Unearthed Clip: Mel B calling out Blackface

[053Timo 1,682]

What has this to do with racism? Literally nothing! Zwarte Piet and Sinterklaas are amazing and it’s the best time of the year for all the children 🎉

[gag 22,449]

1 hour ago, hausofcy said:

Europe (especially the Netherlands and Belgium) aren't racist at all when it comes to black people. 

Wait... this is a joke right

[Sanne Godijn 2,203]

57 minutes ago, BadMonster said:

I am too, everyone here knows they are 2 seperate holidays, but it's only logical foreign publications would compare it cuz Santa Claus is derived from Sinterklaas and it'll help people abroad understand...

Oh oke thank you for your kind response

[Sanne Godijn 2,203]

1 hour ago, Sanne Godijn said:

Kinda we now have black pete and a versión with only black stripes on their face

 

[PunkTheFunk 124,425]

53 minutes ago, Gohan said:

Holy sh...  it's just ashes on some parts of the face, they are not trying to look like a black person. I honestly get so annoyed about these millennials getting offended by everything when they are an offense itself to some cultures and traditions. It's like HeY i DoN't LiKe YoUr CuLtUrE bUt ReSpEcT mInE-aH! 

Some things are really racist indeed, such as painting your face black in Halloween to dress up as a slave. But in this case, it's just reminiscing how Pete falls down a pipe and SOME parts of his face gets ashes

This so much. Americans are truly offended by everything in the world yet they can't cancel their own president.

29 minutes ago, 053Timo said:

What has this to do with racism? Literally nothing! Zwarte Piet and Sinterklaas are amazing and it’s the best time of the year for all the children 🎉

Quoting from the Wikipedia page:

"Traditionally, Zwarte Piet is black because he is a Moor from Spain. Those portraying Zwarte Piet put on blackface make-up and colourful Renaissance attire, in addition to curly wigs and light red lipstick to depict African features."

[Sanne Godijn 2,203]

1 hour ago, Sanne Godijn said:

Kinda we now have black pete and a versión with only black stripes on their face

 

[PunkTheFunk 124,425]

[Sanne Godijn 2,203]

1 hour ago, ZiggyZiggs said:

Ok and ?? Did they get rid of it yet??? Quote me when it’s done hun, ty next

Kinda we now have black pete and a versión with only black stripes on their face 

[Head Empty 25,084]

I don't think anyone who grew up in The Netherlands sees it as a negative or racist thing, but I understand why people from elsewhere see it that way.

Changing Pete's appearance seems like an easy solution, because it's the only way to remove this negativity from this tradition. It's not like the color of his skin has actual relevance that children care about, and the only ones making a fuss are the adults. Making this change might offend a few people now, but in the long run it's the only way to keep the tradition alive in a positive way.

[PunkTheFunk 124,425]

1 hour ago, hausofcy said:

Europe (especially the Netherlands and Belgium) aren't racist at all when it comes to black people.

"Like other European maritime nations, the Dutch were quick to involve themselves in the transtlantic slave trade. Between 1596 and 1829, the Dutch transported about half a million Africans across the Atlantic." [...] "The Dutch also shipped about a half million Africans to their settlements in Dutch Guiana, notably Suriname, where they worked primarily on sugar plantations."

http://slaveryandremembrance.org/articles/article/?id=A0145

To add insult to injury, the Dutch were among the last in Europe to abolish slavery. And yet I'm supposed to believe that the Netherlands is a country free of any racist past and just has an innocent little tradition that is totally not blackface! 

[Head Empty 25,084]

8 minutes ago, PunkTheFunk said:

This might offend a lot of people but I don't think the act of painting your skin black is wrong in itself, as long as it isn't done to ridicule or portray anyone in a negative way. But that might be a cultural thing for me - I know it's a much more sensitive (and more discussed) subject in America.

[Arturo 40,746]

What an odd tradition. I prefer santas helpers being elves. Also here, santa’s story was told as him coming with just his reindeer. The elves stay at the north pole.

[RAMROD 109,353]

Aha! The locals finally saw this video

[Jonathanholland 5,321]

5 minutes ago, PunkTheFunk said:

"Like other European maritime nations, the Dutch were quick to involve themselves in the transtlantic slave trade. Between 1596 and 1829, the Dutch transported about half a million Africans across the Atlantic." [...] "The Dutch also shipped about a half million Africans to their settlements in Dutch Guiana, notably Suriname, where they worked primarily on sugar plantations."

http://slaveryandremembrance.org/articles/article/?id=A0145

To add insult to injury, the Dutch were among the last in Europe to abolish slavery. And yet I'm supposed to believe that the Netherlands is a country free of any racist past and just has an innocent little tradition that is totally not blackface! 

I agree with you that Black Pete is racist but the guy was talking about present day Netherlands and Belgium. Ofcourse The Netherlands has a colonial heritage but so do all the other European nations. Go for example to the Louvre, British Museum or Vatican and you'll see many objects stolen from former colonies which they refuse to return. Overall foreign people who come to the Netherlands are welcomed and are able to integrate pretty well. For that you can't say the Netherlands as a whole is a racist country, east European countries and probably the USA are a lot worse for that matter. 

[PunkTheFunk 124,425]

Just now, Why am I on GGD said:

This might offend a lot of people but I don't think the act of painting your skin black is wrong in itself, as long as it isn't done to ridicule or portray anyone in a negative way. But that might be a cultural thing for me - I know it's a much more sensitive (and more discussed) subject in America.

Yes, the act of painting your skin any color isn't wrong, but it's the historical baggage it carries that makes it wrong. White people would cover their faces in grease and paint their lips bright red and wear wigs and dance around to imitate and ridicule black people. Maybe people in the modern day think "Zwarte Piet" is harmless, but it still stems from the same ugly tradition.

It's a much more discussed subject in America because there is a large black population whose ancestors were enslaved and tortured and killed for centuries. The Dutch have a dark past with slavery and segregation too (they were involved in the slave trade and were also responsible for creating the apartheid system in South Africa), but I guess it doesn't come up as much because the victims of their cruelty lived and died elsewhere.