News from Germany:

The story of Chemnitz proofs how much Colored Glasses is still needed.
During the last week, Chemnitz (Germany) got known for open expressed and lived racism in the streets of the city. When I first saw the pictures in the news it made me really sad, but I must confess it didn’t surprised me much. Over the last years I could see the change of emotions, the anger and fear. Even friends of mine started to change their minds to more radical position. This is very hard for me. The feeling of being left behind is strong. Young people don’t have many perspectives to stay and many move to bigger cities far away. When I moved to Chemnitz in 2012 to study intercultural communication the city welcomed me warmhearted. It became my home and I still feel connected to the people. What I always liked the most about the people in Chemnitz is their honesty.
During my time in Chemnitz I saw open racism but I also saw people stepping up. Also during the last week many people from Chemnitz stepped up against violence and racism. I had the chance to join them. It made me realize how deep the gap already is between the right and the left wing.

Here is why I think Colored Glasses is needed so much. It is easy to be against something. „To be against“ means to me black- and white-opinion. But with Colored Glasses we want to see the color in between. That is hard work, because it means that we need to go back into dialogue and to have discussions to eventually find back to friendship and trust. We all need the competence to get back in touch after a fight and to create a peaceful world for our future generation. Colored Glasses is one step to get back into that dialogue.
I am proud of all the volunteers that do the job everyday and help students to create positive connections. Let’s keep on going with that. Let the light shall never go out again!