Critics of “Zwarte Piet” stop protesting – because of its success

Anti-racism campaign

Zwarte Piet critics dissolve the club – these are the reasons

For years, the Zwarte Piet – Black Piet – was criticized in the Netherlands. The accusation: racism. Now the protest group “Kick Out Zwarte Piet” is disbanding. Even former opponents make surprising comments.

Traditionally, Sinterklaas and his companions arrive in the country by ship these days. But there have been violent protests in recent years. The reason: Piet was suspected of racism. Sinterklaas’s helper wore black make-up, an Afro-look wig and gold earrings. So there was protest. “Black Piet is racism,” said Jerry Afriyie and founded the action group “Kick Out Zwarte Piet” in 2010 – throw Black Piet out.

Afriyie came to the Netherlands from Ghana as a child. He first experienced the Dutch pre-Christmas celebration in Utrecht in 1993. He found the “Black Piet” disturbing. The protests were violent in the first few years. Afriyie and his colleagues were sometimes treated like a terrorist group. Like in Rotterdam 2016. “My head was swollen from all the beatings,” said Afriyie, describing the brutal police violence.

Today Afriyie is 44. And he knows that his efforts were worth it. “There hasn’t been a Black Piet on TV for years. The children don’t know anything different,” he told the newspaper “NRC Handelsblad”. In addition to the protests at the Sinterklaas celebrations, Afriyie and his colleagues also mobilized in other ways. They asked the organizers of the Sinterklaas celebrations to speak to them.

“We really listened to each other,” René de Reus, 54, told the newspaper NRC Handelsblad. He has been organizing the Sinterklaas Festival in his community of Zaandam for 24 years. For a long time he didn’t want to recognize racism. After the first meeting with Afriyie, de Reus realized: “He wanted his children to be able to celebrate the festival carefree. He really had a point there.”

New criteria for the “Black Piet” were developed together. The gold earrings are gone, as is the wig with frizzy curls and a few dabs of soot on the cheeks are enough.