Despite Racial Remark, German Army Instructor Is Kept on Duty
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BERLIN — A Germany army instructor who ordered a soldier to envision himself facing hostile blacks in New York while firing his machine gun has been kept on duty, the army said yesterday.
A video of the army instructor telling the soldier to shoot and yell obscenities while thinking of African-Americans in the Bronx aired on German national television Saturday and prompted calls for an apology by the New York City borough’s president.
When asked Sunday if the army would apologize, spokesman Florian Naggies said, “The German Army takes the incident very serious and is interested in quickly resolving it.”
Mr. Naggies said the case is under investigation, and the instructor “is still working for the army.”
The video shows an instructor and a soldier in camouflage uniforms in a forest. The instructor tells the soldier, “You are in the Bronx. A black van is stopping in front of you. Three African-Americans are getting out, and they are insulting your mother in the worst ways. … Act.”
The soldier fires his machine gun several times and yells an obscenity several times in English. The instructor then tells the soldier to curse even louder.
The German Defense Ministry said the video was shot in July 2006 at barracks in the northern town of Rendsburg and that the army has been aware of it since January.
In New York, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. said Saturday that whoever was responsible for the video should be disciplined.
“The German government obviously has work to do to correct something that is insidious. … Clearly these folks don’t know anything about African-Americans or the Bronx,” he said.
