The Dutch Love of Blackface
The Shallow Man is an elegant but aged fossil. I’ve been around since the days when Madonna still made decent music when Mick Jagger claimed that he wouldn’t continue performing once he reached the age of forty. I can recall a young boy who used to sing and dance with his four brothers, whose talent shone out even then. I remember when having a color television set was a sign of affluence and can also recall when it was considered the height of cutting edge and dangerous comedy for a group of white men to apply boot polish on their faces and perform as people of color. That was a long, long, long time ago, which brings me to the subject of this article.
Every November, The Shallow Man, a hero to some, an annoyance for others, is visited and emailed by dismayed Expats, who contact him in deep shock and ask: “Shallow Man, what in the name of Bob Marley is going on here in the Netherlands? I just went to lunch and was surrounded by a group of white guys blacked up, with curly wigs and red lips. Was that some kind of demonstration about slave labor or people smuggling from Africa?”
Being the courageous person that I am, I will break the conspiracy of silence that overcomes this country every November to December. I will risk the unrighteous fury of the collective hordes of weasels, who every year attempt in new and creative ways to justify the unjustifiable. Yes, the Shallow Man will invoke the spirit of Aretha and the late great Otis Redding and demand some R E S P E C T and dignity for people of color and damn the consequences. The things I do for my readers!
Sinterklaas
The Shallow Man is so incandescent with rage, that I will not even attempt to explain the annual Dutch celebration in too much detail. To summarize, quite simply an old man with a white beard arrives in the Netherlands every year together with his crew, a group of black faced, curly haired slaves who help him do his bidding. This event is huge here and is bigger than Christmas.
Institutionalized Black Face
Albert Heijn, Blokker, Kruidvat and many other big Dutch chains happily participate in the annual institutionalized black face event that is Sinterklaas. Take a look at the photo below.
Hilarious, I’m white but I’m blacked up!!
The increasing globalization of the world has in recent years finally reached the Netherlands. This has led to some slightly embarrassed revisionism on the part of the Dutch about their annual Black Face Fest. Apparently, the reason why the faces of Sinterklaas’ helpers are black is due to them going down the chimney to deliver presents to good kids or beatings to naughty ones.
I’m sure that the image of people of color, carrying out a home invasion to beat kids hasn’t led to any racial trauma at all. But I digress. So if we are to believe the wise people of Dutch science, apparently if you start out white and blonde, sliding down a chimney will not only turn your skin black, but will give you bright red lips, and black curly hair. It will also affect the way you talk and give you a kind of mock Surinamese accent. It will make you jump around like an idiot and your eyes will roll as well.
The Shallow Man was never particularly good at physics unless it involved a mirror, but I have to question the scientific credibility of this explanation.
It’s a Tradition, Hoor!
Whenever sensitive Expats such as myself question the annual let’s-black-up-and-be-jolly season, out come the weasels to defend the indefensible.
Common weasel words used to defend blacking up:
“It’s a tradition.”
So was lynching in the deep south of the USA, luckily the tradition stopped.
“All the black kids in Holland love it.”
Yes, of course, kids are kids and are too young to get offended and look forward to the presents.
“All the black people I know enjoy it.”
The one black person you know and probably speak once a year to is humoring you and would prefer not to have that discussion when he knows your views.
“It’s a tradition.”
Err, you said that already.
“If you don’t like it, you should go back to your own country.”
Ah, the rational argument of the desperate.
Zwarte Piet Has Nothing To Do with the American Tradition of Blackface
Absolutely not. I present the following Exhibits to the jury.
Exhibit 1. Zwarte Piet
Exhibit 2. Black face American style from the 1930’s.
Trick question. What do the two photos in Exhibits 1 and 2 have in common?
Time To Put Up or Shut Up
I’ve heard many weasel- like attempts to justify the essential requirement to have hordes of white people wearing curly wigs, blacking up their faces and wearing bright red color on their lips. None of them are even remotely credible. Like Lynching, wife beating, slavery and racial discrimination in general, Zwarte Piet is unacceptable and dehumanizes people of color into figures of fun. Trying to cling onto some bull manure story about dressing up as the helpers of Sinterklaas is just nonsense.
