Let's try this one - Is Holland's Zwarte Piet racist?

[Tropicana]

How is this relevant? There was criticism when Zwarte Piet appeared at a Christmas celebration in Toronto last week. More about that later.




Visitors to the Netherlands in winter are often surprised to see the Dutch version of St. Nicholas’s helpers have their faces painted black, wear Afro wigs and have thick red lips — in short, a racist caricature of a black person.
Most Dutch are devoted to the holiday tradition of Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) and insist he’s a harmless fictional figure who doesn’t represent any race. But a growing number are questioning whether he should be given a makeover or banished, seeing him as a blight on the country’s image as a bulwark of tolerance.
“There is more opposition to Zwarte Piet than you might think,” says Jessica Silversmith, director of the regional Anti-Discrimination Bureau for Amsterdam.

She said historically her office received only one or two complaints a year, but the number jumped to more than 100 last year.
“It’s not only Antilleans or Surinamers who are complaining,” she said, referring to people descended from the former Dutch colonies that once traded in slavery. “It’s all kinds of Dutch people.”
There are various versions of the history of St. Nicholas (Sinterklaas in Dutch) and Zwarte Piet, who made his debut as an African servant in an 1850 book.
The debate comes after a decade in which the Dutch have rolled back many aspects of their famed tolerance policies and in which anti-immigrant sentiment has risen sharply.

Zwarte Piet is frequently defended as part of Dutch cultural heritage, and those who don’t like it are often bluntly invited to leave the country. Many Dutch say Pete’s black face derives from the soot he picked up climbing down chimneys to deliver presents — although that hardly explains the frizzy hair and big lips.
A sea change may have occurred during last year’s festivities, when four men were arrested for wearing T-shirts bearing the slogan “Zwarte Piet is Racism” outside a store during an appearance of St. Nicholas. They were charged with protesting without a permit.
Police threw one, Quinsy Gario, to the ground, and kneed him in the back repeatedly as they dragged him away, though he offered no resistance. A video of the incident was placed on YouTube, and the slogan began trending.

The county’s most widely read news blog, “GeenStijl” launched a blistering campaign against Black Pete, surprising because GeenStijl prides itself on being tasteless and politically incorrect, and had mocked Mr. Gario after the 2011 incident.
“Zwarte Piet is nothing more than a repulsive parody of a slave, fine-tuned to indoctrinate schoolchildren into the finer points of racism,” it wrote in its first posting in a series.
“The sooner we get rid of Zwarte Piet, the sooner we won’t look like idiots to the rest of the world.”
While the author, who uses the pen name Johnny Quid, uses the satirical blog also to skewer Black Pete opponents, he has deeply antagonized the blog’s mostly conservative-leaning reader base.
Despite the growing anti-Pete movement, the tradition finds a strong bedrock of support in mainstream Dutch society.

[Tropicana]

Should Black Pete still be part of Dutch Christmas?


It’s a treasured Dutch family tradition, from Amsterdam to Toronto. The arrival of Sinterklaas in a bishop’s red robes (the original Santa Claus), accompanied by his helper Zwarte Piet, otherwise known as “Black Pete.”

But the centuries-old custom of playing Black Pete in blackface with bright red lips and a curly black wig remains controversial, even if he’s rarely portrayed like that in Toronto.

At Sinterklaas events held in public — like the one Wednesday at the Distillery District — Black Pete has evolved into a cheeky pageboy in a black wig, his face smudged with soot as he slides down chimneys to deliver gifts.

blackpete.jpg
It’s only at private events — there was one at the Bata Shoe Museum last weekend — that Black Pete still cavorts in full blackface.



“We have to respect other people’s feelings,” says Martin van Denzen, the president of Toronto’s Dutch-Canadian Association who frequently plays Sinterklaas. “Do we have to put the wig on? No, but it’s part of the getup.”

“When we have a St. Nicolas party for our own community, we have Black Peters. No two ways about it … the kids expect it,” he says. “And for the older people, you should see their faces, the memories it brings back.”

