Netherlands: Why dressing in blackface isn't racist

Editorial

De Telegraaf

Santa Claus is coming to town, and we’re greeting him with our usual “seasonal cries of racism,” said De Telegraaf. From mid-November until St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 6, St. Nicholas, also known as Sinterklaas, travels from town to town, appearing in parades and town squares, visiting hospitals and schools, and checking to see whether the children have been naughty or nice. It’s a big job, so of course he is accompanied by his helper, Black Peter. Sinterklaas dresses in a red cloak and white beard, while Peter is done up in blackface.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But again this year, in what has become a wearisome annual feature, the politically correct are calling for the Black Peter character to be replaced by some sort of elf. They say the Peter tradition only emerged during the colonial era, when blacks were seen as servants or even slaves. This attack is, of course, “completely unjust.” No one has ever demonstrated that the Black Peter figure “incites discrimination or racism or any kind of negative image of people with dark skins.” In fact, the children love Peter and clamor to touch him, just as they do Sinterklaas. Black Peter is one of the country’s most cherished traditions. “And these sourpusses can’t change that.”