But society here just isn't that uncomfortable. One's comfort level in the Netherlands, he said, depends on one's situation. Unemployment among the Surinamese immigrants is around 16 percent, as opposed to 5.4 percent for native-born Dutch. Her description of the Dutch workplace echoes complaints African-Americans, for example, have long voiced. The employers say it's very difficult to find black people.
Black employees say there's an atmosphere.
The situation of Amsterdam's Surinamese immigrants is evident in Southeast. Others are going through hard times. Living here, he said, has changed him. Suriname's tropical ease and slow pace called for one set of responses, and the chilly formality and urban vibrancy of the Netherlands call for another. You have to change.