When I first heard of the story about the murder of Marwa Sherbini, a veiled (and pregnant) Egyptian woman, as she prepared to give evidence in a German courtroom against a man who physically assaulted her early this week I couldn’t comprehend the situation.
I later read the story over the news sites and I wondered how this could happen. I have heard enough stories from friends, colleagues who have lived in Germany and how they faced racial discrimination and sometimes abuses. In one of the stories story my friends were on a bus ride and some German couple had a child who started crying at the sight of my friends in the bus. A few metres from their stage, the bus driver decided he couldn’t stand the noise made by the child and he ordered these African women off the bus. My friend told me this story and I remember wondering what I would have done. I told her that getting off the bus when it’s public she was giving in to racism. And other stories from German include stepping in a shop and people refuse to serve you but Sherbini’s story was just too much to take in. And this racism is not limited to Germany but my thinking is how can a country that was the epic center of the horrors of Hitler still have such wide spread elements of extremism more than 60 years down the road. But to also think that this poor Egyptian was murdered in court room where people should be seeking justice sends Europe not just German a warning that this segregation is headed to destruction. When I read her story, I couldn’t remember any other horrifying story that I have read. This story reminded chilling stories by former captives of the LRA rebels and how they were forced to kill their families but the cruelty is the only similarity. The murder in German was right inside what is supposed to be the temple of justice. Of course many in German are not this racial but the attitude towards Islam or to some races is still an issue to watch in Europe.
I read a good post on the murder on Huffington Post
Rosebell Kagumire 