Today on Bluesky, I was reminded that the feast of Sinterklaas is tomorrow (6th December). For those who don’t know, Sinterklaas is a Dutch character based on Saint Nicholas (aka Santa Claus). While this celebration involves gift-giving and general festivities (which start tonight, on 5th December), it also involves Sinterklaas’s “assistant” called Zwarte Piet, traditionally cosplayed by white people in Blackface.
With all the definitions out of the way, I can get to the point of this post: I loathe and despise the concept of Sinterklaas having a Black “helper” (clearly an enslaved Black person). I don’t care if apparently 92% of Dutch people didn’t think he’s racist in 2013 or if it was “of its time” or “part of tradition”. It was racist BS then and it’s racist BS now.
There is an organisation called Kick Out Zwarte Piet that campaigns against Zwarte Piet and its depictions in culture and I’m in full support.
If you want to support a non-racist helper of Santa, look no further than this good boy:
