Mo Asumang

Mo Asumang
Mo Asumang in 2012
Born
Monika Yaa akoma Asumang

13 June, 1963
Kassel, Germany
Occupation(s)Presenter, filmmaker, actress and writer

Monika 'Mo' Yaa akoma Asumang (born 13 June 1963, Kassel) is a German presenter, filmmaker, actress and writer. She created the 2014 documentary The Aryans, in which she confronts racists in both Germany and the US.

Biography

Asumang was born on 13 June 1963 to a Ghanaian father and German mother.[1][2] She studied Visual Communication at the University of Kassel.[2] Between 1997 and 2000 she presented the television show Liebe Sünde on German TV.[3] She made her directing debut with the documentary Roots Germania, which was nominated for a Grimme-Preis in 2008.[2][4][5] Around the Football World Cup 2010, she made a documentary about South Africa called Road to Rainbow - Willkommen in Südafrika.[2]

In 2014, Asumang created the documentary Die Arier (The Aryans).[1] As one of the first black women on German television, she was targeted by racists.[6] To address racism, she confronted racists in Germany, and travelled to the United States, where she had conversations with Ku Klux Klan members.[6][7] The documentary was also nominated for a Grimme-Preis.[8]

In 2016, Asumang wrote a book about her identity search and experiences meeting racists, Neo-Nazis and Ku-Klux-Klan members face to face, titled Mo und die Arier: Allein unter Rassisten und Neonazis (Mo and the Aryans: Alone among racists and Neo-Nazis).[9]

References

  1. ^ a b "Confronting racism face-to-face". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  2. ^ a b c d "Ein anderer Blick auf Südafrika". Hessische Niedersächsische Allgemeine (in German). 2010-06-17. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  3. ^ ""Ich bin Globuli für Nazis"". www.tagesspiegel.de (in German). Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  4. ^ "Mo Asumang trifft den Klu Klux Klan [sic]". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  5. ^ "Bislang drei Nachnominierungen beim Grimme-Preis 2015" (in German). Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  6. ^ a b "A mixed-race German confronts white supremacists face-to-face, including the Klan". The World from PRX. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  7. ^ "Bi-racial filmmaker confronts neo-nazis and the Ku Klux Klan in new documentary 'Aryans'".
  8. ^ Gröschl, Michael (25 November 2016). "Mo und die Arier – Buchverlosung" (in German). Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  9. ^ "Warum Mo Asumang den persönlichen Kontakt zu Rassisten sucht: Allein im Schmelztiegel des Rassismus". Kreiszeitung (in German). 29 November 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-10.