The Tilburg mayor Theo Weterings said Friday evening at the unveiling of the first slavery monument in Brabant that he “deeply regrets the slavery past”. He unveiled the monument together with initiators and with the King’s Commissioner Ina Adema.
The monument was made by the artist duo Dedden and Keizer. It depicts a life-size broken chain on which a young girl sits. The artists not only want to emphasize the slavery past, but also look to the future. The girl depicted was also present at the unveiling. It is a young model from Hoek van Holland.
The new slavery monument is located at the back of the station on Burgemeester Stekelenburgplein, in the middle of Tilburg’s Spoorzone. The municipality of Tilburg has been commemorating the official end of slavery since 2018. When the monument was unveiled, the square was extra busy.
In his speech, Mayor Weterings said that the monument is a powerful symbol in the city. “So that we don’t forget what was done to people who were once enslaved. Many of their descendants now also live in Tilburg.”
According to Weterings, the monument is also necessary for the present. “With this we recognize that racism is still rooted in society.”
The municipality of Tilburg will also conduct research into the colonial past. Weterings: ”We want to investigate Tilburg’s role in slavery and how the city was intertwined with colonial areas and colonial trade.
During the slavery commemoration, the well-known Surinamese writer Cynthia McLeod (How expensive was sugar) made a connection between the city of Tilburg and having a slavery monument. “Tilburg has always had a bond with the colonies. That is because of Peerke Donders and the Brothers of Tilburg. Tilburg has always welcomed its overseas fellow citizens with open arms.”
More critical was the sound of Jeannau Jean Louis, one of the initiators of the monument. He had never felt blacker than in the lecture hall at Tilburg University. And all those crazy questions he always gets: ‘Do you speak Dutch well’; How beautiful you are on time; and ‘oh, are you studying too?’ But in the end he is very proud of what he has achieved with the initiators of the monument. It just looks beautiful.
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