16.03.2021 | 7 p.m. (CET)
In conversation with Caroline Randall Williams

The event takes place online and will be streamed live on YouTube: https://youtu.be/D8DZ2EdYjn8

The mass protests of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, sparked by the murder of George Floyd, not only brought the issue of racism and police violence - especially against People of Color - into worldwide focus but also opened up a discourse about remembering the past in public space. Monuments, statues, parks, and street names influence what is remembered, erased, disavowed, and potentially open for reinterpretation. Many of the public works in the United States are honoring slaveholders, the Confederacy and other controversial political leaders and show how much the land of the brave and the free lacks in coming to terms with its own past.

In her New York Times article “You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument“ American author, poet and academic Caroline Randall Williams describes how to deal with one's own identity as a black person born in the US South whose ancestors were black slaves and white rapists, and calls for a new culture of remembrance. In conversation with Mirjam Zadoff (Munich Documentation Center) she will talk about topics such as structural racism, the importance of black history, the role of cultural identity of People of Color in the US today, and the importance of a joint and diverse memory culture.

In 2019 the lecture series “This is America. Reflections on a Divided Country“ started as a collaboration between the Bavarian American Academy and the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism. In this series, renowned intellectuals are invited to examine historical developments and discuss the current political and cultural state of affairs in the United States. The event is also part of the International Weeks against Racism.