Despite the beloved nature of Sinterklaas, callse to leave Black Pete in the past are getting louder, even in the Netherlands.

As they should be, says Rosemary Sadlier, president of the Ontario Black History Society.

“He’s not a character who is on par with Santa Claus. He is lesser. He’s not a positive symbol at all,” says Sadlier. “It’s about an obtuse and obscene portrayal of Africans … It turns them into caricatures.

“I think we have to look at it as a vestige of a time long past and it needs to end.”

As Dutch tradition has it, St. Nicolas — or Sinterklaas — arrives on a steamer from Spain accompanied by an entourage of Moorish helpers known as Black Petes. On the night of Dec. 5, he rides across the rooftops on a white horse and the Petes slide down chimneys delivering presents to children who’ve been good.

Over the centuries Black Pete has gone through a few makeovers. He was once a bogeyman figure said to kidnap naughty children and take them back to Spain.

During the years of Dutch involvement in the slave trade and colonialism, he became portrayed as a clumsy servant or slave, often speaking with an accent.
He once used to hold a rod and threaten to beat children, says Tom Bijvoet, the B.C.-based editor of magazine Dutch. As corporal punishment became unacceptable the rod disappeared, and Pete became known as a fun-loving, mischievous character.

So why does the black makeup persist despite its association with minstrel traditions?

“The blackface tradition did not exist in the Netherlands as minstrel shows,” says Bijvoet. “Both traditions use black makeup but they have completely separate developments with completely different meanings.”

Still, for many critics, the historical context makes Black Pete difficult to stomach.

Within the Netherlands too, complaints are stacking up, says Jessica Silversmith, director of the regional Anti-Discrimination Bureau for Amsterdam.
“The Sinterklaas celebration once began without Zwarte Piet,” Amsterdam city councillor Andree van Es told newspaper Het Parool this week. “It’s time it continues without Zwarte Piet.”

Van Denzen says most Torontonians are understanding once the origins of the tradition are explained. He is adamant that no one would ever dress up as Black Pete outside a Sinterklaas celebration.

“That’s totally unacceptable,” he says. “If you do this at any other time of the year, then you’re asking for trouble.”

He is also certain that Black Pete will continue to be part of the Dutch Christmas celebrations for a long time — though perhaps in a more socially acceptable form.

“Traditions have to change to what society is all about,” says Wendy Limbertie, the executive director of the Community Folk Art Council of Toronto, who is also of Dutch origin.

Wednesday’s Sinterklaas appearance on Wednesday was deliberately organized without Black Pete in blackface.

“It’s about time they address it,” Limbertie says. “Just because it was a tradition in 1979 that doesn’t mean it has to be tradition in 2012.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1298943--should-black-pete-still-be-part-of-dutch-christmas

[Tropicana]

On the one hand it's cool that one of Santa's helpers is Black. In a country that had few Black people, one can understand why blackface and a wig were used hundreds of years ago. Today, there is no excuse for this. If Santa's helper is Black, then a Black person should portray him.

It's kind of shocking that this is happening in Toronto in 2012.

[blugiant]

On the one hand it's cool that one of Santa's helpers is Black. In a country that had few Black people, one can understand why blackface and a wig were used hundreds of years ago. Today, there is no excuse for this. If Santa's helper is Black, then a Black person should portray him. It's kind of shocking that this is happening in Toronto in 2012.

yuh reallee askinn iff blakk pete is racist? usinn a blakk face fe scare oyinbo yuths ann yuh askinn iff itt racist. santa's helpers doan yuh meen santa slaves. y wood yuh waan a blakk parsan fe play racist stereotype designed fe scare oyinbo yuths fe oyinbo amusement

[Tropicana]

It depends on the intent. If the intent is that Santa has helpers of many races, that is one thing...and I would say it is positive.Santa's helpers are not slaves...that has NEVER been part of they mythology. I can understand at a time when there were no or few Black people in Holland having someone dress up as Zwarte Piet. Clearly, things have changed and it is totally inappropriate when there are many Black people in Holland to have someone dress up like a Black person. If the intent is that Zwarte Piet is Black, a Black person should portray him.

