State Secretary Aukje de Vries (Executions), Mayor Koen Schuiling and King’s Commissioner René Paas, among others, will attend the first Groningen Keti Koti commemoration on Friday 30 June.
This confirms Roberto Refos, chairman of Stichting Noaberschap/Committee 30 June-1 July Groningen. The commemoration will take place on the Ossenmarkt.
During the commemoration, the victims of transatlantic slavery are remembered. Between 1621 and 1863, the Netherlands shipped hundreds of thousands of Africans to Suriname and the Caribbean and forced them to work on plantations, in factories or as house slaves. During the commemoration, as with the annual Remembrance Day on May 4, two minutes of silence will be held at eight o’clock in the evening.
Secretary of State for Supplements also present
Mayor Koen Schuiling of Groningen will give a speech prior to the moment of silence. René Paas, Commissioner of the King, and State Secretary Aukje de Vries (Executions) will attend the commemoration.
Remarkable: research into the benefits affair previously showed that the Tax and Customs Administration structurally and deliberately discriminated against people with a non-Western background. Many victims have a Surinamese or Caribbean background.
Recognition and follow-up
During the commemoration on the Ossenmarkt, several wreaths are laid, including by Surinamese and Caribbean descendants. “We are still in consultation with the University of Groningen and various religious communities to have them lay a wreath as well,” said chairman Refos.
Refos believes it is important that there is recognition for Transatlantic slavery and its impact. “Slavery has long been an underexposed subject. Even I thought ten years ago that Groningen had nothing to do with it. And the slavery past still plays. Football players still get bananas thrown at them, children get too low school advice. If we want to work on that, we have to acknowledge what happened and look together at how we can tackle the problems.”