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Daily Stormer
August 14, 2014
Amsterdam has decided to change the character and name of Holland’s most famous and well-loved Christmas character Black Pete in order to please a foreign people who would not even know what Christmas was if White people hadn’t told them.
This foreign people would not even be in Holland if White people had not invented boats and aeroplanes to take them there.
The Netherlands’ controversial holiday character Black Pete might soon become Sooty Pete — but gradually.
The mayor of Amsterdam said Thursday that Black Pete, or Zwarte Piet, who features in the city’s winter holiday pageant, would change in appearance over the next four years to make him less of an offensive racial stereotype.
According to the mayor, Eberhard van der Laan, the gradual transformation began in last year’s official city parade, when Pete stopped wearing golden earrings, and would continue until the popular character eventually resembles someone who has climbed through a chimney rather than an exaggerated caricature of an African.
“Black Pete can look different,” said an Amsterdam city spokesperson.
In the annual Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) parade, held on Dec. 5, St. Nicholas, newly arrived by boat from Spain, enters the city on horseback accompanied by Black Pete, his Moorish servant, who walks alongside distributing candy and treats.
Children and adults have portrayed Black Pete by wearing blackface makeup, painting on big red lips and donning frizzy black wigs.
Dutch and foreign critics, who have become increasingly vocal about the character in recent years, say Black Pete is an offensive holdover from colonialism and slavery. Opinion polls, however, show that a majority of Dutch see nothing wrong with the depiction.
“He is a very nice and popular character who is in the heart of everyone here,” said Marc Giling, president of the Pietengilde, a newly formed group representing amateur Black Pete performers.
Besides announcing the planned changes of costume and makeup, Mr. van der Laan said he would appeal a ruling by a local court last month that the character had racist undertones and was offensive, saying the discussion about Black Pete should happen in the community and not the courtroom.
“It’s much more than a legal discussion,” he said.
The Black Pete performers are joining the appeal, hoping to clear their name.
“They are saying we are racist people, and that’s something we are definitely not,” said Mr. Giling, who insists that the tradition of Black Pete predates colonialism and slavery and that the character, when it first appeared in the early Middle Ages, represented the devil, not an African servant.
Despite the sunny late-summer weather in the Netherlands, the term “Black Pete verdict” was trending on Twitter on Thursday, with many people posting pictures of themselves in traditional costume.
The announcement in Amsterdam affects only that city’s Sinterklaas parade. Other Dutch cities and towns, Mayor van der Laan was quick to point out, might well stick to the old-style Pete.
“I’m very enthusiastic about change,” said Mr. Giling of the performers’ group. “But we don’t agree that we have to change things so quickly.”
