‘Alleen toegang voor personen van Nederlandse afkomst’

Het Amsterdamse huisvestingsbeleid in de jaren zeventig en institutioneel racisme

Samenvatting

This article explores the connection between “closed” neighbourhood policy and institutional racism in Amsterdam in the 1970s. During this time, the Netherlands experienced a wave of Surinamese immigrants coming to the country, which led the Dutch government to create a dispersal plan for their accommodation and integration. In Amsterdam, an informal policy was enforced that only one Surinamese family could be housed per apartment complex, effectively closing off eight neighbourhoods to nonwhite residents. The city of Amsterdam was concerned with concentrations of “ethnic minorities” hindering integration. In 1977, the revelation of these closed neighbourhoods caused outrage and accusations of discrimination, leading the municipality, together with welfare foundations and housing associations, to seek a solution. In 1978, the city rejected the agreement behind the closed neighbourhoods, and in 1979, the dispersal policy was abandoned. This policy had been based on racial biases and assumptions, and thus reveals elements of institutional racism in Amsterdam’s history of closed neighbourhoods.