Sunday, June 5, 2016

WANDELEN 3 / STROLLING THE NETHERLANDS EPISODE 3 STORIES OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA

Connecting The Scattered 
And Untold Stories 
of the 
Black/African Diaspora 


NETHERLANDS
EPISODE 3




WHITE VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACKS

GROWING UP AN UGLY DUCKLING / BECOMING A MODEL

BLACK PETE / SANTA CLAUS TYPE CHARACTER

UNACCEPTED AS DUTCH

MODELING WHILE BLACK






This is the last of "The Netherlands" episodes.  
Overall?
I'd say "The Netherlands lives up to its racist reputation. To me, the Netherlands in 2015 sounds like 1950s United States --only the violence isn't getting the television coverage because (I assume) there are so few blacks there ACTUALLY UNITED by a common history the way black people are here in the U.S.  and overt racism is so acceptable that the white powers that be don't give a damn about black face and black owned property being set on fire here and there.

Of course, I'm biased. My first encounter with the word "Dutch" was probably in elementary school. Even more so than Britain, I associate "the Dutch" as the white kidnappers/murderers/transporters of black people from Africa.  I think that's because in elementary school teachers start off talking about the Dutch East India Company and slavery.  You also hear about the Dutch a lot when you hear about the taking of South Africa from black people.

But since the Dutch did transporting of slaves from point A to point B AND point B was rarely ever the Netherlands itself but some place in the new world, the white Dutch have divorced themselves from what they had a large part in starting. It may be true that the Dutch never had more than 5 to 6% of the slave trade back in the day, but they were the leading edge.....and the attitude toward racial others shows to this day.




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