Once again it is time for me to leave NYC. Once again it has been an intense time…being able to bring yet another delegation of young people to this city to learn about the origins of Hip Hop and so much more has been an absolut privilege because through their eyes i am always able to learn new things, see things from a different, new perspective. This year has been no different…and after having the last three days to myself in order to decompress i find myself in a torn, ambivalent state of mind. Together with my young delegation we spend the last 10 days discussing how NYC is always hailed as some kind of diverse place yet throughout our time we learned how segregated and seperate it really is. How certain kinds of issues such as poverty, gun crime and police brutality effect mostly one community while things in the other one couldn't be more different. Spending the last three days and nights reflecting while on my own photography mission i find myself confused right now. On one hand i am glad to be living in Berlin for a variety of reasons and yet i dread going back to the reserved and somewhat cold German way of live. A fact that is especially difficult to grapple with after sending my last days in Harlem where the waitress asks you „what you want baby“ and some guy starts trash talking for absolutely no reason at all. Yes Berlin is an awesome city to live in but what am i really refering to when i say Berlin? Really, i am talking about my little Neuköln, Kreuzberg, Mitte island. Seeing the results of the havoc over three years of Trump has caused in this country and this city is deeply disturbing but are things that much better in Europe? In Germany, France, the U.K….let´s not even try to list all of the countries with sizeable populations who opted to vote far right. All of that leaves me in a state of mind that isn't exactly secure. Far from it…is there any place one can feel that way these days? I don´t know but i do know that i feel safe in Harlem, in Brooklyn where people refer to me as brother and where many people look just like me…and just as i finish one thought i think of all of the people living hard realities in this city. The Thanksgiving day parade with crowds screaming in excitement while homeless people around them nearly freeze to death. The day time television i am exposed to while eating breakfast making me dumber literally one bite at a time…but then i remember, day time tv in Germany is just as bad (even tough i am not exposed to it)…and oh whatever. All i know is that i am
getting back on a plane going back to Europe and right now, i don`t know how to feel about that!