populations in America today, particularly taking into account German-American relations since the Second World War.  Nevertheless, this inaccurate portrayal is right on par with the way diversity in German society continues to be represented in the Motherland. Or, is it the Fatherland?! Regardless, this series once again recounts the history of white Germans in the United States, while ignoring any degree of diversity among Americans of German descent or recent immigrants from Germany.

Germans in America is primarily funded by Goethe Institute USA, German Originality and German Information Center USA, organizations that are major players in funding German cultural projects, both contemporary and historical.  In funding such projects as this, these organizations are perpetuating exclusionary practices and attitudes about what does and does not constitute German identity.  As the documentary traces the histories of various German American families from the 18th Century to the present, including representations of multi-ethnic Germans in that generational narrative would not create unwanted disjointedness.  In fact, it would only add to discussions of ethnic diversity throughout the German diaspora.

Afro/Black Germans are still largely absent from the the contemporary narrative of Germans in America and in Germany.  A considerable portion of us have either made America our permanent home or lead transcontinental lives.  Also, more than 10% of the German population consists of immigrants and migrants, 3% or 2.7 million of whom are of Turkish background, and 6% are of Afro and Indo-Asian descent.  Recent data shows that 30% of Germans aged 15 years and younger have at least one parent born abroad.  Nevertheless, this is rarely evident in the ways in which government or government sponsored and academic entities have chosen to represent Germany’s cultural and ethnic demographics.

Save for a few indie documentaries such as the May Ayim story, there are little to no films about People of Color in Germany.  More books by and about Afro Germans are published and enter the market every year.  I hope that this translates into an increase in representations beyond the written word as well.