If the Dutch are such sticklers for historical accuracy, why do I do not see Dutch people nailed to a cross at Easter time? Or chopping off their ears on Van Gogh’s birthday? The reason this pernicious and demeaning event continues every year is that people find it fun. Fun to black up. Fun to laugh at people blacked up, and it’s ok because just about everyone in this country finds it Gezellig (Pleasant) and Grappig (Fun). Why not just admit it and stop the pseudo-historical justification that has no moral grounding at all?
No morons in black face were hurt during the writing of this article.
Thank you for this.
Having recently moved to NL, I love living here but, as a mixed race person, I actually avoid going out at Christmas cause I find ZP quite sickening, primarily cause what should be a time of joy and happiness, is used as an opportunity to teach the next generation of children to celebrate the proud Dutch history of slavery.
I’ve genuinely been told repeatedly by people that, this shows slavery was a good thing cause it showed how grateful black people were to be slaves (they were always smiling and joking, after all). This is a defense that tends to pop up after “tradition” and “fun for children” are dismissed.
Fortunately, Mr Rutte has now openly accepted that while he sees no issue with recognising the proud Dutch history of slavery, he does think black people should be able to enjoy Christmas!
I laughed and groaned while reading all the excuses trotted out by ZP apologists. I’m a black Jamaican-Nigerian man married to a white Dutch woman and I can assure you I and my wife both found ZP offensive and indefensible. Looking at all the excuses, one can see how the boers justified apartheid in South Africa. And we know how that ended. Well, the BLM movement has found your racist tradition. Good luck defending it.
Thanks Simon for posting this article. I totally agree with you. I cannot describe even in a million words how totally utterly completely fed up I am about hearing the saaaaaaaame hackneyed sayings by the Dutch time and time again…… they keep using the same lame excuses for not having to admit how stupid and offensive this tradition is….. having lived here for almost 18 years the mindset of clones has become a drag to me. Everywhere the same opinions, justifications…….bla bla bla…..the lack of insight into their astounding narrow mindedness leaves my paralyzed everstime I am being confronted with it
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nelson-mandela/10500735/Nelson-Mandela-Dutch-newspaper-apologises-for-Black-Pete-link.html
Your complete lack of knowledge on the Sinterklaas tradition really entertains me. It might be an idea for you to read some books about the festivity, as it is really just plain bullshit what you’re saying here. As the expat that you are, living in the netherlands for soooo many years (as you said yourself) you would expect that your understanding of dutch – culture and traditions would be better. It’s a shame (for you) that it isn’t. I used to like to your blog, but it seems like you become detached from reality.
Yawn. Would you like some cheese to go with that whine? Why are some of you ZP supporters so angry? Many of you come across exactly like those frothing at the mouth Tea Party lunatics in the US. You guys are extremists who refuse to take your head out of the sand and smell the coffee.
http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21588960-debate-holiday-tradition-exposes-racial-attitudes-zwarte-piet-racism
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24979498
The position of those who support Zwarte Piet can be summarized as: All the black people I know (all three of them) support it. The opinions of people of color in the Netherlands are not important. We like blacking up and it’s our right to continue doing so. If you don’t like it, go back to your own country.
Lol simon, what about the un backing up hajji fruz? The persian blacking up fest?
Thas no big deal since that is tradition right?
Double standards right?
I have no idea what you are talking about. I don’t live in Persia, I live in Amsterdam. Blackface is wrong, wherever it occurs.
Actually, my position is as follows. If there would be a grass roots organization of black people who come with convincing arguments for their grievances, I have absolutely no problem of accommodating them and change ZP. Even though I wonder how this change actually reduces racism (some here already indicated the new questions it raises), but that’s a question we could discuss then. Because currently, on the ground, I do not see such a grassroots organization, what I see is a few attention-seekers (Prem Radakishu on TV, Quinsy Gario at joop.nl, and Miss Shepard is after slavery compensation). The closest group of insulted people I have seen were street interviews with African Dutch people, who disliked their fathers being called ZP. I explained above that this frankness is an attribute of the behavior of children, not of our racism. And it is not dealt with by hiding it! But hey fine, let them built their grassroots movement, and we will listen. Where is their petition? Please point me to it, and I will check it out.
