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GENT –
Do people react differently to a white than to a black bicycle thief? The VRT program ‘Factcheckers’ wanted to test that. Jan Van Looveren’s team went to Ghent with a white and a black actor and the reactions were strikingly different when they each cut a slot.
Anyone who has ever seen an episode of ‘Fact Checkers’ knows that every week three statements are examined for their truthfulness. During the January 3 broadcast, one of them was: people react differently to a white than to a black bicycle thief.
Jan Van Looveren went to Baudelostraat and Muinkaai in Ghent with a black and a white actor to check this out. Both were given a pair of cutting pliers. Jorik, the white actor, was sometimes spoken to, but that was it. Kris, the black actor, was confronted several times and even had the police on his roof. (read more below the photo)
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“It may be a coincidence, but it is still striking,” says Van Looveren. “Time to stand out even more.” After the cutters, both actors were given bolt cutters. A woman stops at Jorik’s to ask if he is going to steal a bicycle. “No, I lost my keys,” he answers, after which the woman continues walking. In Baudelostraat, a passerby even helps the white actor to loosen the lock.
With the black actor, on the other hand, a woman asks if she can take his photo, in case he turns out to be a bicycle thief. “If it’s your bike, good luck,” she says as she continues. A little later a police car stops in front of him again.
“Jorik was helped twice, while Kris had the police on his roof twice,” Van Looveren concludes. “Have we now proven that this is always the case, everywhere? No, but our test showed that people react differently to Kris than to Jorik.”
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