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My family is of Dutch origin. The husband of my niece is from Moroccan origin. He has his own business. He experimented with giving her last name, and suddenly
by Fnoord 4y ago
My family is of Dutch origin. The husband of my niece is from Moroccan origin. He has his own business. He experimented with giving her last name, and suddenly he got way more clients (all pre-covid btw). So they married and he changed his last name to hers. It kind of adds to the problem on one hand but on another this type of assimilation of culture is something you can find throughout history. Yes, foreigners are welcome, but they must adapt and leave a large part of their own cultural identity over time. Its a never ending struggle, and sometimes it goes with more violence (ie. Uyghur concentration camps) than elsewhere. Also, I have a family member who worked at the Dutch tax dept. customer service who got a burnout over this very issue. Because they knew it was wrong.
- rs999gti 4y agoSort of the same thing happened to my mom's family. Her grandparents immigrated to another country (not US) and the natives were very hostile to them because of their last name. They changed it to a native sounding last name and were able to integrate into society. However, on her side of the family, some of the relatives choose to go back to the old last name, so when we have reunions there is a mix of people with the native and original last name.
- throwaway2037 4y agoWow. This is such a deeply personal reply. Thank you to share about your experience. Please don't think this is only the Netherlands. The United States still has similar issues. If you have a name that "sounds Black" on your CV, you are much less likely to get a call for interview. It is sad, and it bothers me to no end. The same will be for people who have traditional Islamic/Moslem names (Muhammed, Siti, etc.). What makes me most hopeful: These investigations and reporting demonstrates a functioning democracy is able to audit itself -- either internally or externally via media. Years ago, I had a Japanese co-worker. We were discussing recent news events in Australia. For whatever reason, Australia was in one of those mini-bubbles of political corruption. To him, it seemed like everyday was some new corruption in Australia! He asked me -- in all seriousness: "Is Australia a corrupt country? Look what we see in the news." I am not Australian, but I mentioned that it was positive the gov't and media was investigating and being transparent about it. That part was the most important to me. In the end, he seemed satisfied with my explanation -- and not excusing the scandal.
- Scarblac 4y ago> Yes, foreigners are welcome, but they must adapt and leave a large part of their own cultural identity over time. It's part of a larger problem in the Netherlands. There is a lot of segregation in the Netherlands based on social class and education level. A Dutch person immediately judges someone's social class based on looks -- clothing, tattoos, obesity, hairstyle, et cetera. And lower social classes are predujiced against. And people with non-Western, especially Moroccan or Turkish names are recognized as immigrants and automatically thought of as lower class. People with Western foreign names are thought of as "expats" and mentally put into the highly educated / high social class group. Yes, foreigners must adapt, but I hope that over time as Dutch society becomes more integrated with the world, this aspect of Dutch culture will also be weakened. This racism is a side effect of our classism.
- meragrin_ 4y ago> And people with non-Western, especially Moroccan or Turkish names are recognized as immigrants and automatically thought of as lower class. Or maybe harder to communicate with?