What I have encountered far more is a bunch of white Dutch folks who like to vent their annoying moralism. Why do they do this? Because it makes them the most sensible super-socialist, and it makes the traditionalist nothing more than racists because they are so narrow-minded that they have to hold on to the ZP. If you discuss for two minutes with them, this supremacism already surfaces, as it does with you Simon. They ignore questions about other possibly offensive traditions, do not care to provide an accurate historical account of ZP and in general do not care about the arguments for cultural preservation.
Worse, I fear that the people who scream the loudest about the offensiveness of ZP, are the ones who keep silent when we talk about subjugated women in the cultures of our imported minorities. They will never admit the existence of women who are forced to wear a headscarf or worse (with purposely confusing arguments, like “there is not one denominator for this culture/these people”). So from my perspective it seems like when it comes to tradition and culture, we should all be sensible and understanding, except when we talk about white or Christian culture. Then go ahead and bash it into the ground. Then feel free to raise the flag of backwardedness above it and take the moral high ground.
I am sick and tired of this. Stay away from my culture, you moralistic over-sensitive white fellow countrymen. Let, for once, the minorities speak for themselves instead of treating them like some brainless chaps who you have to represent in this debate.
You are a hypocrite of the worst kind. I’ve reviewed your verbal diarrhea and find it seriously lacking. Humberto Tan, Quinsy Gario and a few others make convincing arguments for why the Dutch black face fetish is offensive. I find your comments ignorant, bigoted and narrow minded. You seem shocked that people of color in the Netherlands have the temerity to question the opinions and willful blindness of the white majority. You sir are not even worth arguing with. If Dutch culture truly is only about white fetishists blacking up, then you should ask yourself some serious questions. Don’t bother posting anything further on my site as I will not give time or space to narrow minded nationalists such as yourself.
Stop trying to hide behind children and culture. You have no respect for the opinions of people of color, that’s very clear from your post.
You do not have the right to tell me, what opinions I should hold. I reviewed yours and it sucks. Black yourself up and continue to pretend it has nothing to do with race.
Quinsy’s argument:
http://www.geenstijl.nl/mt/archieven/2013/10/gs_andere_tijden_gario_legt_t.html
Enlighten us what Humberto has to say. I cannot find it.
Sorry, I still go with the people who tell me that “The Dutch know what I know as a black man, that being black is beautiful”.
You have to understand that there are always people with grievances. People who take every opportunity to be insulted. Luckily they are a minority by evolution. That’s why you can’t show me this large petition from them or any good arguments.
Me nationalistic? I’ll probably be the first to leave this country once the relativist have driven it into the ground. I’m as nationalistic as circumstances require. But it is funny that you use it as a negative epithet. I see loyalty to one’s passed on traditions as a good thing, but it requires standing your ground and not going with the wimps of every next offended person. I do understand that this is not a very popular stance among the so well endowed self-entitled masses of today.
I think we should stop bothering. The shallow man turns out to be a truly shallow man.
Absolutely. The clue is in the title. Amsterdam Shallow Man. Well spotted.
The Guardian summarised the whole thing quite nicely in 2012.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/05/black-pete-race-netherlands
I’m sorry, but that article doesn’t hold any ground whatsoever. First of all it immediately uses the word slave to describe Black Pete, which he is NOT and he might have known would he have done any research at all and the only argument he provides is that its an issue of the brain. That for some reason we can’t see how he’s rasict because we don’t think we’re racist. (And it uses a Satirical video as proof. REALLY??)
The fact is this: We don’t know for sure how Zwarte Piet came to be. Some evidence say some teacher made it up, while I’ve seen other evidence proving they’re black because Sinterklaas bought free slaves and in return they start working for him. Most people just stick with the chimney theories.
But even so, I have yet to see evidence that Zwarte Piet was EVER used as a symbol for racism. Never in the history of Sinterklaas has he ever been portrayed as a slave or an inferior being to white men. The only fault Zwarte Piet made is is that he resembles something that some people (in a different context) consider racist ! Are we now to ban Zwarte Piet because he resembles something that might be considered racist?
Yes, Zwarte Piet resembles the generalization look of a black person. So what your essentially saying is : “Stop generalizing black people, because that’s racist.” Ah, but then what about all the other generalizations? What about dressing up as a drunk Scotsmen in a Kilt for Halloween? Or a blond dumb woman with large boobs? Mafiosi with a bad Italian accent eating Pizza, or ,something a little closer to home, stoned Dutchmen living in windmills? There are a lot of generalizations out there, do you want to ban them all?
