Screening of "The power of prejudice" with John A. Kantara for Black History Month

Join us as we celebrate Black History Month with a special screening of the movie ‘The Power of Prejudice’. This documentary discusses racism in Germany, how racist thoughts and patterns are reproduced by people and institutions and reinforced by digital technology and showcases basic prerequisites in unlearning racism.

People of any skin colour and origin are more than 99.99 percent the same in their genetic makeup. Yet racism is deeply rooted in supposedly enlightened Germany. Why is that? Racist thought patterns are reproduced by people and institutions and reinforced by digital technology. Like other cultural behaviour patterns, they are adopted at a very early age. Join us for a discussion on the power of prejudice with the movie director John A. Kantara.

This event is co-hosted by the Hertie School, SHIELD, Cinema Politica and Black Student Union at the Humboldt University. The event will take place at the Hertie School under the 2G+ rule. Prior registration is required.

Guest speaker

John A. Kantara - For over twenty years, John has produced more than 70 TV documentaries and Reportages for ZDF, ARTE, 3sat and ARD on topics ranging from race, politics, war & conflicts, to economics and culture, filming extensively in North America, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Africa. Since 2011 he has taught as Professor of Journalism at DEKRA Hochschule für Medien (DHM), the University of Applied Science in Berlin. John has been actively involved with Afro-Germans from Berlin and co-founded the Initiative of Black People in Germany (ISD) which introduced Black History Month in Germany in the early ‘90s.

In cooperation with

The Society of Hertie School for Inclusion, Equity, Liberty and Diversity (SHIELD) is a student club that advocates and pushes for diversity, both within our university and more widely across the policymaking field. SHIELD focuses on the intersectional nature of identity; crucially, this includes, but is not limited to, race, ethnicity, and global identity. In addition to serving as a center for students of color to gather and find community, SHIELD aims to educate the Hertie community on the importance of designing policy with marginalized groups in mind.

Cinema Politica uses the power of art to engage, inform, and inspire social change. Cinema Politica hosts independent film-screening and subsequent discourse bi-weekly during the academic year. While they create an informal and safe environment for their members, the topics with which the students concern themselves with are global in scope, political in nature, and challenge indifference.

The Black Student Union at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin are made up of Black people, people of African descent, and people who identify themselves as part of the Black/African diaspora. They aim to improve the experience of Black students at the university and furnish our intellectual and personal growth. The student union creates a network of students, staff, and academics who can support one another within and beyond the university. The Black Student Union is an explicitly intersectional space independent of the university. Whilst their experiences bring them together, they acknowledge the systems of oppression that affect us do not exist in isolation. They aim to bring the most marginalised of their community to the centre thereby amplifying the voices of those who are all too often overlooked. The university can be an isolating space for Black students, therefore it is crucial for them to create a space to reflect on the experience of navigating the institution.