VKSP #9: But they do amazing things with potatoes…2005/12/07

As I walked from the tram to the opera this morning in my traditional Wednesday morning/Admin. meeting coma, I literally walked into one of those sandwichboard advertisements on the street.

At first I didn't know what hit me...and I sat on the ground shocked that one of these docile creatures would attack a half-conscious woman walking in broad daylight on Berlin's busiest street. When I realized it had been a blameless sandwichboard, I felt sheepish.

When I read the sandwichboard, I felt a rush of that familiar sensation that only occurs in the immediate wake of some serious gaffe of Germtardation (see this blog's first post for more details on Germtardation).

The sign said BLACK POWER in enormous letters. It was an advertisement for a brand of notebook computer that happened to come in shiny black (and silver, as it grudgingly noted in much smaller letters).

I'm sure our friendly neighborhood veteran Black Panthers and Weathermen would get a huge kick out of German cheek.

In every record store, there is a section marked, puzzlingly, Black Music. This is a catch-all category for Hip Hop, R & B, Blues, Soul, Gospel, and in some unfortunate cases, jazz. Eminem, as I have seen, is often filed under Rock or Popular. Tracy Chapman...yeah. Black Music.

There is also a cookie in German Bakeries called the "Amerikaner". It is a large dough circle covered with half white and half black frosting. Thus, hard proof that ergregious political incorrectness and deliciousness need not be mutually exclusive.

Last week, I hung out with friends of friends, one of which was a Black guy who grew up in suburban San Diego.

Apparently he's had to field numerous questions from Germans curious about how he faced a childhood in poverty, around so many guns and drugs.

Racial idiocy can go both ways, however. My good friend Tommy once met an American student at a party, who seemed very concerned about inequality and opression the world over.

I paraphrase from Tommy's description (please keep in mind that most black people in Europe are of direct African descent).

Girl: So, like, what's it like for, like, African-Americans in Germany? I mean, I was just, like, in Italy, and it was, like, really segregated between like, Italian culture and African-American culture. So, like, what's it like here?

Tommy: For whom?

Girl: African-Americans. Like, do they have to face, like, repression, and opression and supression here in Germany?

Tommy: Who faces...?

Girl: African Americans, like, you know...

And so on. I just can't wait for the shiny white laptop to come out.

Happy Nikolaus!