No, ofcourse not. Because that’s not racism isn’t it. But you know what? It is. There’s just one difference. Those groups don’t CONSIDER it racist if you make fun of them. For some reason, only black people and people with a misguided sense of protection consider making fun of black people racism. Because of slavery and other bad stuff, that thing that happened quite a long time ago and no normal person would ever consider that normal nowadays. Do we still have to “pay” for that? Do I still have to make up for the fact that my ancestors did something terribly wrong, something I can’t change anymore?
(I’m not saying that things as slavery and racism should be taken lightly. I’m just saying that you can’t use it as justification why you can make fun of one group, but not of the other)
Also, just my last thought: If there’s one thing I’m disgusted by its Muslim woman wearing a Burka. In my opinion, its a symbol for the repression and inferiority of woman. As a woman myself, I take great offense every time I see someone wearing the thing. Now, should that be banned or should I respect that its their cultural tradition?
I am not getting into a discussion about the pros and cons of the burkha. Which by the way, is hardly worn in the Netherlands at all. To summarize your post, you don’t give a hoot who your outdated blackface offends, and you have a problem with Muslims, which appears to be common with many ZP supporters. I wonder why?
I never said I had a problem with Muslim people. I have a problem with the Burkha, which, in my opinion, is a symbol for something that should be considered racist. You know, much like the Zwarte Piet you’re trying to discuss.
However, I’m truly amazed by how you’re brain translates my post. Here I was, thinking that someone who writes a blog like that was only looking for a healthy debate. Turns out I’m just talking to a plain old Troll. I apologize and I shall not participating in this discussion any further.
I used to think it was for the children, not the adults… then I realized online the difference is minimal.
In all seriousness, I doubt the kids, whatever color they may be, care if Black Pete is black, blue, or a green-skinned Martian. So who are we doing this for, then? Offended adults. On both sides. If the kids like it and care mostly about the story and the candy, I say we can give them a story and candy. Let the story be this: “Black Petes discovered they didn’t like the way they had to work for a old white man, and asked him very nicely if they could go back to spain and do their own thing. Sinterklaas, being a kind old man who simply hadn’t realized it was a bit unfair they did most of the work and only got paid in housing and food, apologized and agreed. Then he called up his friends Santa Claus and Man in the Moon and asked what he should do. He gave all the Petes a lovely gift as goodbye, and hired a couple of elves and Martians, so in our next parade you’ll see green skinned space babes (for the adults), and nice elves (for the kids.” See? Done. Its not rocket science.
The problem is not really with Zwarte Piet, it is with you Simon.
You know perfectly well that children are honest enough to e.g. call people with long noses by the name Pinocchio, or publicly exclaim that some Turkish classmate smells like garlic (i’ve experienced this). Should we all eat garlic now and ban Pinocchio also?
No. These things happen, simply because people are different. If you actually celebrate diversity, you deal with them instead of trying to hide them. If you teach children the wisdom of using inquiry and the use of avoiding too personal words, they tend to become a lot more resilient than when you dump a set of morals onto them.
You on the other hand make a fool out of yourself by maintaining that in this age white people simply cannot paint themselves black. Apparently this somehow has become one of your morals. Do you know Simon how to recognize pedophiles? You show them a normal picture of an adult with a child on his lap and ask them what they think about this. If they moralistically object on the behavior of the adult, you have found your pedo.
You have become so neurotically moralistic, that your reactionary behavior is to project your morals on every situation that involves their subjects. At the same time, you do not recognize anymore that you are unconsciously treating the black people, in this case, as a minority that cannot defend it self, i.e. you discriminate them. In the other example, you assume that the child cannot deal with an innocently meant remark of the other child.
You are right, I believe you have certain friends belonging to these minorities that are offended. But maybe these are just the kind of joyless people you attract? The people who rather stand with their hands crossed shaking their heads at the ZP parade, while the other ones are inquisitive about the meaning of the whole venue or just join all the fun as quickly as they can. My foreign friends for one, belong to the latter category and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I hope you can deal with this level of frankness. If you cannot, please note that I extend you the same courtesy as you do to the Dutch with your direct essay. And on that note, it makes me happy to see how well you integrated in our Dutch society.
