Is this racist?

[Anonymous]

Just curious what people think here of black pete, the St Nick companion in the Netherlands.

It's interesting to me that a historically white country so shamelessly uses a black face character, but not sure if American morals necessary translate to other countries directly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious what people think here of black pete, the St Nick companion in the Netherlands.

It's interesting to me that a historically white country so shamelessly uses a black face character, but not sure if American morals necessary translate to other countries directly.

They dont.

[Anonymous]

That is TERRIFYING!

[Anonymous]

I have never heard of this before, but that is strange!!

[Anonymous]

Yes well "don't be racist" is not an American moral, it's a universal moral. It's totally racist - and I realize it's a tradition, but I don't think that excuses it.

[Anonymous]

Reminds me of LoG:

[Anonymous]

Of course it's racist.

[Anonymous]

It's a tradition based on racist portrayals Some Dutch are now claiming Black Pete was a chimney sweep, but clearly the clown clothes he wears disproves that bit of revisionism. The character is portrayed exactly as Victorian-era colonialists portrayed black people for laughs.

The Dutch grew up with this character and just can't understand how others see it as racist. Sound familiar, Dan Snyder?

[takoma]

Seems kind of similar to the "Redskins" controversy about how to handle a tradition that some cling to with no adverse racial intent, and others view as a relic of an ugly old stereotype.

[Anonymous]

http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~pinsky/texts/Six%20to%20Eight%20Black%20Men.pdf

David Sedaris did a hilarious riff on this.

[Anonymous]

The outfits are a little evocative of our own monkey grinder outfits from the same era.

[Anonymous]

Tarantino pushed the same buttons in Django Unchained.





Maybe Django (the D is silent) needs to pay a visit to the Netherlands in his next movie.

[Anonymous]

Those Dutch know how to live it up! Ain't no party like a hollandaise party!

[Anonymous]

takoma wrote:Seems kind of similar to the "Redskins" controversy about how to handle a tradition that some cling to with no adverse racial intent, and others view as a relic of an ugly old stereotype.

Clearly dressing up in black-face and a velveteen monkey suit is an "homage" to the strength and pride of the African people.

[Anonymous]

Maybe we just need to toke up some and lose the anger.