Zwarte Piet
Many people understand offensive costumes during Halloween but many do not know that overseas there has been a huge controversy about Zwarte Piet also known as Black Peter. The controversy is being to heat up as Christmas is rolling around. Zwarte Piet is a character from a book, who is Sinterklaas’ (Saint Nicholas) partner. The controversy is very big in the Netherlands because some believe it is a part of the Christmas tradition. The problem that people have with this fictional character is that he is suppose to be a helper of Saint Nicholas but his appearance and behavior is offensive. Black Pete is normally played by a white man who put on blackface, and red lipstick with a wig. The character is suppose to jump around and entertain the children be behaving childlike and similar to the behavior of a fool. Zwarte Piet is seen as a servant to Sinterklaas whose main purpose is for entertainment and to had out candy to children.
There have been many protests and arrests over the argument of if Zwarte Piet is racist or not. In the Netherlands, there are huge celebration where multiple people dress up as Saint Nicholas and Black Peter. People have grown up around these fictional characters and feel as though the people who want to get rid of the character are trying to take away apart of there culture. This tradition of people dressing up in blackface is similar to when Americans would dress up in blackface and make a joke out of African Americans. Whenever there are people painting their faces to look like another race there is also racism.
This tradition is also very dangerous because children are being exposed to this sort of racism. Many people bring their children to these events that have people in blackface behaving childlike. This is also very harmful to children because then they grow up believing that this tradition is fine and that it is a part of their upbringing. It also perpetuates long time stereotypes that black people are not to be taken seriously and they are for entertainment and are servants.
The character Zwarte Piet should no longer exist because it offends multiple people and because the blackface is a very negative and offensive part of history from all over the world. The people who are in the Netherlands should get rid of the character that makes fun of black people.
http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/61376/black-pete-harmless-tradition-or-racist-throwback
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/19/black-pete-netherlands-dutch-stereotypes-black-people-blacked-up-christmas
http://news.yahoo.com/dutch-arrest-60-black-pete-protesters-annual-procession-160025941.html
I really enjoyed reading this because I never heard of this before. I agree with you. Those who are in the Netherlands, may not understand why it offends people, however, since they know it does, then they should be respectful and stop. I understand that this may have been a tradition for a while, but sometimes, traditions and past, aren't meant to stay in the past. People are constantly using the excuse of "well it is for our entertainment. We aren't TRYING to offend. This is what we grew up with." These are only excuses. Change is good and I think it should happen. Explicit racism was past, and part tradition for whites, however, that changed. Just as that became the past, (somewhat) I feel like this tradition needs to fade away as well. If they aren't willing to completely let go maybe they can alter the character a little so he doesn't act childlike or look silly. Instead, he look professional, shows an aura of intelligence so those who dress like him will at least represent that.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting. Like Shekira mentioned I've never heard of this before. People don't usually understand that things they consider to be "okay" and not racist is in fact racist and unacceptable.
ReplyDeletegreat work
Wow, this was super interesting to read about. I also had never heard of this tradition or character, and it's really cool to be able to look at another debate between tradition and racism that needs to be remedied. Just as with the debate on the Redskins name, I think that people need to think about this tradition and ask was it originally meant for good? And also, if this practice were a new thing made today, how would people react? It's also very scary to think that these racist acts are done with and around children, perpetuating the racism and making it an unbroken circle, repeating over and over again across generations. Nice work and a very interesting topic! Good find!
ReplyDeleteThese kinds of traditions are adapted for years, so people turned to be less awareness to the racism. Since children learned about it in a young age, they will seldom feel appropriate in the rest of their lives. Pretending to be other races is offensive, and it represents the priority of some race groups in the society. Reducing the old wrong tradition is always helpful to improve the race equality in the country.
ReplyDelete