“On 25 May, the African-American George Floyd died in Minneapolis…” - this is how comedian Caroline Kebekus, together with presenter Shary Reeves, begins her “spotlight on racism”, which the First German (“White”) Television had probably deemed unnecessary. In the telecast, some public figures in Germany report on their experiences of racism. The recent murder of Daunte Wright († 11 April 2021) is once again reason enough to question the comparatively low covering of racist incidents in the media and to take another look at the Kebekus “spotlight” on the topic of “racism”. The protests in the USA, which have already been going on for about a year and are directed against racist police violence, are sparking off once more. In Germany, too, the “Black Lives Matter” movement has drawn public attention to issues of (violent) discrimination against Black people. But an “ARD spotlight”? - is missing again.
And this is despite the fact that (repressed) structural racism is by no means a purely US-American problem: worldwide and also in Germany, this and related issues must finally be dealt with in a more comprehensive and profound way.