Quote: Moroccan-Dutch are not treated as individuals

Quote: Moroccan-Dutch are not treated as individuals

Samira Bouchibti (38) is a parliament member for the Dutch Labor party. She worked in the past as program creator, debate leader and journalist. The following is from an interview in HP/DeTijd:

"I had said in the past that we as Moroccans should show that we are suitable, and that it's not dependent on our 'backwards' culture and religion. Due to the negative reports about the group of youth who cause problems, many Dutch have the idea that Morocco is a backwards country and that the Moroccans are just like the people who cause the negative image. All over the world people are regarded as individuals, but Moroccans are thrown into one big pile. You are a Moroccan, period. And Moroccans are not suitable in the eyes of public opinion.

I don't want to minimize the problems, but the trouble-makers ruin it for the group who do well and are often very successful. The group who just like hundreds of thousands of Dutch go to work each day, have an ING (bank) career or work as a school attendance officer.

As a politician and as a journalist I try to attract the successful Moroccans to the discussion, but when I ask them to give a speech, for example, they say: "You do it". We must make a distinction between people who do well and people who want to do evil. For the group of successful Moroccans it's tiresome to constantly be confronted with a reality that's not theirs."

Source: HP/DeTijd (Dutch)

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