Simon, you’re repeating yourself. We know you think we are weasels, we know you think Zwarte Piet is racist and we’ve heard all of your historically incorrect arguments for your case. We respect your feelings but will not deny the fact that they have no ground. You have the right to feel hurt, we have the right to shrug and say “not our problem”. Next time please feel free to write about something when you feel offended, but please try not to offend the people defending the other side of the argument. It does not do your credibility any good, nor will it encourage people to join your point of view.
I will make my last statement on the subject. Keep the Sinterklaas fest, keep the Piets, however, in 2013, there is absolutely no justification for white people blacking up. Stop the blackface element of the Piets and I and the rest of the world won’t have a problem with it. The justification for the black face Piet are so weak, that they are laughable.
Stop the blacking up.
We’re not going to alter a perfectly fine TRADITION (oh no, the T-Word) because of some angry minority and a badly written article. And with minority I mean the people who find this great dutch tradition (he said it again) offensive.
You’re contribution to this debate has been…. well….. there has not really been any contribution. To put it in the words of man who can’t argue at all: “[Your arguments] are so weak, that they are laughable.” I mean what have you done for this not at all important discussion? First, you make it sound like all dutch people are the same and you are name calling, you racist! It must be easy to feel like a winner, if your argument basically is “eh… the other guys are weasels”. Good going champ, that will convince people! ….. oh wait, it won’t. You’re not a weasel for defending a tradition, and comparing a tradition like Zwarte Piet to lynching is frankly offensive. “Yes people of the past who got hunted and killed for “tradition”, I know exactly how the terror you lived in felt, I too feel such terror for you see: once a year these people around me dress-up”. It’s like saying you knew how Ann Frank feel because your dad grounded you and now you too are convinced in a small space against your will.
Next, you make another great statement (do I still have to point out my compliments are sarcasm or are you getting that by now?). All the white people who defend this don’t know black people. Really? That’s your argument? REALLY? That’s just too stupid to contemplate. The idea that defending this Tradition (he just won’t stop) basically means you don’t know any black people is almost as worse as the assumption behind it. “All black people agree with me” Once again you prove that you are in fact the true racist. All white people are the same and all black people are the same. Do you honestly think that every person who happens to have a bit more pigment in his skin then the big bad white men automatically agrees with you? Newsflash, I know plenty of non-white folks and you know what? Once a year, during this great holiday Sinterklaas when everyone on the street is doing their best to offend you, yes you personnaly, my black friends who aren’t quite as black as Zwarte Piet black-up. Why? Because it’s a fun, harmless, and I’ll spell it out for you this time T R A D I T I O N. Because N O B O D Y sees a slave or in general, a black man. They see a fun costume and they want to join in.
“A constume”, I hear you think, “that brings me to my master stroke” Oh yes, your “great comparison” of our lovely Zwarte Piet and Blackface?
Trick question: What do they have in common other then their make-up?
Awnser: (I’ll give it myself for obvious reasons) Absolutely fucking nothing.
Blackface was used to try and create stereotypical black people and played a significant role in cementing and proliferating racist images, attitudes and perceptions. Zwarte piet is not and never was. Right now we tell the story involving the chimenys but even the original Sinterklaas story didn’t say anything about them being the slaves of the White Men, no, it was in fact a story against the slave trade. This get of course ignored because it means you have nothing to get angry about, all you see is something to be offended about, you poor man
Summary: Black Pete is NOT racist, he will NOT go and I AM offended by the way you try to make it sound like all white people are the same, that’s racist man. I will ofcourse inform the VN immidiatly and they will shut your blog down.
White people putting on Curly hair wigs, making their lips bright red and blacking up is racist. You can use all of the weasel words you like to defend it, but it’s downright offensive. Stop trying to put words in my mouth. Nowhere have I said that ALL Dutch people are racist. Trying to hide behind nationalism which you are attempting to do here is the true act of a weasel.
I’m not trying to put words in your mouth, that is your signature move. For example I never claimed that you said all dutch people are racist, just that you claimed they were “Weasels”. Your logic: “If you defend this you are a weasel, and you don’t know any black people.” that’s pretty generilazing. It might not be all dutch people, but the way this is heading almost all dutch people will defend zwarte piet. Let me try using your style of debate
You can use all the coward words you want and try really hard to cry wolf, but nobody is being racist here. Zwarte Piet is a beloved childrends icon and people are allowed to dress up like him. Also stop trying to sound like you have any arguments what so ever, because all I hear is “yeah, but, the other guy’s a weasel”.
