There has been a long discussion on the Zwarte Piet and his black face in the Netherlands – and how it is demeaning to black people. Many have wondered about why white people are being painted very dark to represent black people while there are many coloured men and women available to take on the role and not even have to paint their face in a ridiculously demeaning and mocking manner.
In a recent article published on Dutch News in English, it is alleged that the Zwarte Piet will remain black in most towns and villages in the country. This decision seems to undermine the calls by a large percentage of the black community in the Netherlands asking for this practice to be abolished because it is racist and evokes the slave trade era of the former Dutch empire.
“It’s not only Antilleans or Surinamers who are complaining,” says Jessica Silversmith, director of the regional Anti-Discrimination Bureau for Amsterdam, referring to people descended from the former Dutch colonies that once traded in slavery. “It’s all kinds of Dutch people,” she added.
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Black children in the Netherlands have complained about how they have been bullied and called Zwarte Piet at school. Even the traditionally right wing Dutch news website GeenStijl reports that:
“Zwarte Piet is nothing more than a repulsive parody of a slave, fine-tuned to indoctrinate schoolchildren into the finer points of racism … The sooner we get rid of Zwarte Piet, the sooner we won’t look like idiots to the rest of the world,” according to AP.
In the Netherlands, the St Nicholas Day is celebrated on the 6th of December, with the arrival of Santa Claus (Sinterklaas), and his pageboy helper ‘Zwarte Piet’ or Black Pete – who delivers Christmas gifts and sweets to the children that have been good.
Dutch people in support of the Zwarte Piet black face have argued he is not a black man but has a black face because he came down the chimney. But the question they have failed to answer is why he has dark curly hair as well as why his clothes are not dirty.
But Zwarte Piet is not the only white face painted black in the Netherlands to have been causing controversy in the black community. In the Vogue Netherlands May 2013 editorial tribute to Marco Jones, model – Querelle Jansen’s face was painted black while she was wearing a dark Afro wig to represent black icons.
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Writing about the vogue blackface editorial and controversial photo-shoot on Fashionista, Dhani Mau pointed out: “A couple of alternative ideas: Use a model who already looks something like Grace Jones or Josephine Baker without facepaint. “Or just, you know, don’t paint a white person’s face black ever?” she added.
But the black face trend did not stop at painting white people black. Lighter skinned black people are now being painted very dark to represent Africans. And this too has been a controversial topic in the black and African community. But it seems the media and other events promoting the black face trend are not listening or not ready to care enough about making any changes.
As part of painting lighter skinned black people darker, in 2012, American super star and music artist, Beyonce was painted and darkened to represent African women in a photo-shoot that paid tribute to legendary Nigerian music icon, Fela Kuti by French fashion magazine, L’Officiel Paris.
The Beyonce photo-shoot brought along with it a lot of controversies as many Africans believed it had racial undertones as well as being derogatory to the African people who are of different tones and shades.
Reacting to the backlash, L’Officiel made the following statement:
“The designs are all reflective of the African influence on fashion this season,” the magazine said. “As for the artistic make-up, the inspiration came from several African rituals during which paint is used on the face. “We find the images beautiful and inspiring,” the editors said, defending their decision.
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What’s your opinion on the black face trend such as the Netherlands’ Zwarte Piet, seeing white people being painted to represent black people on major magazine photo shoots? Or in the case of Beyonce photo-shoot, darkening lighter skinned black people to represent Africans?
Photo Credit: Vogue Netherlands – L’Officiel and Foxnews