Asians in Germany Targets of Racist Stereotypes, Violence

He described BTS as "some crappy virus that hopefully there will be a vaccine for soon as well."
The social media backlash was global.

At a time of anti-Asianness it’s not only deplorable but dangerous for someone like Matthias Matuschik to liken COVID to a South Korean group like BTS. This only incites hate, violence to Asians from various backgrounds. This is disgusting @bayern3 the world is watching.

— David Yi? (@seoulcialite) February 26, 2021

Yet Michelle, the young Chinese woman living in Bonn, says she feels accepted in Germany. "People needing directions often come up to me and ask for help even though I look foreign," she says.

Initially, she did sense some discrimination, but she believes it could be attributed to cultural misunderstandings. "Germans are direct," she said, adding this has changed in recent years. "They laugh much more."

Youth 'taking to the streets' over racism

Meanwhile, German youth are engaging more with issues like racism and are often more open and accepting, according to Frank Joung, host of the Halbe Katoffl (Half Potato) podcast which promotes dialogue between Germans from immigrant backgrounds.

"They [young people] chat with people all over the world, they are connected through apps, they listen to K-pop, watch Black Panther. I think, for them, it’s a logical way — they are not even thinking about who is 'Black' or 'white'," he said.

Anti-racist activist Kocak shares the sentiment.

"With the Black Lives Matter movement and the anti-racism movements after Hanau, something has happened," he said, referring to the February 2020 mass shooting at a shisha bar that killed several people of Turkish descent in the city near Frankfurt.

"We live in an unjust world here and we need much more solidarity," Kocak added. "Young people are realizing this right and taking to the streets."