Successfull integration/failed integration - My experiences with Integration and the media in my country

by Kary Morris

Especially in Germany you can find a lot of migrants with Turkish, Arabic, Spanish or African background. All of those people bring along different cultures, languages, religions, and the hope to find a better home and a more secure future in Germany which is known for its democracy.

However, not all of them are lucky to find a job or even to be accepted by society.
It already starts with young pupils of non-German origin which have difficulties with integrating in school. There aren’t many teachers who support those children with their own concerned interests. Even the youngest pupil is able to feel this lack of support.

That’s the point where exclusions and conflicts start in our communities.
Which German deals with Islam sufficiently that he or she can understand and respect the behavior and the way of life of a Muslim who lives in Germany? And who knows why Islamic studies in Germany differ so much from Islamic studies in other countries?

Each country and each media landscape has its own target group which it wants to achieve. Germany is on the way of improvement regarding integration, but whether equality between native Germans and Germans with migration background will be achieved, or the jaundices against the Muslim society will be degraded is a serious and distressed question.

Each media platform wants power, wants to inform, warn and sway its readers, viewers, or listeners. Advertising and the fight for a place at the top is conducted in various ways. Obviously everyone tries to reach the main target group, hence a lot of contras against minorities can be seen. Unfortunately, the biggest part of minorities in Germany are Muslims and immigrants.

When German media reports about a crime they call it “honor killing” if it was committed by a Turk and “family drama” if the murderer was a German. The so-called honor killing has its roots in old cultural customs that have nothing to do with Islam. However, honor killings get often connected to it if the murder was conducted by Turks who are Muslims, as everyone expects.

If a German kills half of his family it is called a family drama and it is often added that the criminal guiltiness of the perpetrator must be reviewed again and again, because “he was suffering from depression or other psychological disorders”.
A lot of German media want to avoid bad coverage of their compatriots when it comes to certain issues and rather highlight other events, which is absolutely not right in my opinion.

That Islam puts off or scares some people and is negatively shown in the media nowadays can partly be blame on Muslims themselves.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that call themselves Muslims but they don’t know anything about the religion even don’t practice their faith.

The worst thing is the wrong interpretation of the “holy Qur’an”. Examples for this are the terror-attacks which are executed in the name of god. Who can prove the responsibility that god approved the war, murder, riots, antisocial behaviour, suicide and all those outrages? Everyone should be appreciated that those people have a deranged behaviour and pursue different goals.

Here is an example of a journalist who writes provocatively about Muslims in Germany, which was published online and in a newspaper: “Some of our friends of the religion of peace (Islam) once again placed bombs in regional trains but messed up to activate the detonators, owing to the sometimes rather low IQ prevalent in those circles. Now it is speculated that the Muslims amongst us are planning a bloody terror-attack during the German Bundestag-elections.”

The support of such news leads to fail the integration of migrants and natives in Germany.

Kary Morris is 19 years old. She works as a German-American apprentice in a German-Turkish media company.