Mo Asumang

{{Short description|German film director, television presenter, voice actor and film producer}}

{{Infobox person

|image=Hessischer Film- und Kinopreis 2012 - Mo Asumang.jpg

|caption=Mo Asumang in 2012

|name=Mo Asumang

|birth_name=Monika Yaa akoma Asumang

|birth_date= 13 June, 1963

|birth_place=Kassel, Germany

|occupation=Presenter, filmmaker, actress and writer

}}

Monika 'Mo' Yaa akoma Asumang (born 13 June 1963, Kassel) is a German presenter, filmmaker, actress and writer. She created the 2014 documentary The Aryans, in which she confronts racists in both Germany and the US.

Biography

Asumang was born on 13 June 1963 to a Ghanaian father and German mother.{{Cite news|title=Confronting racism face-to-face|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-27375741/mo-asumang-confronting-racism-face-to-face|access-date=2020-06-10|language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2010-06-17|title=Ein anderer Blick auf Südafrika|url=https://www.hna.de/kassel/anderer-blick-suedafrika-808664.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-06-10|website=Hessische Niedersächsische Allgemeine|language=de}} She studied Visual Communication at the University of Kassel. Between 1997 and 2000 she presented the television show Liebe Sünde on German TV.{{Cite web|title="Ich bin Globuli für Nazis"|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft/mo-asumang-kaempft-gegen-rassismus-ich-bin-globuli-fuer-nazis/13454062.html|access-date=2020-06-10|website=www.tagesspiegel.de|language=de}} She made her directing debut with the documentary Roots Germania, which was nominated for a Grimme-Preis in 2008.{{Cite news|title=Mo Asumang trifft den Klu Klux Klan [sic]|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft/medien/die-arier-mo-asumang-trifft-den-klu-klux-klan/9810092.html|access-date=2020-06-10|newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online|language=de}}{{Cite news|title=Bislang drei Nachnominierungen beim Grimme-Preis 2015|language=de|url=https://www.grimme-preis.de/presse/pressemeldungen/d/bislang-drei-nachnominierungen-beim-grimme-preis-2015/|access-date=2020-06-10}} Around the Football World Cup 2010, she made a documentary about South Africa called Road to Rainbow - Willkommen in Südafrika.

In 2014, Asumang created the documentary Die Arier (The Aryans). As one of the first black women on German television, she was targeted by racists.{{Cite web|title=A mixed-race German confronts white supremacists face-to-face, including the Klan|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-09-15/mixed-race-german-confronts-white-supremacists-face-face-including-klan|access-date=2020-06-10|website=The World from PRX|language=en}} To address racism, she confronted racists in Germany, and travelled to the United States, where she had conversations with Ku Klux Klan members.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Bi-racial filmmaker confronts neo-nazis and the Ku Klux Klan in new documentary 'Aryans'|url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/05/30/Bi-racial-filmmaker-confronts-neo-nazis-and-the-Ku-Klux-Klan-in-new-documentary-Aryans/8681401487432/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}} The documentary was also nominated for a Grimme-Preis.{{Cite web|last=Gröschl|first=Michael|title=Mo und die Arier – Buchverlosung|date=25 November 2016 |url=https://www.stadtblatt-online.de/kultur/mo-und-die-arier-buchverlosung/|access-date=2020-06-10|language=de-DE}}

In 2016, Asumang wrote a book about her identity search and experiences meeting racists, Neo-Nazis and Ku-Klux-Klan members face to face, titled Mo und die Arier: Allein unter Rassisten und Neonazis (Mo and the Aryans: Alone among racists and Neo-Nazis).{{Cite web|title=Warum Mo Asumang den persönlichen Kontakt zu Rassisten sucht: Allein im Schmelztiegel des Rassismus|url=https://www.kreiszeitung-wochenblatt.de/buxtehude/c-panorama/allein-im-schmelztiegel-des-rassismus_a155489|access-date=2020-06-10|website=Kreiszeitung|date=29 November 2019 |language=de}}

References