Who is zwart piet

Collecting candy from the Black Petes is a rite of Dutch childhood, but one from which many Black children feel excluded. Whenever she hears the jokey music which accompanies the Black Petes, she steers Yano in another direction. Since he was small, she has kept him out of school on the day the Black Petes visit in early December. But this year, for the first time, Yano will be attending his classes on Dec.

After more than a decade of work by local anti-racism activists, and a summer during which the Black Lives Matter movement in the U. His mother, who had long lobbied for its removal, says the killing of George Floyd in the U. Afriyie learned about the prejudices in the Dutch system early. Aged 11, he moved to The Netherlands from Ghana, and was placed in a technical high school for less academically gifted children after taking a standard test which did not take into account his school record in Ghana nor the fact he had only been speaking Dutch for a few months.

When he graduated, he started the Soul Rebel Movement, aimed at empowering Black communities. It was meant to be global, but as Afriyie spent time speaking with Dutch children from minority backgrounds, he realized there were plenty of problems at home. Yet they say they are not Dutch. And the only thing different about them is the color of their skin. Given the Dutch history of colonialism in Asia, Africa and the Americas, and a relatively liberal labor migration policy, around a quarter of the Dutch population of 17 million were born abroad or have at least one parent born abroad.

Around , people are of African descent. The United Nations special rapporteur on racism, , E. The Dutch debate over Black Pete finds echoes in the U. To his defenders, Black Pete is harmless fun, and efforts to get rid of him are part of a broader effort to wipe out Dutch history, culture and tradition.

They see the blackface character as a racist and harmful relic from the past. Blackface was a device to mock and dehumanize black people , not only in the US but also throughout Europe.

They argue that continuing to reinforce negative racial stereotypes creates an unconscious bias in society, keeping people of colour at a disadvantage. And even beyond the aim for broad societal change, Zwarte Piet opponents want an end to the everyday racism that the character encourages.

Some have also encountered more aggression and other racial slurs, particularly around Sinterklaas. Racism is thought to be exclusive to more overt racial aggressions. Everyday bias and systemic racism are still relatively foreign ideas in the Netherlands.

Zwarte Piet has had many big moments in the media over the past century or so. This timeline covers some of the most influential:. Over the last several years, Zwarte Piet has had too many spotlight moments for this humble timeline. In , the action group Kick Out Zwarte Piet organised protests that made big waves in 17 Dutch cities. Because of all of the commotion in recent years, several cities have banned the Sinterklaas entry altogether, while others will allow only it with modified Pieten.

In , coronavirus took care of cancelling them all. An ever-growing number of stores in the Netherlands have stopped selling merchandise with the Zwarte Piet image. On social media, Facebook and Instagram have also banned images of Zwarte Piet from their platforms. Even Amazon and Google have recently taken a stand. But most notably this year, the Black Lives Matter protests and international antiracism movement sparked by the murder of George Floyd, called attention to systemic racism in the Netherlands.

Now, the voices standing up to racism are louder than ever, and conversations about it are becoming more normalised. But the voices of white supremacy are also increasing. Some anti-Piet activists have been the targets of hate crimes, threats, and violence.

This new focus on race sparked Prime Minister Mark Rutte to acknowledge in for the first time that there is institutional racism in the country. He also said that he had changed his opinion of Zwarte Piet after realising that children were feeling discriminated against during the holiday festivities. This was particularly big news because, in the past, even Mark Rutte has worn blackface in Sinterklaas celebrations.

So have many of the lovely, good-hearted Dutch people you may know. This is perhaps why the shift toward seeing the character as a racist symbol has been met with such resistance — how could this whole culture that is widely thought to stand for tolerance and inclusion be racist? It was slow and steady at first, and then exponential over the past year. More and more, the Dutch are opening up to the idea of eliminating or modifying the character to be more sensitive to racial stereotyping.

To find some middle ground, some municipalities have suggested different colours of Pieten as an alternative to the blackface character. All kids are scarred shit when they meet Sinterklaas, for he will make the final judgement.. Will he give them a present or let Pete take him to Spain. He arrives per boat called present not slave boat! Black, white, grey, blue all children love the tradition of Sinterklaas and for them the only discussion is of who will get the best and most presents.

The rumor goes that the author has started a second discussion and filed an lawsuit in behalf of little people al over te world Dutch person here and very proud of it! And it's because of that pride that I strongly believe that Zwarte Piet needs to go. We can't claim to be a proud and liberal nation and support racism in the same breath. As a white woman I would never assume to know what it's like to be of a different race and all I can do is trust the word of those that do know.

And their message is clear: Zwarte Piet is racist. And that's simple unacceptable. I believe that Zwarte Piet will disappear and that it won't be too long until we look back at this tradition in shame. And all political, social and historical issues aside, if it makes just one child feel bad, it's not worth it.

One must remember that even though the Dutch were in involved in the slave trade, they have a very different history aside from The United States, and slavery was never part of their legacy like it was in in the U. THis alsso applies to Britain.

We, as Americans from the United States, have no right to tell the Dutch and British what is and what is not politically correct in the realm of race. These other countries have been around alot longer and have a leg up on us.

Calling a whole nation racist and trying to to say they are a nation of slave traders will not give you the result you want. I'm Belgian and we have the same tradition. The first time a saw a black person in my life, I was about the age of 10, and I did not relate him to Piet. So, before jumping into conclusions from behind american glasses: it's america that had slaves we never had slaves in our countries, but we did in our colonies , and it's america that has to fix their race problems.

