One might argue that there seems to be a small black man at the right hand side of the photo, but Arnoud de Jong of the Amsterdam Centraal website does not think so. Apparently, there will be only white people at the new Central Station.
De Jong studied the municipal website. And “you know what? The ‘artist impressions’ contain not one clearly identifiable foreigner! Neither do I see any headscarfs, burkahs, djellabas or other religious or ethnic dressing up. Meanwhile, one in three residents of the capital are categorised as ‘non-western ethnic minorities’. There’s something wrong here!”
Amsterdam Centraal (in Dutch). Image from dIVV website
RESPONSE 7 June 2008 – There is also something to be said about how women are portrayed. Only blond, young, long-haired types, who are evidently not dressed for work, contrary to the men. And only one woman wearing a skirt, but this is clearly a sort of fat battle-axe wearing an unbecoming dark suit…
I don’t see the use of “artist impressions” anyway. They always paint a totally unrealistic, far too pretty picture. See also the “artist impression” of the renovated Rijnstraat, where there are just a few bicycles standing neatly in the bicycle racks and the hundreds of other bicycles that are standing there every day have apparently been parked at home. No underground waste containers and other objects are lacking too.
Tags: Amsterdam, Central Station
