In Support of the African Communities in Tübingen

We wish to express our absolute support for the African community/communities of Tübingen in the face of the racism it has to endure, especially at times of distress and tragedy. Being 'green' (which Tübingen prides itself on being) is meaningless if human rights and respect for humanity aren't part of the equation. For context, see this article in The African Courier.

Forks

 

Lightning touched a clinic

near where the medical helicopter

lands and then it touched the old botanical gardens.

 

When a young African man was murdered

in the botanical gardens some months ago,

the mayor aligned cause with refugee status.

 

The dead man was blamed for his own death.

The man stabbed beneath the trees was said

to have been part of a drug syndicate.

 

The dead man under the trees which in March

were starting to reach towards their summer leaves

wasn’t numbered as a specimen in the arboretum.

 

In this ‘green city’ there is a failure of alignment

between cause and effect, and the behaviour

of the storm is placed on the behaviour

 

of others — behaviour, behaviouralism,

meteorology, shifting blame, enclave — a ginkgo

tree was planted for the 200th of the university hospital.

 

 

            John Kinsella