
Black Germans were living through another horror that no one wanted to know about and that they were afraid to mention.
Though a small population, Afro-Germans, also called "Rhineland bastards," were trying to survive. Just like Black Americans, Black Germans were viewed as less than. They were targeted for extermination in despicable ways.
Modeled after American eugenic experiments, the sterilization program was an ideology put into practice meant to suppress, silence, and erase anyone who didn't fit into the narrow scope of what the state deemed "acceptable." Nazis used pseudo-scientific experiments designed to "protect" the blood of the German nation from "degeneration.”
The total number is unknown, but 385 of those documented were children whose only crime was existing. When the rhetoric of hate is given a platform to demand racial purity and separation, it is no longer just history repeating itself—it is a warning.
The forced sterilization of Black bodies is not new. Why? Because white supremacy fears what it is incapable of understanding. The fight is not over. And as we move forward, we must carry the lessons of the past, not just as a warning, but as a call to action.