Our relationship with the Dutch has always been complicated. Dutch friars once came to Curaçao to educate the Afro-Curaçaoan population. In the Netherlands, these men may have occupied a modest position in society, but here they were treated almost like gods because they represented Dutch knowledge and status.
I do not believe they necessarily had bad intentions. The problem was their idea of education. To them, the best-educated Curaçaoan was someone who became as similar to a Dutch person as possible.
That created an impossible situation. Dutch society would never fully accept a Curaçaoan as Dutch, however closely that person copied Dutch behaviour. People were educated to become something they could never completely become.
We were taught to become Dutch, while being reminded that we could never do it as well as a Dutch person.
The effects go beyond the history of slavery. They include cultural alienation and a quiet competition among Antilleans for Dutch approval. Even the stereotype that Curaçaoans are lazy is part of this inheritance. I do not believe it is true, but when an idea is repeated often enough, it can damage people’s confidence and the way they look at one another.
Race itself is sometimes easier to discuss with tourists than people might expect. Curaçaoans are accustomed to living among people with mixed backgrounds, so we do not always think in strict racial categories. Wealth and values can be more sensitive. A visitor who boasts about money may create more distance than someone whose skin colour is different from ours.
Tourism has also changed the old relationship with the Netherlands by bringing people from many countries to the island. When not every white visitor is Dutch, some of the colonial weight attached to that encounter becomes lighter. I have noticed, for example, that Curaçaoans often respond more warmly to Americans than to Dutch visitors. This may partly come from the Second World War, when Americans arrived as protectors rather than colonisers.
Tourism has improved the economic position of many women. A large number of jobs in cleaning, food service and hotel reception are done by women, and earning their own income gives many greater independence. Prostitution is legal and regulated here. I do not see it simply as something caused by tourism, although it is an issue that requires careful management.
My greatest cultural worry is not the individual tourist, but a global media culture that slowly makes young people everywhere look and behave the same.
Television and music channels have an enormous influence. They shape the way young people dress, speak and behave, often more strongly than visitors do. This worldwide culture can replace local habits without people noticing what is being lost.
That is why I want tourists to go beyond their hotels and experience the island itself. They should visit places such as the Marchi Bieu, the Kas di Pal’i Maishi museum, Jaanchi’s and the windmills at Westpunt. These places introduce visitors to Curaçao as a living society, not simply as a sunny background for a holiday.
A meaningful visit begins when tourists leave the protected world of the hotel and meet Curaçao through its people, history and everyday places.