I don’t know why my mouth insists upon flying open. It should be used to this by now.
I have to admit, things are complicated by being in The Netherlands, as well. Though everyone is aware the n-word is a bad word, they mostly subscribe to the idea that it probably shouldn’t be said, and certainly not in the presence of a black person. I’ve never said it, and my year in Virginia just cemented my resolve to never, ever say it.
Racism in The Netherlands is a tricky beast. There’s nowhere near the awareness or the discourse that there is the US. We don’t allow central registration of people’s races or religion (a leftover from WW2, when our well-organisedness in this area was responsible for the mass rounding up and deportation of Jews), but we have no problem with lumping whole populations into the category of “criminals” (even by government officials, male Moroccan youths are usually caught under the umbrella term of “street terrorists,” for instance) and other icky, icky stuff. But there is no loud enough voice to say THIS IS BAD, THIS IS RACISM, so many people are just unaware. It doesn’t excuse anything, for sure. But yeah, that’s the context we live in.
And FWIW, the case in the quote came from the early 1980’s, I think. So hopefully things have evolved at least a little.
(Bolded mine). Thank you for saying that. Because it is one of the things that hurts me the most about the political scene here. I know racism is everywhere and I do not think Dutch people are worse offenders than other countries. But it does hurt me that I do not hear a vocal, stern opposition to all the nonsense that passes for public discourse. Sure, there are some reactions, sometimes to some of the worst statements made by the likes of Wilders. But there are no public figures making it their personal crusade to pin point to the many other less vocal and more subtle forms of racism and other forms of discrimination that are part of every day discourse and have, by now, been naturalized. I just wish for someone who is charismatic and articulate to express this, not to confront and alienate but to actually counteract the poison we see every day from the right.
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