Let me repeat this for you because I know it’s hard to grasp:
Zwarte Piet is a Children’s Icon, we dress up as a Children’s Icon, once up on a time he might have been a black man but even then he was not portrayed as a bad thing. In it’s entire history has he ever been used to try and push forward a racist agenda. Nobody ever went “Slavery is okay because Sinterklaas has slaves”, mostly because that is wrong, he did NOT have slaves. But most of that should not matter now because people do not dress up as an african man, they dress up as a man who happens to be black because of the chimney, and everything else is a coincidence. And even the chimney justification does not matter because zwarte piet is a children’s icon. Nobody cares WHY he is what he is, they just know he IS what he is and that is: The cool guys who help bring joy to children and who work for Sinterklaas. And you know what? Sinterklaas might get most of the credit but every child wants to be and wants to dress like Zwarte Piet, and you will never get to take that away from them
And if that makes me a “nationalist” and a “weasel”, two terms which thanks to you are losing any meaning, then so be it. You’re the kid who cried wolf, worse, you’re a grown man crying wolf because children are happy and you can’t let children be happy. Frankly, it is you who is the boogeyman
Oi, stop insulting weasels. What have they ever done to you? ;P
How about a compromise, eh? We keep the blacking up and lose the wigs, lipstick and rings. Everyone happy.
No one cares if you have a problem with it. It’s your problem to have, not ours. If you want to connect a harmless and joyous Dutch tradition of “Pieten” with black painted faces to your own disgraceful history of “Blackface”, then that’s your problem, and not ours. “Zwarte Piet” here in the Netherlands does not have the same status as your “Blackface” had, a status of inferiority. He never has, nor ever will. “Zwarte Piet” is loved and respected for the joy he brings to Dutch children once a year, And not portrayed as a dumb uneducated man of color, like “Blackface” was.
JC Wijma, you’re living in a fantasy world if you think that people of color in the Netherlands are not racially insulted every year because of ZP. I watch Dutch TV and have seen a number of people of color talk about how family members have been called ZP at school for being black. This lie that people like yourself attempt to perpetuate that Dutch blackface is somehow better than American or British blackface is incredible. Try and get this through your head. White people painting themselves brown and wearing curly hair wigs with bright red lipstick is as crude and insulting as any blackface. I’ve seen ZP’s on TV speaking with mock Surinaam accents and rolling their eyes like the Minstrels of old. Take your head out of the sand.
Just like there are a number of people of color taking offence, there is a number of people of color that bring their own children to see the parade. Heck, there is even a number of people of color taking part in it, either with or without applying make-up.
You can’t stop people from feeling offended, for people will always find something new to feel offended about. Here in the Netherlands we have a saying that goes; “You’re not truly Dutch unless you’ve got something to complain about.” However, there is a difference between being and feeling offended. And just because you feel offended, doesn’t mean you are being offended.
What we have here, is a tradition based on history. A Turkish bishop from Spain that rescued Moorish children from a Moroccan slave market in the early 1600’s. His generosity was turned into a celebration where he and the children he saved brought joy to Dutch children. And like I’ve pointed out above, which you quite understandably obviously ignored, for it doesn’t suid your purpose of spreading anger and hatred by means of mininformation, these Moorish children received equal status as noblemen of the 1600’s. This is why their costumes to this very day, be it more brightly colored, resemble the attire of a 1600’s nobleman.
Anyone that sees “Zwarte Piet” as a slave, forced to work for one old man with a big white beard, has obviously not done his homework on the matter properly. And this includes you, Simon. Sure, maybe the black painted face send out a wrong message for some. But you have to realize that this tradition started in a time that there weren’t that many people of color living in the Netherlands. And certainly not free men of color. And to bring in people with dark colored skin and force them to walk this parade once a year for the purpose of historical accuracy would be against what this whole tradition stands foris about. Thus why white skinned men and women painted their faces black to this very day to walk in the parade as “Zwarte Piet”. And they’ll continue to do so, because over the course of more than 200 years, “Zwarte Piet” has grown to be an icon of equal status as the Turkish bishop from Spain that rescued him over 400 years ago from a life of slavery, and took him in as his own.
