


Is this racist? This is part of the Sint Nikolaas en Zwarte Piet celebration in the Netherlands. It's a nationwide celebration where Dutch people paint their faces black, put red lipstick on their lips (mimicking thick lips), start talking with an accent and act dumber than their white master Sint Nikolaas. There has been some small controversy over this in recent years, but the majority of the hundreds of thousand of blacks in the Netherlands don't protest it and often participate in it.
Being from a non-Dutch ethnic background in what was previously an ethnically homogeneous Dutch society, I do not particapate in this celebration and simply do not like it, but who am I to force my interpretation on others when the potential victims themselves don't see this as an expression of racism?
This would be totally unacceptable in the USA. African-Americans would be horrified. Just pointing out that CONTEXT and INTERPRETATION are very important in these issues. People should stop being self-righteous in their high-flying claims about racism and perhaps spend some more time on fighting real hate.
By the way, every year when Sint Nikolaas and the "Black Petes " come with their steam boat in the ports of Dutch cities, it is said that they come from Spain.




















