History of slavery becomes visible during Keti Koti at HKU

The location on Janskerkhof – the square where HKU Theatre is located – turned out to be full of traces that remind of the history of slavery in Utrecht. Tour guide Ying could easily fill the 90-minute walk with just the stories at the square, she claimed. The house on the corner, for example, was home to a former governor of Fort Elmina: a gruesome place in Ghana where the enslaved were held captive until they were boarded on the ships. And in the building that is currently HKU’s Academy Gallery, once lived a family who had four enslaved people as servants. The stories go on and on. Those are the buildings that we know, and thus this brings the history of slavery close to home.

Rosa Weekers talks about it from her own experience. Once she visited a physiotherapist, who was spontaneous and committed, and helped her so much with her injured ankle. And then suddenly used the n-word, not understanding what could be wrong about that. She tells the metaphoric story about the lion and the elephant, about growing up in chains and therefore not having any concept of a life without them. And how each of us, regardless of colour, might still be chained – or feel chained.

Afterwards, the panel of HKU students from various schools, pondered the question what our dream for the future is. What is our ideal, where we want to move to? One of the panel members, for example, wants to stop having to wonder: am I invited here because of the colour of my skin, or for my skills and activities? Questions from the audience are about how to deal with official holidays, about curricula, fair admission and selection. What steps can we take tomorrow?

This led to lots of discussion afterwards, while enjoying the Surinamese treats eksi kuku and bojo cake. A meaningful and thought-provoking morning.

Let yourself be touched; listen, speak and move with us.
Standing still together, so that we can move forward together.