3 ms·

> I think the idea is that the Dutch students wouldn’t have the same underlying racism that the American students acquire in their lifetime due to the lingering

> I think the idea is that the Dutch students wouldn’t have the same underlying racism that the American students acquire in their lifetime due to the lingering effects of slavery. I mean... the Dutch had slaves. I'm sorry, I don't know how else to spell this out. The Dutch were slavers, just like the English. There are generations of black people living in the Netherlands for the same reason they are in the United States. Many of the slaves that came to America were brought on Dutch ships. They did outlaw it earlier, I think. But there are tons of racial issues in NL. I know I'm getting downvoted but I find this attitude that racism is somehow unique to the US to be pretty narrow to be honest.

jandrese 4y ago
The Netherlands weren't founded with slavery as a core tenant though. It was something that largely happened in the colonies, far away from the bulk of the population, and once freed they were no longer of any concern. It would have been different if they had shipped in enormous numbers of slaves to work the Polders and then had to find something for them to do once they were emancipated. This is why the US has so many lingering issues, when the slaves were freed the former masters realized very quickly that they would lose power should they organize, and thus had to immediately set up numerous systems of oppression to prevent this from happening. I'm guessing the former slaves were a fairly tiny minority of the population and thus never a danger to the ruling class so there was no need to actively oppress them.