Amigoe: Antillean House angry about brown Joran Van der Sloot (Opsporings Verzocht Re-enactment)

Amigoe, April 13, 2006: Antillean House angry about brown Joran

The controversy continues over the depiction of Joran Van der Sloot as a non-white in the Dutch program Opsporings Verzocht. The re-enactment of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway has drawn some sharp criticism and it is not coming from the United States, it is from the Antilles.

“producers of the Dutch program Opsporings Verzocht of twisting the facts consciously and abundantly clear. ”

“By consciously twisting abundantly clear facts and misleading the public that are being asked for their cooperation in tracing perpetrators, the program departs from its purpose”

By using a brown actor it gives the impression that the producers have opted for highlighting what is already presented as stereotype criminal in the Netherlands.

And this is unjust.

However, the OM in Aruba has a perfectly understandable and reasonable answer to the controversy. This may be the comment of the week, if not the month:

The young man that acted Joran van der Sloot in the reconstruction yesterday has very light skin and considered white in Aruba, said the OM in a press report in Aruba.

Besides, no skin colour was considered during the selection. “It is not important for the investigation team what the colour of a person’s skin is, or how dark the person is.”

Why would one justify that the actor is considered white in Aruba and then state that color made no difference? Its either one or the other, not both. It is curious that all others that were portrayed in the re-enactment did not seem to have this issue. One would think that the two main roles of Natalee Holloway and Joran Van der Sloot would have been cast as close to reality as possible.

CURACAO/RIJSWIJK — Minister Plenipotentiary Paul Comenencia of the Antilles accuses before the ANP the police and the Public Prosecutor (OM) as producers of the Dutch program Opsporings Verzocht of twisting the facts consciously and abundantly clear. He also says that police and justice do no longer need to count on the cooperation of the Antilles.

The criticism is about yesterday’s program that dedicated time to the disappearance of the American Natalee Holloway. According to Comenencia, Joran van der Sloot, a white Dutch boy, was presented as a brown person, which was unjust.

“By consciously twisting abundantly clear facts and misleading the public that are being asked for their cooperation in tracing perpetrators, the program departs from its purpose”, says Comenencia. Why didn’t they choose a white actor for Joran’s character? By using a brown actor it gives the impression that the producers have opted for highlighting what is already presented as stereotype criminal in the Netherlands. And this is unjust.

Opsporings Verzocht is an investigation tool for police and justice. These two services decided on the content of the program. “What should we think of the rest of the program? They do no longer need to count on our cooperation. Looking for fictitious perpetrators makes no sense.” A spokesperson of the Utrecht police that has worked on the program says in a reaction on Comenencia’s accusations that the reconstruction was done by the investigation team in Aruba. “We helped, but we were not responsible for the direction.”

OM in Aruba: ‘Stand-in is white’

The young man that acted Joran van der Sloot in the reconstruction yesterday has very light skin and considered white in Aruba, said the OM in a press report in Aruba.

Besides, no skin colour was considered during the selection. “It is not important for the investigation team what the colour of a person’s skin is, or how dark the person is.”

The length and the figure were the criteria used for selecting the young man that played Joran. The stand-ins for Joran and the brothers Kalpoe were selected amongst police officers of the Police Academy in Aruba.