Manifest
One common problem
With more than 937,304 Dutch people of Asian descent in a group of 2,311,867 people with a non-Western migration background, we as Asian Dutch are much less organized as one community, compared to other migrant groups. (1) (2) This while we, As Asians, have a lot in common, such as our culture and the prejudices that we as individuals have to deal with. As a result of the corona virus, among other things, it has become painfully clear that we have been sharing one common problem for years: discrimination and racism.
"ALL THE SAME"
The time has come for us Asiatic Dutch, people with an Asian appearance, who are directly or indirectly confronted with (overt) discrimination and racism and everyone who shows solidarity with us join forces. Only in this way do we show a strong and unanimous opposition in Dutch society that we no longer accept how we are treated. As a friend of mine, Reza Kartosen-Wong, has written, “Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Indian People, it doesn’t matter. Everyone of Asian descent is lumped together. ” (3) The list of ethnicity is thus completed by everyone who is 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 or 0.01% of something and yet directly or indirectly faces racism.
HOW OFTEN AND HOW LONG ...
❌ should birthday songs, such as Hanky Panky Shanghai, be sung in our primary schools…;
❌ stereotypes and caricatures must be shown on television, such as mister Cheung in Ik Hou Van Holland sing poorly in Dutch…;
❌ slit eyes must be made towards people with “real slit eyes”;
❌ must there be ‘sambal bee’ jokes…;
❌ words with an “R” that are intentionally pronounced with an “L” …;
“We have yet to be told that every” Chinese “eats dog meat and has a bat soup…;
❌ young people born and raised here with Asian descent should be publicly confronted with “ni hao!” And be bullied in the process…;
❌ Dutch citizens with an Asian background should be held accountable for the actions of a foreign state (in most cases China)… .;
“Should” Chinese “be suspected and excluded from the Coronavirus because of their Chinese appearance…?
FULL CITIZENSHIP
We, Dutch from various backgrounds, stand up and fight for a Dutch society in which every Dutch citizen with an Asian descent or Asian appearance must be able to feel like a full citizen. That is why it is important that people do not have to deal with racist statements and actions, in particular by: the Dutch government, education, the media and influential persons and organizations. 📌
Every citizen who is not treated equally is one too many. This means not only an infringement of someone’s rights, but also the rights of all citizens. Discrimination and racism, in whatever form, prevent equality for all citizens in the broadest sense of the word. The daily life and well-being of the citizen themselves is then hindered. A recent example of this is the Coronavirus, which is currently associated with any “Asian” or anyone with Asian physical characteristics. For fear of the virus, public hatred is being spread against Asians worldwide.
ASIAN DUTCHERS
This will not be a short and easy fight. The bright spot in our struggle is that fortunately we don’t have to reinvent the wheel for this. Our aim will be to take an example of the Asian-American movement in the United States. One of the most important achievements of the Asian-American movement was to create the category of “Asian-American” as a political identity that brought together all Asian ethnicities in the United States. One of the goals of our community will therefore be that we bring together the Asian-Dutch identity in that direction. ✨
How we come together ✊🏿✊🏾✊✊🏻
JOIN ASIAN RAISINS
From Korean to Thai, from Filipino to Sri Lankan, from Indonesian to Vietnamese and from full to double blood etc. ALL ASIAN DUTCHERS. You get it. ✨
We realize that the aforementioned racist statements are not only aimed at one specific population group. Everything is lumped together. It is therefore logical that there is an umbrella community that stands up for all Asian Dutch people with regard to our common problem. In other words, there is not yet an organization that is fully, independently and expertly committed to this. Instead of several small communities spread across the Netherlands, we become one large and close-knit community:
Various institutes, including the police, argue that up to now there are still too few figures and data on racism and discrimination against Asian Dutch. That is why Asian Raisins will work for a safe reporting point so that data is collected about this. With the hotline, we show that people are not alone in this, but that it occurs on a daily and structural basis. Bad experiences no longer need to be bottled up. At Asian Raisins you will be heard and supported.
Asian Raisins will post relevant and educational content about racism and discrimination against Asians Such as:
- Q & As with experts where you can ask any questions;
- educational videos;
- podcasts;
- debate evenings;
- interviews and much more.
Asian Raisins will also create awareness within the community about various topics and make them negotiable, such as:
- taboos;
- sexuality; 🌈
- genders;
- inclusivity;
- privileges and much more.
In addition, Asian Raisins will disseminate information about reporting to anti-discrimination agencies and reporting to the police.
The Dutch government, education, the media and influential people and organizations are not aware of racism and discrimination against Asians. It is still being normalized too much. Fortunately, we see in other areas that racism is recognized, such as in Dutch football. Over the next three years, the cabinet will allocate 14 million euros to tackle racism in football. (4) That is why Asian Raisins is convinced that racism is also present outside football. If it already takes 14 million euros for three years to combat racism in football, how much does it take to combat racism in the Netherlands?
Another method is that Asian Raisins will draw up a political manifesto and present it to Dutch politicians.
Members of each other can meet at the meetings and events. In addition, we can think together about the direction of the community, exchange ideas, network, share stories etc.
It usually starts with a microaggression, then it turns into belittling (joking), then to bullying, and eventually it leads to real hatred. Even though “luckily” most of the adults among us got off it safely in our youth. We must therefore protect young people and future generations from discrimination and racism. So invite your nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters too so that they don’t have to make me what most of us have been through.
Take action
join asian raisins
If you want to add or change something let us know! Thank you for your attention.
🌸 Have you been motivated to take action like us?
🌸 Do you have the time and energy you want to spend on Asian Raisins?
🌸 Do you want to be part of a fun team?
🌸 Are you ready to really make change?
If you answered “yes” to all these questions, We invite you to send an email to asianraisins@outlook.com with your resume and motivation! ✨
Love,
Rui Jun and the Asian Raisins Team