” I watch Dutch TV and have seen a number of people of color talk about how family members have been called ZP at school for being black. ”
First of all, Zwarte Piet is so ingrained in our culture that that will still happen to people of color. Either bc they try to link a icon to what they know (a poc in their school/class), or bc they are bullies, in which case they’ll just find something else to taunt with. What this is doing is focusing on one symptom, so its not solving anything. I think that we should all stop making a huge deal about it, both the people who cling to it as a tradition, and the people who focus so much on Black Pete to the exclusion of all else, like people of colour getting bullied for being that, whatever word it happens with. Ideally, adults should only interfere when there is bullying or other harm involved. But here we are, and I think thats impossible. SO, seeing as the kids really won’t care WHO their candy comes from, I once again offer my suggestion for Martians and elves. Sure, big change, but we’ll get over it and we can all get back to what really matters: stopping racism and bullying
I come from Spain and live in Groningen. I’ve heart that Piet was a rich man, that means no slave. I’ve also read that Piet was a kid saved by Sinterklaas from slavery. You have then at least two ways of seeing Piet as an anti-slavery idea or simply a rich man, than no slave.
Why insisting in the slave idea? Only because he is black? Just think positive, and go beyond prejudices. You can use a positive story to back up Piet.
Word on the street: Simon Woolcot is quite misinformed and, given his choice of words (“weasel”) and his story, likely to be pretentious and prejudiced. I ask you in particular to read this.
The problem at hand here is: Zwarte Piet, racist or not? I think it’s fair to believe that this is an entirely irrelevant question in itself. As a reason why, I’ll use the word “tradition”. Oh gosh, you wouldn’t believe I just did that, but I did. Onto the issue.
First of all, we do not entirely see Zwarte Piet as inferior to Sinterklaas. That’s merely the assumption you make. Make your assumptions after you have studied your subject first.
Secondly, the lunatic idea of “witte pieten” doesn’t make the situation any better. In your eyes, they’d still be inferior. So, we’re just changing the problem from African(-American)s to… Poles, Romanians, Bulgarians? Because they’re white and workers, sometimes even slaves yet to this day (asparagus cultivation, anyone?).
I think this whole debate was actually supposed to be and stay a very local debate, but thanks to the media and a few butthurt people the whole thing inflated, even escalated now. Is there a solution? Of course, it lies in your hands. That is, make up your minds and get over it. It’s Dutch tradition, there is nothing wrong with it (some people even compared the supposed “racism” to dwarf throwing, now what kind of a comparison is that?) and its importance in Dutch culture may be on par with that of national symbols such as the royals, tulips and clogs.
Indeed, I’m sure, the problem is really with you. You (in general, no particular race) use “racism” as an excuse for everything these days to make people feel sorry and have regret. That’s the real problem. “Respect” is another. You tell us to have respect and that’s all fine by me, but it seems like quite the opposite to me if you ask me. Respect for Dutch culture and some dignity, where has that gone? I reckon we’re not allowed to have that respect and dignity anymore.
My two cents.
Always nice to see that the uninformed have an opinion. They always shout the loudest, but never bring any actual facts to the table.
To clear a few things up. “Zwarte Piet” is not, I repeat, NOT a slave. In fact, he’s the exact opposite. They once were children saved from slavery by “Sinterklaas” in the early 1600’s. Thus why “Sinterklaas” is also known as the savior of children. As you can see from their clothes, they had equal status as a white European noblemen of that era. He provided them with food, clothing, a place to live. He even provided them with employment.
Notice how there is not a single white man holding a whip in the entire story of “Sinterklaas”. All of his affairs are overseen by “Zwarte Pieten”. Not by slavers with whips. Basically “Zwarte Pieten” are the adopted children of an old man with a big heart. And that’s what this tradition is all about. About an old man with big heart bringing joy to little children with the help of the children he adopted, these “Zwarte Pieten”.
According to some they were ravens at first and the word pieten comes from the old word for raven…whatever it WAS, what it is now is a excuse for endless debate and demonstrations, or a thing used to bully a certain group of people, depending on who you ask. I would say I’m sick of it, but frankly, I am bored to death and gleefully reviving the argument in JUNE, so clearly I’m not the right person to judge lmao.