My story
My work
My name is Sabrina Rahimi.
The fact that I call myself a black woman today has a long and formative history behind it. When I fled to Germany with my family over 40 years ago, I didn't understand as a young child that the feeling of "not belonging" and the stigma of "being different" are about the experiences of racism.
The older I got, the more I could name the racial discrimination I experienced and decided to actively fight back. At the same time, as a mother of four, I began to accompany and support refugee families on a voluntary basis. I quickly realized that I had a very special approach to people and that I could easily empathize with them, listen to them well and empower them. I therefore decided to pursue this vocation and make it my profession. Since then, as a state-approved social worker and trainer, I have consciously used my ability to empathize and my experience to strengthen and empower those affected by racism and to sensitize white people to racism.
My work has an anti-racist and intersectional claim. All other mechanisms of discrimination are considered in conjunction with racism. By that I mean e.g. B. Discrimination based on continental, national and linguistic identity, gender and sexual identity (FLINTA*, LGBTQI*) and lifestyle, age, appearance or physical and mental/emotional condition, membership of certain social groups or level of education, of religion or belief.
Vision
"There is nothing good unless we do it!"
(Natascha Anahita Nassur-Shahnian)
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I consider it essential that criticism of racism must be incorporated into all organizations and institutions. Sometimes, breaking out of structures is an important prerequisite for redistributing power and accessing resources. At the same time, history teaches us that far-reaching political and social changes are mostly fought for by those affected by racism themselves. In this sense, it is necessary to step out of the victim role and take the position of the self-confident and acting, demanding actor (empowerment). Racially based exclusions and hierarchical / patriarchal systems can be broken up by assuming responsibility on the part of the dominant society. At the same time, alliances and anti-racism educational work can counteract racism.
My vision is that one day we will live far away in a discrimination-sensitive, power-critical society of foreign designations and exclusionary systems. At this point in time at the earliest, it will be possible for marginalized groups to no longer call themselves self-designations that they have fought for, because diversity and equal participation continue to exist.
Mission
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A quote from Kimberle W. Crenshaw has always particularly touched me:
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"It's not about supplication, it's about power. It's not about asking, it's about demanding. It's not about convincing those who are currently in power, it's about changing the very face of power itself".
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"It's not about doing something humiliating to ask, it's about power. It's not about asking, it's about demanding. It's not about convincing those currently in power, it's about changing the face of power itself.” Kimberle Williams Crenshaw
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My empowerment work is based on a power-critical concept based on a tradition of struggles by marginalized groups. It is about self-empowerment, political rights, access to resources and a change in social and structural power relations as well as empowerment work according to Kechaja, Haug, Jackson, Kashefipour, Strähle and Yupanqui-Werner. On the one hand, I see my mission as strengthening BPoC in Safer Spaces* on the other hand, I would like to inform people who have not experienced racism about prejudice (racist socialized knowledge) reflect on Black people and people of color. In order to break up racist structures together, I want to achieve that white People critically reflect on their own privileges and develop a power-critical attitude towards their own role in the dominant society. This is the only way to strengthen those affected and to break out of racist and discriminatory structures. Empowerment and power sharing are therefore important concepts and theoretical reference points for me when dealing with diversity and equal treatment.
*Safer Space are special rooms in which those affected can confidentially exchange information about the same experiences they have with racism, for example