Take a look at this photo from Germany's Zeit Online in order to understand why a controversy erupted about black males serving as porters at a small train station in southern Germany.
The men in the photo are asylum seekers from Africa, and they face the same fate as all asylum seekers in Germany. They live in communal dorms on a very small stipend and are not allowed to take up regular work while their asylum applications meander through the system.
In the town of Schwaebisch-Gmuend, the train station was being remodeled and a temporary overpass was built, which meant travelers had to carry their bags and suitcases up and down flights of stairs.
There were complaints, and the town's mayor came up with an idea: ask the local asylum seekers for volunteers and pay them for the work. This way, some men would get something to do, earn a few euros, and the passengers would meet live asylum seekers at work.
The legally permitted maximum wage of 1.05 Euros per hour turned out to be less of an obstacle than the temporary walkway. Nine workers showed up, were outfitted with bright red t-shirts and straw hats against the hot German sun.
The trouble started after the local newspaper ran a sympathetic story about the venture.
The deja vu of black men in straw hats working as porters prompted critics to raise their voices and Deutsche Bahn, the railway operator and station owner, to re-think its part in the relief effort.
Deutsche Bahn revoked the agreement barely a week into the scheme designed to help asylum seekers integrate into the larger society and to help Germans put a face on individuals seeking refuge in their country.
The men will have to return to idling their time away while better paid regular train company employees. Probably folks put on a mandatory 1 Euro/hour "work integration program" by the German jobcenter under the threat of benefits cuts do the schlepping of bags.
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