Brothers Keepers

Brothers Keepers is a German-based transnational anti-racism project, bringing together hip hop, reggae and soul musicians, headed primarily by Afro-Germans.

[3] English: Alberto Adriano, killed on pentecost 2000 by neo-nazis in Dessau, is survived by a wife and three children - a family that not only must learn to live without a father and husband, but also has to understand that he died because he was black.Brothers Keepers has local groups active in information campaigns, presenting teach-ins at schools etc.

They also received charges for perpetuating male dominance and masculinity that undermines the notable role that women and feminism asserted during the early stages of the Hip Hop movement.

The main concern is that while they have made significant contributions to the protest against racial divides and essentialization for the Afro-German community in large, they might have done so in a way that fails to subvert gender stereotypes and is quite often offensive, if not hostile, towards women.

In 1984, Lorde visited Berlin and met with Black German women (such as Maya Ayim, Katharina Oguntoye, and Ika Hügel-Marshall) and coined the term "Afro-German".

[4] Following the consolidation of terminology, a movement emerged led by the publication of Farbe bekennen (translated as Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out).

Then, several organizations coalesced to critique the racism of the German feminist movement, including Initiative Schwarze Deutsche" (ISD), and "Afro-deutsche Frauen" (ADEFRA).

As hip-hop became means of forwarding Afro-German activism, Brother Keepers’ select historical consciousness demonstrates how "the strong presence of women – articulate, feminist, often lesbian – in the first decades of the Afro-German struggle has been hard for young male MCs to stomach, given that they generally model themselves after images of black masculinity that are often deeply sexist and homophobic".

[4] In other words, "By relegating female performers to the margins... Brothers Keepers runs counter to the strong presence of women and feminism in the history of Afro-German political organizing".

The lyrics on the album are influenced by Black Power rhetoric and are militantly anti-Nazi, proposing solutions to racism ranging from education to violence.

Its video shows a procession of rappers, marching as a united front and the chorus, sung by South African-descended R&B star Xavier Naidoo, goes thus:[6]