No more blackface EU parlement

Parliament Debates Ending Holland’s Christmas Blackface Tradition

Since the 1800s, every Christmas, Zwarte Piets (Black Petes)—depicted by white Dutch people in blackface—parade through cities and towns throughout the Netherlands. Last week, the European Parliament debated whether the Zwarte Piet tradition promotes racist stereotypes. Mitchell Esajas, chairman of the New Urban Collective, a network of youth from diverse cultural backgrounds, spoke at the…

Details
zwart als roet still landscape 16 x 9

Video: Our Colonial Hangover, documentary by Sunny Bergman about the Zwarte Piet tradition

Our Colonial Hangover analyzes the debate surrounding the racist component of the Dutch Black Pete character. Although the debate always heats up around the time of the Saint Nicholas celebrations every December, it reached an unprecedented level of ferocity in 2013. Black Pete is the black-faced assistant to that generous friend of children Saint Nicholas.…

Details

Press release – negotiations with the Dutch embassy set the foundation for a racism-free celebration of St. Nicholas in Germany

Representatives of the Initiative of Black People in Germany eV (ISD), Zwarte Piet Niet, Zwarte Piet Kick Out and the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) discussed on Friday, 12 December 2014, the need for the racist caricature ‘Zwarte Piet’ in Nicholas Celebration abolished in Germany. Berlin, 12.13.2014: At the meeting on Friday morning the representatives…

Details