I have never even been to Holland so I don't know the origin of Zwarte Piet. It would be interesting to know. Definitely there are a lot of complaints about this in Holland, 100 this season. So why is Toronto following this tradition?

[Tropicana]

Zwarte Piet, directly translated from Dutch means “Black Pete”. Although his exact function and portrayal is highly and tensely debated, he accompanies Sinterklass (Dutch Santa, sort of. Their Santa is actually called Kertsman, or Christmas-man) during a Christmas-like tradition in the Netherlands and gives out gifts to kids. So why all the tension? Well, Black Pete is, how do we put this?…Black (at least visually). Every year, in early December, Sinterklass is rumored to roll in from Spain on a steamship (watch out P. Diddy) with his sidekick Black Pete, a white guy done up in black face paint, bright red lipstick, wearing gold bling and minstrel helper clothing.
One reason celebrators give for Black Pete’s existence is that Sinter is too old to deliver gifts so he got a side kick, Black Pete, to do it for him. Pete tends to go through the chimney to deliver these gifts, gets covered in soot and that’s why he’s black. Strange that American Santa does the same thing but still pops out white.....

At the other end of the spectrum, Black Pete is black because he is a Moorish slave, not just an innocent, dirty-faced helper. This perspective comes from the imposition of cross-cultural values on something that superficially resembles a similar form of discrimination. This end of the debate is most intensely argued by Americans. For Americans, Black Pete hits a nerve that brings back the days of Black Face Minstrels where white actors would perform the black character roles in black face paint, exaggerated pink lips and raggedy clothing. The actors would further proliferate racist stereotypes by portraying the black characters as dumb, funny slaves or ex-slaves. This went on for 100 years in America! Zwarte Piet is a reminder of days white Americans would rather forget. Although many celebrators cherish Pete as a traditional character of the holidays, Americans are appalled by the seemingly blatant racism that Pete represents.
Some proposed solutions to the problem:

• Felix De Rooy of NRC Handelsblad suggested replacing Black Pete with a smurf-like character (yeah Felix, get all the blue people fired up).
• Get rid of Zwarte Piet altogether and let Sinterkalss lug the presents around all by himself. This creates another issue as the Dutch feel getting rid of Zwarte Piet puts Sinterklass on the chopping block for elimination.

• What about replacing Sinterklass with Santa and Zwarte Piet with elves? Sounds great right? If everyone could just celebrate Christmas the way Americans do the world would be a better place. Oh wait, aren’t elves midgets? Why hasn’t the little people community had a **** fit about this yet?

So is Pete a children’s tale or a racist figure? We promise no definitive answer exists. We’re not saying this tradition is not objectifying black people in a racist way and it is understandable that Americans have the strongest feelings on the topic because Zwarte Piet is visually too close to what our racist roots look like. But Americans must also realize that our own history drives us to apply what we know about our own racist past on traditions that may not have anything in common but black face paint. Although it may be racist in some way, we cannot just superimpose our own racist history atop another country’s tradition and say it’s the same. Either way, we hope a happy medium exists that doesn’t involve smurfs, midgets or complete Americanization of world traditions.

Not including the link as the title included profanity.

[Tropicana]

Okay another perspective:

Zwarte Piet: Opposition Grows To 'Racist Black Pete' Dutch Christmas Tradition

Debate over whether a traditional Dutch Christmas character is a harmless festive figure or an oppressive racist incarnation has been reignited in the Netherlands as the festive season approaches.
St Nicholas Day is celebrated in the Netherlands on 6 December, not only with the arrival of Santa Claus (Sinterklaas), but with his pageboy helper 'Zwarte Piet' or Black Pete.
Together with Sinterklaas, Zwarte Piet helps deliver Christmas gifts and sweets to those children who have been "good." If you've been bad, the legend says that Black Pete will kidnap you in his sack and take you back to Spain.

