Finally it has materialised, the street sign of German poetess and activist May Ayim. "For the first time in Germany, the name of a controversial figure of the colonial past has been replaced on a street sign with the name of a person who critically wrote about racism and colonialism and fought against the consequences."
May Ayim (1960-1996) fought against ongoing racism in Germany and was active in the women’s movement. (Source: Der Schwarze Blog)
Afro-Europe: German street renamed after poetess May Ayim
She deserves this! Yesterday I bought her biography/collection of essays and poetry, "Blues in Black and White", and feel that the world has been cheated of her enormous talent, courage, individuality and strength due to her committing suicide in a psychiatric hospital August 9, 1996.
ReplyDeleteWe who call ourselves "brothers and sisters" of African people worldwide need to keep a careful watch over those like May Ayim, who felt that daily racism in Germany was just too much for her to bear----compounded by her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. We must ALL be our sisters' keeper, our brothers' keeper. We can't afford to lose another Afro-European activist because of their feelings of hopelessness and despair.
John, great comment!
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