Zwarte Piet: Santa’s Blackface Little Helper
Saw this over at Dallas Penn this morning and I literally spit out my tea. Meet Black Pete or Zwarte Piet, legendary children’s folklore character in the Netherlands.
Everyone, please make sure I never have to visit that country in early December. I just might go to jail for bopping folk. It’s funny how what is considered harmless tradition in one country, is a prime example of what can land you on Kiana’s shit list in another.
Depending on who’s telling the story, Black Pete is Sinterklaas’ (Dutch for Saint Nicholas) little helper, captured devil, slave, or the guy that landed the Dutch on Kiana’s shit list. According to legend, he went around “helping” Santa ship BeBe’s kids to Spain. Dallas has a tendency to turn the grimiest of situations into comedy so here’s his version of the legend of Zwarte Piet:
Zwarte Piet a/k/a Black Pete is the Black dude that used to roll thick with this old cat named Sinter Klaas and during Festivus would be kidnapping all the bad boys and bad girls (no Diddy and Cassie) and selling them off as chattel [...]
This fairytale is partly how the Dutch maintained their hegemony on supremacy by packaging racism and terrorism to little children. Imagine how some of these same Dutch kids feel the first time they see a real live Black person?
Can you blame these Dutch niggas for trying to kill Blacks when they get older? Who the hell wants to be stuffed in a duffle bag on some Brothers Grimm shit and cooked and eaten?
The Black boogeyman is supremacy’s perpetual form of terrorism and when you burn this image into a child’s brain it will remain with them forever.
You would think since it’s almost 2009 the Dutch would have received the blackface-not-so-cool memo but, alas, everyone loves Santa’s little helpers. Now I understand why little people get so offended around this time of year. Peep more Black Pete photos after the break.
If this don't look like an imitation of a slave feeding mastah's kid, I don't know what else will
Tags: Black Pete, Blackface, Dallas Penn, Netherlands, Zwarte Piet
December 24th, 2008 at 14:40
Aww shit
December 24th, 2008 at 22:18
I love that in the last picture they felt that the two children were already blackfaced enough and did not require make-up.
December 25th, 2008 at 00:58
yeah…i don’t think black face has the same negative connotations in other countries. I was in France during the world cup a few years ao and folks would be in blackface and afros wearing the jersey of their favorite French-African player like it was no big deal. But i def feel the little people’s pain now too.
November 6th, 2009 at 01:37
I am an American living in The Netherlands and let me tell you this Zwarte Peter thing blew my mind when I first saw it. Now after 4 years of living here…it still offends me. The Dutch know it is racist and thus why they deny it so much. In fact most of western Europe has a race problem but they are in way behind compared to the USA when it comes to race. In fact they are nationalist too they hate eachother but all the ethnic whites feel superior to other races… Here in The Netherlands they even use the term Black and White Schools! Segregations allowed but ask any Dutch person if they are racist and they always reply “no”.
November 12th, 2009 at 03:49
As an all dutch and white person I can understand this might seem a strange tradition to people who didn’t grow up with it. But let me tell you this: for everyone who did grow up with it, it’s a great tradition where there is candy and present and poetry. Everyone enjoys it and they love Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet. Zwarte Piet is not that black guy, he is the one that gives you candy, he is the one that goes down your chimney and brings you presents and that is the reason he is black. No wonder if you go down chimneys so often.
There are many jokes in this tradition which makes it incredibly exciting for the little children. Every year the boat which has sinterklaas and the zwarte pieten on it, gets lost or might be too late because of some problem. The Piet who has to show the way is always lost. And many more of these jokes.
And yes, parents say to their children: ‘if you don’t listen you get no presents, or Zwarte Piet will take you in his bag to Spain’. But don’t parents say somewhat the same about Santa Claus? And his helpers are little people, isn’t that offending to those who are little in real life?
If you really want to know what this tradition is like and how children react to it, you should watch the arrival of Sinterklaas in the Netherlands. Here I have a website where you can watch the arrival from previous years: http://betagids.omroep.nl/uitzending/27567512/intocht-sinterklaas-2009/
Enjoy the excitment on those small faces and see how welcome these black dudes are!!
December 2nd, 2009 at 08:56
hi, im dutch and sorry to dissapoint you all..but zwarte piet isnt black!!…the tradition is..sinterklaas (brought to the usa when the dutch came there years ago and transformed into santaclause) has helpers…bad kids who didnt behave wudnt find a present in their shoe on the 5th of december but a bag of salt and a roe..if they were really naughty sinterklaas wud bring them with him to spain..zwarte pieten are chimney cleaners! they are not black in race!, they clean chimneys they crawl thru chimneys to get the presents in the kids shoes.again…they are not black it has nothing to do with the black race…we like to dress up as zwarte piet and have a lot of fun when its time for sinterklaas, kids are happy we are happy, zwarte piet makes ppl smile..so again and i hope this time you people will comprehend..ZWARTE PIET IS NOT BLACK! ( in fact thnx to all this moaning about zwarte piet his make up cant be traditionally black anymore (chimneys, charcoal=black) but it has to be brown wich make them look more like a negro! so gah!!!!!
December 6th, 2009 at 07:49
Wooooow…I am floored. @Neb…if Zwarte Piet isn’t black, then why does he wear an afro wig?? Does the soot from the chimney also make everyones hair an afro?? This is racism at is finest. You got people on here saying that Zwarte Piet isn’t black, that the Dutch didn’t mean to be offensive because black face red mouth and afro wig doesn’t mean the same thing in other countries…does the iPod mean the same thing there? What about the Big Mac? Oh I see…THOSE things are universal, but black face racism is not?? Please!! By saying this we are saying that other countries are incapable of understanding the offense in this. So…they are on a special education comprehension level? We make excuses for things there is no excuse for. This is blatant and traditionally was blatant. The Dutch were never forced to change it and that’s why it goes on. I’m sure the change to the make up laws were changed in that manner purposely…use your brain for thinking…that’a what it’s there for.