The second week of March was the week of Elvira, Laetitia and Raffaela. Three black women who have gained a place for themselves on the public stage in a groundbreaking way. In my opinion, this makes them figureheads of integration and emancipation.
On March 7, the elections for the municipal and district councils in the Netherlands took place. After having made a move to the right in 2002, the electorate made a move to the left with these elections. In 2002, it was the migrants who had to be tackled firmly. Once it became clear that not only the migrants were being tackled, but also the wallets of the native middle class, white and black came into unanimous action to give Balkenende and his associates an electoral beating. Because that was not the intention.
In Amsterdam, the PvdA emerged as the big winner. The city suddenly became bright red. Hmmm, and I thought I lived in a black city. No, I didn't. In 4 districts, the PvdA even won an absolute majority. In principle, the left can govern alone there. Whether that is a correct democratic course of action, I will leave open. The people have spoken.
Laetitia Griffith, the black female leader of the VVD, may have lost one seat; nevertheless, the VVD had already scored by placing a black woman first on its election list. The PvdA, as a counterpart, did not dare to place the Moroccan Aboutaleb in first place; but oh well, the voters rectified this blunder by still giving him the main prize with the highest number of preferential votes.
The PvdA in Zuidoost is a different story. There, Elvira Sweet, black and a woman, is firmly at the helm of her PvdA. She won seven more seats, which means she has the say there with her party members. She was finally able to throw off the shadow of Queen Hannah Belliot. That election night on March 7 in the district office at Anton de Komplein was her coronation party!
A different kind of election was the Idols final on Saturday 11 March, where Raffaella, the challenging black girl from Emmen, won from Floortje, the sympathetic blonde from Almere. She entered the final as an underdog. She emerged victorious with no less than 58% of the 1.7 million votes that were cast. A star was born!
Elvira, Laetitia and Raffaela. Figureheads who quietly profess integration and emancipation. Women who use their talent to shape the world to their will. These women rise above issues such as race, gender and religion. Now that the right is in power in the Netherlands, these kinds of women are the breath of fresh air in society. They show how race and gender can work to your advantage, namely by not constantly tripping over them, but by wearing them like a well-fitting coat. And that works. Because not only black people feel attracted to their appearance. Whites, browns and yellows taste and see the same thing and therefore voted for them en masse.
If this is the Promised (Netherlands) Land where people determine their identity through quality, then I would gladly continue living there!
Clyde Echteld