The traditional costume for Zwarte Piet involves black make up, red lipstick, an afro wig and Tudor ruff. He also wears a ring in his ear.
With his 'blackface', Moorish costume and devious entertaining skills, he resembles all the negative representations of black people in the 20th century including minstrels and golliwogs.
Mainstream Dutch opinion does not condemn Zwarte Piet in his subservient role to white jolly St Nick, or appear to recognise how the issue might be perceived internationally, given the historical links with Dutch empire expansion and the slave trade.

Rebel voices in the country who label Black Pete as racist have been dismissed by the argument that Zwarte Pieten are black because they have soot on their faces from going down chimneys delivering presents, reported AP.
Others are told Zwarte Piet is a harmless children's holiday character and to connect him with minstrel or blackface traditions merely reflects on the inherent (and adult-enforced) racism of the critic, according to one Dutch blogger.
However criticism is growing toward Zwarte Pete both in the Netherlands and internationally.
Mothers have complained, pointing to the fact that their small children are bullied at school and come home crying, saying they have been called Zwarte Piet.

Last year the debate over Zwarte Piet became polarised after a protester complaining about racism was rough handled by police officers.
Performance artist Quinsy Gario wore a T-shirt saying Zwarte Piet is racist after his mother came home "trembling with rage" because she was called Zwarte Piet at work.
Three police officers pinned him to the ground after he and kneed him in the back. They also pepper-sprayed him and he spent six hours in a cell. However he was not prosecuted after the incident made headlines around the Netherlands.

Dutch politician Andrée Christine van Es, executive of the city of Amsterdam for GreenLeft, spoke out against the tradition this year, saying: "It started out without Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet is the time to go through with it without Black Pete."
Jessica Silversmith, director of the regional Anti-Discrimination Bureau for Amsterdam told the Associated Press opposition towards the Zwarte Piet tradition is growing:
"It’s not only Antilleans or Surinamers who are complaining," she said, referring to people from former Dutch colonies involved in the slave trade. "It’s all kinds of Dutch people."
Commentator Greg Shapiro expressed his own fears in the Netherlands news siteDutch News that he is making his child racist after his six-year-old referred to a DHL delivery man as Zwarte Pete making him feel ashamed.

ven the traditionally right wing Dutch news website GeenStijl reports that:
"Zwarte Piet is nothing more than a repulsive parody of a slave, fine-tuned to indoctrinate schoolchildren into the finer points of racism … The sooner we get rid of Zwarte Piet, the sooner we won’t look like idiots to the rest of the world," according to AP.
Fresh examples of the racism generated by Zwarte Piet was seen this year after Dutch Police dressed as the character to go "undercover" during holiday parties. The police had to arrest some of the people they encountered because of the discriminatory comments.
"You would not want to know all the things which are shouted at Piets," a spokesman for Rotterdam Police force told local journalists, reported The Expatica.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/12/06/zwarte-piet-black-pete-christmas-dutch-netherlands_n_2249412.html

[Tropicana]

Various viewpoints. Seems the Dutch can't even agree on who Zwarte Piet is, how the tradition got started or its intent.

Zwarte Piet Institutionalized Racism in the Netherlands?

The guy with the storybook published in 1850 when slavery was still legal in Holland seems to have the real lowdown on this. His story says Sinterklaas put an ad in the paper and asked for applications for the position. The storybook does indicate that the ads were placed in an African newspaper so clearly, the intent is that Zwarte Piet is Black, not a White person who has gone down the chimney with Santa. Also, the chimney story does not make sense or Sinterklaas would also be covered it soot.

The drawings in the storybook are definitely racist caricatures.

[Tropicana]

Well based on the evidence...this does seem to be a tradition with racist roots.

[Tropicana]

[Tropicana]

Thanks for this blu:


An important point also mentioned on the videos I shared:

Reason 3: Zwarte Pieten are black because they go down the chimney and they are black from the soot.

