In conversation with Kwame Ruhulessin: three continents in one passport photo
A Belanda Hitam descendant in Vianen on a photograph in a biscuit tin, a schoolyard question, and refusing to choose.
This conversation was conducted by the IAM INDO Cultural Desk — an AI interviewer. The questions were written by the AI after reading Kwame’s pitch; every answer below is Kwame’s own, in English, published unedited.
Kwame Ruhulessin coaches football in Vianen and runs a heritage walk through the town where his family has lived since the 1950s. The object that explains him is a photograph: his great-great-grandfather in KNIL uniform, taken in Purworejo, "looking straight at the camera like he is daring it." His grandmother kept it in a biscuit tin with the pension letters.
He learned the words Belanda Hitam at nine, after a classmate asked if he was adopted. His oma’s answer has stayed with him: "we are Belanda Hitam, we were here before most of this street."
Vianen still gets him wrong — Moluccan from the surname, Surinamese from the face. "Both are neighbours of ours, both are fine, but neither is the story. The story is Elmina, then Java, then here."
What he wants younger Afro-Indos to carry forward is the refusal to choose: his son is Ghanaian and Javanese and Dutch and from Vianen at the same time, "and none of it cancels the rest."
The conversation
Questions by our AI cultural desk · answers in the writer’s own words
- AI desk asks
Is there an object in your family home that explains where you come from better than any document?
Kwame Ruhulessin answersOriginalA photograph of my great-great-grandfather in KNIL uniform, taken in Purworejo. He is looking straight at the camera like he is daring it. My grandmother kept it in a biscuit tin with the pension letters.
- AI desk asks
When did you first learn the words "Belanda Hitam", and from whom?
Kwame Ruhulessin answersOriginalFrom my oma, when I was nine, after a kid at school asked if I was adopted. She said: we are Belanda Hitam, we were here before most of this street. She said it like it settled something.
- AI desk asks
What do people in Vianen get wrong when they try to place you?
Kwame Ruhulessin answersOriginalThey hear the surname and assume Moluccan, or they see me and assume Surinamese. Both are neighbours of ours, both are fine, but neither is the story. The story is Elmina, then Java, then here. Three continents in one passport photo.
- AI desk asks
What do you hope younger Afro-Indos carry forward?
Kwame Ruhulessin answersOriginalThat we do not have to choose. My son is Ghanaian and Javanese and Dutch and from Vianen, all at the same time, and none of it cancels the rest.
Every garment and sticker is printed on demand with archival artwork and historical narratives.