We already have traded the word "neger" for "black", only because of the bad annotation it has in the english language due to the american slaves ; "neger" was a neutral and correct word in the dutch language. If Piet has to go, than Thanksgiving surely also has to go : it's a national celebration of the start of the genocide against native americans. And since it's Lincoln that abolished slavery, the "founding fathers" and first presidents should be refered to as slave traders in your history books It's easy to disrupt traditions and blame the past.

Let's call this discussion as it should be called : a waste of time over nothing, for people who have nothing better to do like me, at this moment :. Perhaps a proper understanding of epistemology might benefit your understanding of Zwarte Piet. Is Christmas a pagan ritual? It used to be. Is a swastika by definition anti-Semitic? Not on a temple in India. What makes something racist is it's use, it's intent. The fact you call Zwarte Piet "blackface" shows you miss the point entirely.

Blackface as the term is used in England and the USA is a concept entirely foreign to Dutch culture and certainly doesn't apply to Zwarte Piet. Just because a face is blackened doesn't mean that the concept and the historical background, or should I say baggage, are similar.

Talking about background, or horizon to speak with Gadamer, I can understand that from your perspective Zwarte Piet appears racist. That does not however mean that it is. I can understand some people are offended, perhaps in part because they are looking for something to be offended about. To answer in a similar fashion as Christopher Hitchens: So what? If you expect to go through life without ever being offended, expect to be disappointed. Though I have no doubt traditions change, a tradition such as this will change from the bottom up.

Trying to force people to give up Zwarte Piet will probably be counterproductive. The slave trade was mentioned. Of course not a proud moment in Dutch history, it's significance on Dutch society must not be overestimated.

The numbers just don't add up, the first WIC went bankrupt, the second wasn't that profitable either. The slave trade as it was is not linked to Zwarte Piet, Zwarte Piet as he is known now is a black character with medieval roots that was made to look friendlier, more human. No doubt the people who did that in the 19th century had never met a black men or woman in their life and attributed qualities to Zwarte Piet you would find a caricature or even racist today.

In fact you will have found that some of those caricature aspects of Zwarte Piet are vanishing, huge red lips and large earrings. The uniform was typical of livery at the time.

No African connections there…. What I find shocking is that apparently I should be taught shame. Well excuse me, I will not. Good opening of an article? How would Americans feel if i would start an article to discribe your country as "stinking.

This article is racial profiling. Much information is not even near correct, this article is all about disinformation.

I could compare it to the swastika's in India. Long before Hitler this symbol was on earth. You can go to India and scream there too that their temple is racism. Long before there where minstral shows a tradition of painting a face black was there. This is well documenred and in many counties also outside Europe. Hadzji Firoez for example pre-dates islam and christianity.

Ofcourse radical religion want this tradition to die off. The writer should go there too so she can call all the dark people there racist In many other countries in Europe there is a tradition of painting faces black, black because he represents was derived from the devil. In moast counties he has horns and so on. Reminder black is not brown, as in skin color. Black as a colour.

It is bs that the Dutch do not know about slavery nearly all know that there where colonies. I say nearly all because we have people who just arrived here and. Also there was a WW 1 and WW2 so this colonisation did not lead to a rich country. The where big financial problems after those wars. After a "protester" hit a14 year old girl dressed as zwarte piet the situation became more grimm Sinterklaas was shouted at, things thrown.

Many arrest where made later on both sides. As a result of -not- peacefull protesting, this happend. Surinam was an intergral part of the Netherlands, self gouvernig for a long time untill they decided to be an independent country in Just recently the tradition of zwarte Piet was changed there. The population is predominantly dark in skin colour. They could have changed Piet's colour many many decades before remind they had full control before No one was forced them to continue to celebrate Sinterklaas The recent government tried to bann the celebration but it did not work, the people did not want that.

Now this new leader look for the December murders wants money a claim for slavery. Anywhere where i look there is misleading information about this topic, ranging from Wikipedia to many other sites. This convinces people with false arguments. Trembling children because of zwarte Piet bs. Children like this caracter. It is just like your Santa, they like him, he brings gifts.

There has never ever has been a racial lawsuit. This is what the article states. I could not stop laughing, this is absolute nonsense. Don't get rid of Zwarte Piet, get rid of what he personifies. He should be smart and accent-less, not a dumb stumbler, and indispensable to Sinterklaas.

As that is not the case yet, I always told my kids: no that kid is not a Zwarte Piet. Just a very brown dutch kid, who came from a country where the sun always shines. And then they became friends. So the problem is not Zwarte Piet, the problem is with the parents. Follow this character from his introduction in through the 20th century and into the 21st with the growth and intensifying protests that raised increasing questions about black-face and racism.

During this lengthy time, the tradition has evolved from this black servant character being primarily responsible for discipline into a fun-loving, joking sidekick to the more remote Sinterklaas. It is the Piets that do acrobatic stunts and distribute treats. The debate over this character intensified in with the UN Human Rights Commission weighing in on the topic.

Activity increased particularly in Amsterdam, though the general consensus was that folk tradition was not within the purview of government to legislate.

A new protest group formed, Zwarte Piet Niet! Amsterdam moves to Roetpieten or Soot Piets, characters with smudges from coming down chimneys. The Sinterklaasjournaal also introduces change. These changes bring backlash from traditionalists, particularly in the more rural areas.