Answer: Unless they have a magical fabric that doesn’t get dirty, this doesn’t prove why his face and hands are evenly toned with black makeup or why his clothes are not dirty. Also, it doesn’t explain how he magically gets a Afro and outrageous red lips if he is just sliding down the chimney

The first mention of Zwarte Piet comes in 1850 when Jan Schenkman decides to add his own spin to the story and changes the devil to Zwarte Piet, the enslaved Moor from Morocco. His book, Sint Nicolaas en Zijn Knecht (Saint Nicholas and his Servant) is what is used for the modern-day celebrations of Sinterklaas. This is also where you start to see the present-day representations of what Zwarte Piet looks like.

This book said that SinterKlass went to N_______ land and put an ad in the newspaper so that all the little N_________s could apply for jobs as his helper. This cinched it for me. Definitely racist.

[Tropicana]

Since we are discussing racism in Europe, let me revive this one. It's more of a Christmas discussion but the Dutch....including Blacks in Holland..... are divided on whether or not this tradition is racist. This has been imported to Canada and the Distillery District in Toronto now has this as part of its annual Christmas celebration. Not sure why as the families that started the Gooderham and Worts Distillery that played a pivotal role in the history of Toronto was not from Holland. The families were from England

[jah_yout]

On the one hand it's cool that one of Santa's helpers is Black. In a country that had few Black people, one can understand why blackface and a wig were used hundreds of years ago. Today, there is no excuse for this. If Santa's helper is Black, then a Black person should portray him.

It's kind of shocking that this is happening in Toronto in 2012.

i have to look it up but i believe the true origins involves the moors who scattered throughout europe after the spanish drove them out of spain & the iberian peninsula...you have black men turning up in various places in europe during the aftermath...i think it may not have started out as being 'racist' but the dutch people probably over time just evolved the costumes based on the racism that swept over the world since the trans-atlantic african slave trade... i will post some info on this when i put it together

[Tropicana]

Thanks jah_yout. In one of the videos, a Black man from Holland read and translated from an old Dutch storybook that Sinterklaas posted an ad in a newspaper in EDITland and all the little EDITS sent in applications for the position and he hired Zwat Piet. It is in the video on the previous page called:

- Zwarte Piet Institutionalized Racism in the Netherlands?

Sounds quite shocking to me.

One Black man from Holland told me that there are bigger fish to fry than Zwat Piet and this is the least of his worries in preparing his children for dealing with the realities of racism. Can't recall if he told me this verbally or in an email but if it was email, I will share what he said......

Okay this is what he said via e-mail and in person when we talked about it a few months later he spoke of having bigger fish to fry in order to prepare his children to deal with racism. We didn't go any deeper than this as we were partying but the next time I see him, I am going to suggest we have a coffee away from the rest of the group so that we can dig deeper.

A typical Dutch tradition. There's a lot said about it here in The Netherlands, and for me personally it's no problem. As soon as my kids were old enough I've discussed it with them telling about equality and independence. As far as I can see kids aren't even aware of the racial controversion and not influenced by it until told so.
So for me it was rather an opportunity to raise the awareness about racism...it's more about that than a negative racial trend..

And for the kids? It all about the presents, just like Santa.... and there comes greed, something I'm more concerned about...

A white guy from Holland raised the issue of racism with me before I raised it. He said he was embarrassed by the history of his people in the Antilles, apologized and said please don't think that everyone in Holland is racist. He said Dutch men had no problem dating Black women and actually offered to set me up with one of his friends. (He isn't much older than my son.)

I raised the issue of Zwat Piet with him a few months ago and he said he felt Zwat Piet was an embarrassment.

[My Looh]

I have moved to a small community that have MANY Dutch and i have made a few Dutch friends while here. Like you say, they are split in their thinking. Some carry on the tradition because of traditions sake and some have removed Zwarte Piet from their holiday celebrations because they do acknowledge the racism aspect. The older the person the more likely they are to want to hold onto that tradition IMHO.