Germany has a “disgustingly white majority society”.

This is a quote from Sarah-Lee Heinrich. She said it in the YouTube talk show Karakaya Talk, on 18. November 2019. Ms. Heinrich is of mixed German and African heritage, but apparently identifies far more as a black than as a white person (she calls Africa “my continent” in a Tweet). She was 18 years old at the time of the show, and already a member of the ‘Green Youth’ (Grüne Jugend), the youth organization of the German Green Party. In the same show she complained that “it gets on her nerves” that the environmentalist movement Fridays For Future is full of white people.

There have been some criticisms because of such comments (and because of her Tweets from earlier years, in many of which she expressed similar sentiments or which were extremely vulgar and aggressive, like in “I want to burn you” and “I want to cut you with a knife and let you bleed”).

Regarding her Tweets, one could say that she was a young person, in puberty, with identity issues, etc.. In fact, she apologized about them and, by now, she has deleted many of them. According to the Bild Zeitung, which published an article about the affair, she also expressed regret for using the word “disgusting” in the quotation above. The word was “out of place” and using “unjust” would have been “good enough”.

An “unjust white majority society”? I find it difficult to believe the sincerity Ms. Heinrich’s excuses and apologies. Too many of her statements point in the same direction.

In themselves, these incidents, Tweets, apologies, etc. could maybe seen as the “issues” of just another immature, somewhat disturbed young person. Far more significant is, however, that her party – and well-known leftist activists like Lisa Neubauer – stand fully behind her. This support is shown by the fact that on 9. October 2021 she was chosen as one of the two Federal Speakers for the Green Youth with a large majority. The picture below shows the two new Federal Speakers.

She also received support from leftist newspapers. In excuse of her calling German society “disgustingly white”, the newspaper TAZ wrote this:

Only those who have power can discriminate. Black people have no power in Germany – or Europe. Therefore Heinrich can be accused of bad taste and lack of insight, but not reverse racism.

The denial that her statements against the “disgustingly white majority society” of Germany constitutes racism is based on a redefinition of the word “racism”. While the word traditionally would have meant a demeaning, devaluing, dehumanizing treatment of a person because of his race, this new definition includes the “power” dimension. People “without power” can demean and devalue others because of their race all day long, but they can never be accused of “racism”.

In addition to this redefinition of “racism”, a factual statement is made: “black people have no power in Germany”. The falsity of this statement is shown by the whole story of Ms. Heinrich. She, a black person, has just acquired considerable political power by becoming one of the Federal Speakers of the youth organization of a major German political party. One wonders how ideologically blended the journalist must be, writing such nonsense.

The redefinition of the word “racism” in terms of “power” is a typical maneuver used by followers of Critical Race Theory in the United States. It allows demeaning, dehumanizing attacks against white people – one of the hallmarks of the practice of Critical Race Theory – without being accused of racism. The usage of this tactic, illustrated by the TAZ article, in addition to the support which Ms. Heinrich received from her party (in spite of her talk about the “disgustingly white” society of Germany), are a sign of a disturbing, relatively new trend in Germany: the arrival of the influence of Critical Race Theory from the US into the German main-stream.

This influence will probably grow in the future: the Green Party – the ‘parent’ party of the Green Youth – is now the third biggest party in Germany and is currently involved in negotiations for participation in the next German government.