Aminata Toure becomes first black German in state cabinet

Toure, the daughter of a Malian refugee and a Green, told German media that she considered her role “special” because she had received messages from many who said her appointment was “meaningful” to them.

Toure, 29, said she would also take the opportunity to fight for equality and oppose right-wing extremism.

These issues have been a hallmark of her since she was first elected to the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament in 2017.

This is not the first time Toure has achieved a political first. In 2019, she was elected as the state parliament’s deputy speaker, becoming the first Black person and the youngest politician to hold such a position in any of Germany’s 16 states.

Afro-German and proud

Toure was born in 1992 in Neumünster, a mid-sized industrial town in northern Germany, where her parents had settled after fleeing from Mali.

She spent the first five years of her life in a refugee shelter, eventually obtaining German citizenship at the age of 12.

Tour used the term Afro-German to refer to herself. Earlier this year, she told DW, that defined her as someone with roots in Africa but in Germany.

“I’ve always had two worlds,” she said. “At some point, I didn’t want to choose between countries anymore. So I used a term coined by the feminist movement of black women in Germany: Afro-German.”

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Her family’s fear of deportation led her to become active in politics, and she joined the Green Party in 2012 – the same year she began studying political science and French at a German university.

Toure has long pushed for better and faster integration of refugees into Germany. That stance won her enemies and led to threats of anonymity.

But the young star of German politics said she would not allow the situation to intimidate her.

Her parents reinforced her will to succeed in politics, and she never tire of telling her that as a member of a minority, she must give 200% when everyone else gives 100%, she told Germany before her inauguration RND Media as Minister.

“But I want to see a society where there’s no need to double the effort just because you’re different in some way,” she said.

“Everyone should have the same opportunities and possibilities.”

Her experience reinforced her belief that German politics needed more diversity.

Policies should also be made by people who understand the views of those who remain underrepresented in society, she said.

She told DW that while “biography is not a substitute for politics”, a person’s experience “can influence how political decisions are made”.

More political diversity is needed

As someone who has experienced racism but also has strong support from people who believe in the importance of her work, Toure hopes to set an example for others from minority backgrounds.

As she writes in We Can Be More: The Power of Diversity, Germans owe it to all those who have contributed to turning the country into a democracy and those who are still fighting to strengthen the rule of law people are proud.