A young man on the street
" My first experience began at the elementary school. Kids from my class would bully me just because I had a different skin colour "
“ I try not to think too much of my origin when I am somewhere. I am aware, but I try not to go deeply into it. If I do focus too much on the problem then I will restrain my own development “
" People need to be understood better and how we are treated is simply outrageous. I'm not the best guy, but I'm glad I'm still standing here "
" I will not accept to be a victim. I do not want to be a victim, but I want to raise above that. If they detain me, I will work with them and accept that it happens "
" From home I learned that I should work twice as hard if I want to achieve something in life. I try to look different to these things; what I can or cannot, be confident in my skills and that usually works for me "
" In high school I didn’t notice it yet; I was still too young and had my own circle of friends. As I came around the age of seventeen my friends were more boys who came from the same social classes and same neighbourhoods. We understood each other. Around the age of eighteen I began to realize things as I understood politics better and I also realized that I am an ethnic minority. Especially with searching for work and internships. Dutch boys in my class were getting an internship very quickly. They only had to apply two or three times. For me it was much more difficult, I am talking about around fifty applications. It's weird, but in time it get’s normal to you "
" If you call me names once, I do not mind, but you need to get your hands off me. It's humiliating and it makes me angry "
A young man on the street is a project, which consists on portraits where I try to uncover and break the stereotypes placed upon these young men. It also includes personal stories of the young men who experienced the consequences of ethnic profiling. My aim is to encourage a dialogue between the young men, police officers and the viewers. By reducing the tensions with one another and hopefully leading to structural changes in the approach and dealings of each other.