The minister [of Economic Affairs, Maxine Verhagen] wants the Dutch to be prouder of their country like people in the US where they first say they are American and then where they originally come from, says the paper.
Multiculturalism has failed: Verhagen
Say what, Mr. Verhagen?! It was the government who labeled me as the dreaded “Non Western Foreigner”, a descriptor that is even part of my health insurance. It was the government who insisted on calling even those born here to foreign parents as “Non indigenous” as well. We are never allowed to not use this label, even if we acquire Dutch nationality. This is the racial stigma that is imposed on us and, no matter how attached we might be to this place, how much we feel it ours, the country itself has deemed us to be “the other”. So, how exactly are we supposed to call ourselves “Dutch”?
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