(Which is a hyperbolic way of saying that this post contains mostly a navel gazing rant).
Since I posted the emancipation note of Dutch slaves in the colonies yesterday, I’ve been contacted by a few people from Curacao who are asking me for MORE. Do I have more details? Do I have access to the facsimile of the official declaration of freedom from the Dutch government? There is a genuine interest in discussing this legacy.
Now, I first became interested in the subject for reasons that are well explained by someone else in this essay. This piece focuses on the lack of discussions in the classroom, but the underlying consequence of this absence can be extrapolated to the whole of Dutch society. For me, unpacking the social and psychological burden of slavery (and the afforded privilege to the dominant culture) might help me understand the root causes of the unaddressed institutionalized racism that permeates so many aspects of Dutch society. I am reminded that, the same colonies that were home to the abuses of slaves are still today Dutch colonies. Citizens of these colonies endure unemployment rates of upwards 25% (vs. a national rate of 4.2%). A mere 90 years after declaring emancipation, the Dutch government brought in the first group of “Guest Workers”, mainly North Africans and people from Turkey. All of this without ever having addressed the legacy of slavery in The Netherlands.
So, when I was contacted by people from Curacao and Aruba last night and this morning, I started to search the Dutch National Archives. Keep in mind, the government has digitalized tens of thousands of historical documents so, for someone who speaks the language, finding these files shouldn’t be that difficult, right? Not so. After hours (yes, I’ve spent a few hours of my time doing this already), I am practically at a loss. I went to the website of NiNsee (National Institute for the Study of Dutch Slavery and its Legacy) to check their reading list (they list a number of books on the subject) and I was shocked to see that their section on Abolition focuses not on abolition in The Netherlands but… somewhere else (the US, Haiti, UK, etc.).
Now, I am going to be clear about this: I am not saying these documents do not exist or that the subject has never been researched. I am sure it was. However, for someone like me, none of these documents are widely available. And trust me on this, I am an above average non Academic researcher. At least, above average compared with the general public mostly because I did learn the methodology at University, even though that’s not a core part of my current career. I studied literature (Latin American literature to boot!), not Political Science or History. I write Marketing copy for a living! Which is to say, all my writing on these subjects, all my political activism here in Amsterdam, are a labor of love. Sure, I had/ have paid gigs, but none of them are so well paid that they would enable me to earn a full time living. I am fine with that for the most part, but I do devote many, many hours every week to this (many more than it would be healthy for me to count or acknowledge). However, it is clear that if I wanted to find these documents, I would have to go in person, to the National Archive in The Hague or to the NiNsee museum and request a copy (if they are available at all).
And you know, this rant is just a roundabout way of expressing my frustration because every time I undertake something like this, I always end up asking myself why I am bothering to begin with? I certainly won’t change any of this lack of mainstream discussions on my own.
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