Tolerant?

Did I mention I'm from an ethnic minority? Maybe that explains the hostility and appalling service? Just kidding. About being from an ethnic minority, not about how that could explain Dutch people's behaviour.

Legend has it that Dutch people are liberal and tolerant. I just don't see it. Amsterdam is a small, provincial town that is racially segregated. I work for a company that has around 2,000 employees at its corporate headquarters in Amsterdam. Except for secretarial, catering or janitorial staff, there are NO employees from an ethnic minoirty that I have seen. None. Not one. Of the 200 or so senior managers and executives at the company, maybe 4 or 5 are women and, of course, they are all white.

I am by no means qualified to talk about this issue definitively; I can only tell you what I see and what I experience. But I see Dutch people treat ethnic minorities and tourists very poorly when, in the same circumstances, they treat their countrymen a lot better. From the mundane - at the supermarket, to the more serious - access to healthcare in casualty units at hospitals, Dutch people consistently prefer their own and treat people differently, in the same circumstances, depending on their ethnicity or nationality (or the Dutch person's perception of their ethnicity or nationality). I have been told to "fuck off back to where you come from" more than once by a wild-eyed Dutch person, furious at my mere presence in the city. I have never experienced that anywhere else in the world. I have seen a Turkish family have to wait with a sick child in Casualty at Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis hospital for much longer than a Dutch family had to wait with theirs. Perhaps there was something more seriously wrong with the Dutch child, though that did not appear to be the case to my (admittedly non-qualified) eyes. I have seen a surly check out girl shout at Japanese tourists at Albert Heijn because they weren't aware that they needed to purchase carrier bags (that initiative didn't make the news in Tokyo), while smilingly offering a bag to the Dutch customer who was next in line. I have been accused of taking a Dutch person's job and of taking a Dutch person's home. The siege mentality is palpable and not pleasant. Of course, you always get a few morons in any town who do not like "outsiders", but to my amazement and distress, it seems to be a lot more prevalent in Amsterdam.

Take my downstairs neighbour. I reckon she's about 50 and works as a translator. White, middle class, educated. On my way out the other day, she warned me in the hallway to be beware of the "dark man" who was frequenting one of the apartments next door. When I asked why, she said "because he is probably a drug dealer", without batting an eyelid.