Posted on 11/12/2014 3:36:00 PM PST by Brother Cracker
The Netherlands' highest administrative court on Wednesday refused to wade into the increasingly acrimonious national debate over "Black Pete," the folk character sidekick to the Dutch equivalent of Santa Claus, Sinterklaas.
Critics call Pete — who is often played by white people wearing blackface makeup and frizzy Afro wigs — a racist caricature. Most Dutch people insist he is a harmless fantasy figure.
In Dutch folk tradition, Sinterklaas arrives by steamboat in mid-November and spends a month in the country accompanied by dozens of Black Petes, clown-like figures who leave cookies, chocolate and other treats for children. The celebrations end in a night of gift giving on Dec. 5, and on Dec. 6 in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium that also celebrates the children's tradition.
The Netherlands’ Council of State on Wednesday overturned a lower court's decision that the Amsterdam municipality should not have allowed last year's festive “arrival” of Sinterklaas in the city because Pete "forms a negative stereotyping of black people."
Council of State President Jaap Polak said Amsterdam's mayor is not empowered to take the issue into account when granting permits for the celebrations.
That ruling means the Council of State "cannot and will not answer the question" of whether Black Pete breaches Dutch anti-discrimination law, Polak told a packed courtroom.
The ruling said opponents could instead file civil or criminal complaints against organizers — shifting the debate to other courts, and possibly opening the door to such complaints from around the country.
"I think a lot of people will be disappointed with that — supporters and opponents who were waiting for a judgment on what we should think of Black Pete," said Wil Eikelboom, a lawyer for critics of the character.
Quicy Dario, a leading advocate against Black Pete, told Dutch broadcaster NOS that "a couple of hundred" people would gather in the streets to protest the ruling Saturday, when Sinterklaas and his helper officially descend on the country according to Dutch tradition. Following the ruling, Dario also called on people to file complaints against groups who organize Sinterklaas parades.
Dutch advocacy group "Guild of Petes" told NOS it welcomed the ruling and that marking the folklore character as racist cannot be carried out by a court. "Tradition can't be killed by enforcing change," spokesman Mark Gilling said.
Last year Verene Shepherd, an adviser to the United Nations on cultural affairs, wrote a letter in which she lambasted the tradition’s “racist” roots and demanded the Netherlands update the tradition to reflect the country’s changed politics.
“The character and image of Black Pete perpetuate a stereotyped image of African people and people of African descent as second-class citizens, fostering an underlying sense of inferiority within Dutch society and stirring racial differences as well as racism,” she wrote.
In November, Amsterdam's Mayor Eberhard van der Laan wrote in a letter to the City Council that there is a need to try to “make Black Pete less black and less servant.” Some have suggested Black Pete paint his skin purple and wear a red wig, or simply smudge his face with soot.
The mayor has said some of the Petes in this year's parade will be yellow-faced "Cheese Petes" and "Cookie Petes" — a reflection of the city's ongoing debate on how to best change the character's looks to suit contemporary sensitivities while preserving the spirit of the tradition.
This is exactly the kind of bullsh@t that keeps real problems from getting solved by governments.
Hands Off Black Pete! This is a traditional Dutch children’s tradition. If you don’t like it go back to the place you came from.
The PEIU (Polar Elf International Union) is none too pleased with these guys either!
Seeing Black Pete, makes us spill our coffee over here in the states, but this pales in comparison to the most over the top spectacle of being Politically Incorrect in the Nordic countries.
That prize without a doubt goes to Lena Adelsohn Liljerroth; Sweden’s Culture Minister for an event of April 2012; Swedish Minister Triggers race row after cutting sponge cake in the shape of a naked black African woman. It was one of the most bizzare things I’d ever seen, and the whole group were giggling as they enjoyed the cake.
The body was painted pitch black, showing flattened breasts.
Worst part? The head of the cake was real. An actor put on BLACKFACE makeup and stuck his head in a whole cut into the table. So whenever anyone would slice the cake, the actor, pretending to be an abused woman, would scream loudly, as though ‘she’ were being stabbed! The Civic group considered this the funniest thing, like, ever. I’m not making this up. Google it, in case you’ve forgotten.
The horror! The horror!
That’s the one that ‘Takes The Cake!” Oh, those zany Swedes!
The tradition is that black pete is the result of pete being a chimney sweep, so SinterKlaas would stay clean when utilizing a chimney. As a youngster our family celebrated Sinterklaas and Black Pete. Nothing was ever deemed as racist.
You look at the clothes thes black petes are wearing thos are not clown outfits. They are clothes of the upper class - the elite that worn during feudal times.
Leftists taking candy away from babies.
The critics of Black Pete will settle with his name being changed to African-Netherland Pete!
Imagine the knickers in a twist if Black Pete were a tradition somewhere in the US. Good for the Dutch not to fall victim to political correctness.
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