English or an Italian who spoke English ? How do you know that out of curiosity?
Just had a very interesting chat about Black Peter with an Irish person who lived in the Netherlands for years and speaks fluent Dutch.
I was telling her the story about the Dutch people turning up at the Christmas party in Manchester about 5 years ago all dressed as Black Pete and causing quite a stir. I was being fairly sympathetic to the Europeans- American blackface comes from the racist minstrel and vaudeville tradition of the deep south, European blackface has a completely different history, not fair on the Europeans to conflate them, obviously they have to cop themselves on and love with the times etc.
She was explaining the history of Black Pete - Peter was originally Santaâs black slave. He wears traditional slave clothes and big loopy gold earrings. He traditionally comes on a boat from Spain with the presents, the traditional old slave route and presumably all the presents were plundered from Africa. They have another more modern story where he got his black face by falling down the chimney with santa but why then the big red caricature lips or the bad Dutch?
5 years ago she told the creche that her kids wouldnât be coming in the day that Black Pete came with the presents and the school hated her. The about 3 years ago there was a very sudden change in opinion in the Netherlands and suddenly Black Pete was very taboo, all in the space of a year or two.
It appears that I have been wrong to defend Dutch people and Black Pete in the past, I didnt know he was Santaâs black slave stolen from Africa.
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Should you be cancelled?
Rebrand incoming
Black Peter delivered the coal around Scotstown during the 90âs.
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Sure his brother was the lead singer of the Pixies.
Heâs very good at the accent
Accent?
Thereâs no accent there?
mods???
I lived there for a year. It was pretty obvious black Pete was a racist caricature, youâd be fairly thick to think otherwise. The UN told the Dutch the black Pete thing was racist and should be gotten rid of about a decade ago, the Dutch were indignant, itâs our culture, they like to think of themselves as open minded but they arenât. I found the Dutch in general to be very racist, both in people I met and with casual racism in public discourse that wouldnât be tolerated here.
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Itâs one of the underlying jokes on the excellent âted lassoâ
I lived there as a child in the 70âs, Black Pete was for kids and didnât seem racist and I could understand the indignance as he was part of Christmas. He was a sidekick of St Nicolas and a clown and I donât think kids associate to him in a racial way. That said, he should be done away with. St Martins day was better to me anyway.
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Uncle Benâs rice is now just Benâs rice and the traditional image of Uncle Ben has been removed from the packaging
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Uncle Ben was racist? But Shur he was black?
His wife Aunt Jemima will have to fall on her sword too
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