The complexity of racism in the Netherlands: The understandings of Dutch people of Indonesian descent of the Black Lives Matter movement

The Black Lives Matter movement has reached out to the public several times in the past year to expose issues such as racism against black people. This thesis investigated the different understandings of Dutch people of Indonesian descent of the BLM movement. Subsequently, it examined what this outcome says about the complexity of racism in the Netherlands. The research aims to offer Dutch people of Indonesian descent a platform to collect and interpret their understandings to study this complexity. Through semi-structured interviews, the subjects of colonialism, racism, and the BLM movement were discussed. Literature shows that as both (Dutch) Indonesian people and Afro-American people have a colonial past that is often not heard. The results show that Dutch people of Indonesian descent hardly identify with the BLM movement. Being loyal to the ethnic identity seems to offer an explanation for this. Furthermore, this limited identification illustrates the complexity of racism because it shows that the respondents do not seem to be aware of the structural racism it perpetuates.