Migration
Since humans have inhabited the earth, they have been on the move.
During the program, we spoke to the Republican mayor of Glendale Jerry Weiers and the freshly-elected Social Democratic (SPD) mayor of Memmingen Jan Rothenbacher as well as local politicians, teachers, social activists, public servants, town planners, and (social-)scientists dealing with issues of inclusion, equity, diversity, and environmental sustainability in both sister cities. The question of migration and its current social impact and visions for the future and how these relate to societal power constructions, feelings of belonging, racism, social divisions, and identity were addressed during our meetings.
Here it is important to emphasize that as a group of German and American citizens we represented a very heterogenous group of different ages, professions, disciplines, migration biographies, and lived experiences, particularly in regard to positions of privilege and exposure to discrimination and racism. These different intersectional positionalities influenced our perceptions and discussions, and our reflections here represent these multiple perspectives without claiming to be exhaustive.
Both sister cities have relatively high rates of migration. In Memmingen, approximately 40% of the population has a migration background, and it is home to foreigners from 126 different nations. In Glendale 19.6% of the population is foreign-born, and 40.2% of the population is of of Hispanic descent .
All people we spoke to, in particular politicians, emphasized the need for migration, however neither city had very clear plans of how to strategically achieve this goal. Both cities have strong industries and are experiencing an urban boom. Furthermore, both cities urgently need an increase of a qualified and unqualified labor force.
In Memmingen, the problem of not having a clear concept of ‘who we are’ as a society and thus ‘what we want and need’ was repeatedly mentioned as an urgent topic that needed to be discussed in diverse groups from within the community.
In Glendale, the infrastructural boom—and the need for cheap unskilled labor to meet the demands of this boom—was often spoken about. When speaking about migration, however, it was skilled labor that was considered desirable and worth advertising for and seeking out.
In Memmingen, in terms of infrastructure, the case was repeatedly made by the mayor, integration officials, and city planners that more houses urgently needed to be built to attract more immigration. Jan Rothenbacher said that it was a perfect match and should not be so hard: "we need them, and they want to live with us." So, more needed to be done socio-culturally and in terms of housing to make this equation work for both sides.
