In a message dated 12/8/01 6:39:47 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << >I may not have been clear after snipping my older verbiage. I meant name a >national leader who is an ethnic minority. The challenge was to name a key >player in the Dutch government who is an ethnic minority.
That would depend on your definition of "key player". Prime minister, minister, secretary of state, member of parliament? National government only, or provincial and local government as well? Perhaps even member of the Royal Family? Our next Queen (or at least spouse of our future King) is Argentinian. Does that count? >> No, I believe that if we're really going to discuss this seriously we should be concentrating on elected officials. Officials who govern by birthright may not accurately represent their citizenry. This may not be a terribly fair analogy, although I'm still interested in hearing Jeroen's answer. The United States not only has more people, and thus a larger number of gov't offices and positions that can be filled by minorities, but it also has organized ethnic/racial minority groups that arose due to historical precedent who push and campaign and lobby for rights. Now, if a reasonable number of minority Dutch citizens have held their share of elected political offices in their government at all levels then that *might* make Jeroen's point a valid one. If over the past say, 50 years the Netherlands have statistically seen their ethnic minorities hold all manner of elected political offices without the presence of racially-oriented lobbying groups (like our NAACP, the Rainbow Coalition, etc.,) then the Dutch *might* be blind to ethnicity in its citizenry and that all of its citizens are properly represented by their own people. And yet, I don't really think that the presence or lack of minorities in elected offices proves that much. Lets say that Jeroen searches and can't find an example of one even one (f.i.) ethnic Persian Dutch citizen holding office. Can we take this as an example of Dutch hatred of Persians? I would say no, because the Persians may be adequately represented by whatever people have been in office, even though 'one of their own' isn't leading them. To put it differently, just because Americans elect Joe Shmoe, a black president, it doesn't necessarily follow that he will interpret, prosecute or uphold American laws and policies in a manner which will be biased towards his ethnic background. Without a cultural base from which to interpret statistical data, the conclusions we draw from them may give us an inaccurate picture. So... let me ask this... Searching Dutch papers or electronic media do we find evidence of local bias crimes? Have the Dutch courts heard any racial profiling or bias cases recently? Are Dutch neighborhoods well mixed and integrated or ethnically divided into sections? Do groups like America's Rainbow Coalition exist in the Netherlands -- if so, due to what historical precedent? If not, are they allowed by the Dutch government to exist? IMHO, these questions would be likely to provide us with a better answers about how blind the Dutch are to racial, ethnic and religious differences. Jon
