The Zollern colliery in Dortmund is a state-financed industrial monument with an attached museum. There is currently a “Safer Space” only for dark-skinned visitors.
Whites undesirable, at least for a few hours: The Zeche Zollern Museum in Dortmund opens its current exhibition on colonialism on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. only for blacks and people of color. A “safer space” should be created in which “people affected by racism can protect themselves from further (even unconscious) discrimination,” the museum explains . The exhibition has been running since spring, but the “Safer Space” has only now become known to a broader public through media reports.
It is an “offer for BIPoC and black people to withdraw and exchange ideas openly without being observed, judged or criticized by white people,” it said. The acronym “BIPoC” comes from English and stands for “Black People, Indigenous People and People of Color”. The exhibition organizers also explain what “white” is: being white is a social construct with privileges, not a skin colour.
**Those responsible find the exclusion unproblematic**
The process caused ridicule and criticism on social networks. “Isn’t that called apartheid?” asks a user. Another suggests going to the museum on a Saturday with your face painted black – blackfacing is frowned upon as racist in anti-racist circles.
According to its own description, the exhibition is intended to be a kind of workshop in which “visitors, together with guests from civil society, art and science, can explore the traces and consequences of colonialism” and develop ideas. But then wouldn’t it make sense for people of all colors and biographies to do this together, to confront difficult aspects of our common history as members of humanity?
The museum itself sees the action as unproblematic. “This is about four out of a total of 48 hours of opening time per week and only a smaller part of the museum,” said a spokeswoman when asked. The “Safer Space” is an experiment and “a request to the visitors to show consideration for people who are much more affected by the topic of colonialism than others”. The reactions are taken seriously and evaluated.
**Social Segregation**
The case illustrates the difficulties that arise when there is social segregation. Only recently, in connection with the planned German “ Self-Determination Act ”, the question was discussed whether, for example, operators of saunas can freely determine the extent to which they admit trans people in terms of domiciliary rights and freedom of contract.
The German anti-discrimination commissioner Ferda Ataman insists that the General Equal Treatment Act also applies in these cases, meaning that nobody should be turned away. The federal government, in turn, wants to enable the free decision of domiciliary rights holders.
Either way, it would be difficult to justify such exclusion at a state-financed educational institution such as the Museum Zeche Zollern. The organizers of the exhibition also seem to be aware of this. Under “How is admission regulated?” It says at the bottom of the website: “Admission to the exhibition workshop is not controlled and works on the basis of trust.” Translated: White visitors are temporarily undesirable, but do not have to stay outside due to their skin color.
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The Zollern colliery in Dortmund is a state-financed industrial monument with an attached museum. There is currently a “Safer Space” only for dark-skinned visitors.
Whites undesirable, at least for a few hours: The Zeche Zollern Museum in Dortmund opens its current exhibition on colonialism on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. only for blacks and people of color. A “safer space” should be created in which “people affected by racism can protect themselves from further (even unconscious) discrimination,” the museum explains . The exhibition has been running since spring, but the “Safer Space” has only now become known to a broader public through media reports.
It is an “offer for BIPoC and black people to withdraw and exchange ideas openly without being observed, judged or criticized by white people,” it said. The acronym “BIPoC” comes from English and stands for “Black People, Indigenous People and People of Color”. The exhibition organizers also explain what “white” is: being white is a social construct with privileges, not a skin colour.
**Those responsible find the exclusion unproblematic**
The process caused ridicule and criticism on social networks. “Isn’t that called apartheid?” asks a user. Another suggests going to the museum on a Saturday with your face painted black – blackfacing is frowned upon as racist in anti-racist circles.
According to its own description, the exhibition is intended to be a kind of workshop in which “visitors, together with guests from civil society, art and science, can explore the traces and consequences of colonialism” and develop ideas. But then wouldn’t it make sense for people of all colors and biographies to do this together, to confront difficult aspects of our common history as members of humanity?
The museum itself sees the action as unproblematic. “This is about four out of a total of 48 hours of opening time per week and only a smaller part of the museum,” said a spokeswoman when asked. The “Safer Space” is an experiment and “a request to the visitors to show consideration for people who are much more affected by the topic of colonialism than others”. The reactions are taken seriously and evaluated.
**Social Segregation**
The case illustrates the difficulties that arise when there is social segregation. Only recently, in connection with the planned German “ Self-Determination Act ”, the question was discussed whether, for example, operators of saunas can freely determine the extent to which they admit trans people in terms of domiciliary rights and freedom of contract.
The German anti-discrimination commissioner Ferda Ataman insists that the General Equal Treatment Act also applies in these cases, meaning that nobody should be turned away. The federal government, in turn, wants to enable the free decision of domiciliary rights holders.
Either way, it would be difficult to justify such exclusion at a state-financed educational institution such as the Museum Zeche Zollern. The organizers of the exhibition also seem to be aware of this. Under “How is admission regulated?” It says at the bottom of the website: “Admission to the exhibition workshop is not controlled and works on the basis of trust.” Translated: White visitors are temporarily undesirable, but do not have to stay outside due to their skin color.