Aminata Toure Becomes First Black Person To Be Appointed Minister in Germany

Aminata Toure has vowed to work for more political diversity in her capacity as Schleswig-minister Holstein’s for social affairs, youth, family, seniors, and equality. She is the first Black member of a German state government.

Ms Toure was sworn in as minister in Germany’s most northern state of Schleswig-Holstein in June, making her the first Black person to hold the position in a state administration.

Toure, a Green and the daughter of Mali refugees, told German media that she views her position as “unique” in light of the numerous messages she has received from people expressing how much they have valued her appointment.

The 29-year-old declared that she will use the appointment to advocate for equality and combat right-wing extremism.

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Since she was first elected to the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein in 2017, these concerns have distinguished her from her colleagues.

This is not the first time Toure has made political history. She became the first Black person and the youngest politician to hold such a post in any of Germany’s 16 states when she was elected as the state parliament’s deputy speaker in 2019.

Toure was born in 1992 in Neumünster, a small industrial city in the far north of Germany, where her parents had relocated following their escape from Mali.

She was raised in a refugee shelter for her first five years of life before eventually becoming a German citizen at the age of 12.

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According to Toure, the phrase “Afro-German” describes her as a person with origins in Africa who feels at home in Germany. She first used the term to describe herself to DW earlier this year.

“I have always had both worlds in me,” she said, adding, “At some point, I didn’t want to have to choose between countries anymore. So I use a term coined by a feminist movement of Black women here in Germany: Afro-German.”

She joined the Greens in 2012, the same year she began studying political science and French at a university in Germany, motivated by her family’s concerns about being deported.

For a long time, Toure has advocated for the quicker and better integration of refugees in Germany. Her position has made her adversaries, and anonymous threats have followed.

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The rising political star in Germany, though, vowed not to be intimidated by it.

She told German RND media before her inauguration as a minister that her parents, who never got weary of telling her that she would have to provide 200 percent when others gave 100 percent, strengthened her desire to succeed in politics.

“But I would like to see a society in which there is no need to give twice as much just because you’re different in some way,” she said. “Everyone should have the same opportunities and possibilities.”

Her experiences have strengthened her conviction that more diversity is needed in German politics.

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She asserted that individuals who understand the perspective of those who are still underrepresented in society ought to make policies as well.

Furthermore, she told DW, “biography is no substitute for politics,” but what a person experiences “has an impact on how political decisions are made.”

Toure aspires to serve as an inspiration for other people of color due to her experience with racism and the resounding support she received from those who valued the significance of her work.

As she wrote in her book, “We Can Be More: The Power of Diversity,” Germans should be proud of all who have contributed to turn the country into a democracy and those who are still fighting to strengthen the rule of law.