Is America More Racist than the Netherlands?

Whoever wants to be successful has to speak the language of white people.

“In America, do you experience a lot of racism?” Since I live here, that’s a question I’m often asked, as well as: As a country, is America more racist than the Netherlands? I don’t think so.

Recently, the heartbreaking documentary “American Promise” premiered on television; in it, the viewer follows two African-American boys, Idris and Seun, from the moment they start school as 5-year-olds at one of the most prestigious private schools in New York City until the moment they go to college. For a newcomer to the United States, this documentary also offers a glimpse behind the scenes of the everything-but-social school system of the United States. There’s a reason that the parents of Idris and Seun chose to send their kids to a predominantly white private school. If you want to be able to attend an Ivy League school, your battle starts at kindergarten. Those who are not wealthy are in for a much tougher battle. Whoever wants to be successful has to speak the language of the white people, or as an African-American parent in the documentary put it, “I want him to be comfortable around white people …”

Looking around you on a daily basis, you notice “racial stratification” everywhere: in the shops in Manhattan, where the cashiers are non-white and the customers white; at the dentist, where a black nurse hands over the patients to a white or Asian doctor after checking them in. If you take the uptown subway from downtown, the white composition of the passengers slowly turns colorful as you approach the much cheaper neighborhood of Harlem. Uptown is also the place where a lot of the nannies live who come Downtown to take care of the white kids day in day out.

Yes, inequality definitely exists here. Just like in the Netherlands. There is a difference though. News anchors on TV are not predominantly white. White, rich students alone do not populate the Ivy Leagues. Also, in the real world, you can see families like the Huxtables (“The Cosby Show”) and the Banks (“Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”), whose success comes from more than just excelling in basketball or ruthless drug dealing.

That image of success gives me the impression that a non-white person, in spite of the visible inequalities, will reach the glass ceiling of his or her “class” in society later on. Here for example, simple public schools offer free violin lessons, allowing children of diverse descent to get in touch with classical music. And they like it. In fact, they appear to harbor huge talents. That’s something different from rap or street dance as extracurricular activities.

In my opinion, another reason this country is ahead in terms of integration has to do with “the rules of engagement.” Do you consider someone a cuddle Cuban or a pet Puerto Rican? Fine. Is there any value in repeatedly describing this person in the media as such? In general, here people don’t think so. You have the right to think what you want, and even say what you want, but always try to acknowledge them for who they are. In the Netherlands, we would quickly consider this hypocritical. Not being able to “use” our freedom of speech almost feels dictatorial.

I don’t think America is a utopia where equality is paramount. On the contrary, the further away you are from New York, the less tolerant people become toward everything that doesn’t meet the norm of the white. Public racism is noticeable for example in the way the “Stand-Your-Ground” law in Florida was abused, victimizing Trayvon Martin and many others.

Yet, I observe that people continuously criticize themselves and their traditions. For example, Aisha Harris, a blogger, suggested in an article that the concept of a white Santa Claus does not belong in this day and age, and needs to be modified to better reflect the multicultural composition of the American people. The responses were sometimes very negative because of her criticism toward an innocent tradition, and her suggested alternative … a penguin! But, it also got a lot of people thinking. Just like last year, when the people who are against the use of the name Redskins — the football team of Washington, D.C., but initially a name for Native Americans — managed to make some noise. Compare it with a bunch of soccer enthusiasts from Morocco or Suriname starting a soccer team and calling it “The Cheeseheads”: a logo of a blond man, with a long nose, wearing wooden clogs and holding two large cheeses under his armpits. Should be possible, right? Sure, but is it really necessary?

Does a country lose its freedoms when you ask yourself the above question, or would this make society more pleasant for all Americans? Is it forced, when private schools move mountains to ensure that their school represents society as accurately as possible by creating scholarships that allow children like Idris and Seun to attend a top school? Is it politically correct “bullshit” when schools decorate their lobbies during Hannukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa? When you wish one another Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas? When preschoolers learn about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King and mark the importance of Black History Month? Of course not. It is a form of learning to acknowledge each other.

Undoubtedly, back in the late 1950s-60s, the Civil Rights Movement set the tone when it peacefully, but certainly not inconspicuously, protested against inequality based on race. According to both white and black Americans, “we still have a long way to go,” and that, if you ask me, is the only correct tone.