Being the 'Right Kind' of Immigrant.
I'm an immigrant.
I moved from the United States at the age of 19 to the Netherlands. I'm a Dutch citizen now, I've given up my US citizenship. I'm in university. I'm white. For many, they forget that I'm an immigrant. After all, aren't immigrants those people from poor countries? Aren't they people of color? Aren't they all people who simply leech off the government, never wanting to get jobs?
It bothers me every time a conversation about immigration comes up. I hate that first, people will say horrible things about immigrants - no qualifiers, just immigrants - and then they get all flustered when I remind them, hey, I'm an immigrant.
"Oh, well, I didn't mean you, of course!"
No, they meant anyone who doesn't look like them. It doesn't matter where you go, the US or the Netherlands, people of color have it hard. There are many people about my age who are actually Dutch. They were born here, raised here, speak better Dutch than I ever will because, again, they are Dutch, however everyone will always assume they are immigrants. But I'm given the benefit of the doubt, I'm assumed to hate all the 'lazy' immigrants, all the horrible Muslims who are coming here to.. what, precisely? The stories vary, but it's all fear and racism.
I'm tired of hearing it, I'm tired of people assuming that because I'm white I support it. I'm tired of people forgetting that I'm an immigrant, and I'm tired of people holding me up as the 'Right Kind' of immigrant.
I feel my privilege acutely, every time I hear another rant about 'those immigrants'. Yes, all those people who come to the Netherlands and are trying hard to adjust, to find work, to raise families. They are getting educations, are starting business, and who, like the rest of Europe, is seeing a general trend among the younger generations of becoming less and less religious. And even if they don't become less religious, Muslims make up about 5,5% of the population of the Netherlands.
It is not okay to hold me up as the 'Right Kind' of immigrant, so that you can push other people down or away.
I moved from the United States at the age of 19 to the Netherlands. I'm a Dutch citizen now, I've given up my US citizenship. I'm in university. I'm white. For many, they forget that I'm an immigrant. After all, aren't immigrants those people from poor countries? Aren't they people of color? Aren't they all people who simply leech off the government, never wanting to get jobs?
It bothers me every time a conversation about immigration comes up. I hate that first, people will say horrible things about immigrants - no qualifiers, just immigrants - and then they get all flustered when I remind them, hey, I'm an immigrant.
"Oh, well, I didn't mean you, of course!"
No, they meant anyone who doesn't look like them. It doesn't matter where you go, the US or the Netherlands, people of color have it hard. There are many people about my age who are actually Dutch. They were born here, raised here, speak better Dutch than I ever will because, again, they are Dutch, however everyone will always assume they are immigrants. But I'm given the benefit of the doubt, I'm assumed to hate all the 'lazy' immigrants, all the horrible Muslims who are coming here to.. what, precisely? The stories vary, but it's all fear and racism.
I'm tired of hearing it, I'm tired of people assuming that because I'm white I support it. I'm tired of people forgetting that I'm an immigrant, and I'm tired of people holding me up as the 'Right Kind' of immigrant.
I feel my privilege acutely, every time I hear another rant about 'those immigrants'. Yes, all those people who come to the Netherlands and are trying hard to adjust, to find work, to raise families. They are getting educations, are starting business, and who, like the rest of Europe, is seeing a general trend among the younger generations of becoming less and less religious. And even if they don't become less religious, Muslims make up about 5,5% of the population of the Netherlands.
It is not okay to hold me up as the 'Right Kind' of immigrant, so that you can push other people down or away.
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