Six to eight black men - part 1 of 3

Ok, this is supposed to be humor, remember humor and satire? Life is serious and hard, lighten up and laugh! Sedaris is a genius.

When I read this in Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim I completely lost it. I'd never read anything better. I'm laughing right now thinking about it.

but I have to say this guy is hilarious. The whole Sinterklaas story is indeed super ridiculous (just as the ripped of Santaclaus thing) and I love the way he makes fun of it :-)

I guess you also don't know that much about the Dutch (or Flemish) because we actually support Obama more than the Americans do... so when you say we feel superior to blacks... you proof you have no idea what you are talking about.

@ Kingleopoldthesecond

hmm, yeah, this way of thinking sounds more familiar outside the Netherlands. But the fun thing is that we don't even pay attention to the socalled 'racism' you are talking about. In general kids LOVE zwarte piet here, he is cool and the kids don't even think about the fact that he is black... that is just what he is... when I was small I never made the link black-slavery.

@janmangool

It is completely irrelevant whether 'Zwarte Piet' is portrayed as a servant, page, or slave. The point is that he is a 'racial caricature' i.e. someone with exaggerated racial characteristics e.g. big red lips, pitch black face, 'afro' hairdo. This is called "Darky Iconography" and was imported into the Zwarte Piet tradition from the US about 1930. This is the most offensive aspect of the tradition, although having a black person as the servant of Sinterklaas is still disturbing

putting the link between the fact they are a caricature of the morish imigrants in spain and the fact that they are servant is racism from your side.

hint: Usually they are potrayed as male... duh! sex disctiimination!

@konin525

So I'm racist for pointing out the actual historical basis of the celebration. Ok then.

Actually, rather than being portrayed as male, they used to have some kind of weird androgynous aspect e.g. female breasts and big hips. Look it up. I'm not really sure what that was all about (and not sure if this happens nowadays), but it would make him more 'exotic'-looking.

Dutch and Flemish people, cut out your revisionist crap - If you want Zwarte Piet to look like he went in a chimney then smudge his face, not give him bright red lips, afro, and black facepaint. Its disgusting how you brainwash your children with this racist crap, but I guess you can't help it. You're just holding on to your last racist tradition so you can still feel superior to blacks. Theres a black president of the US now, get over it. PS I'm not American, but from another Western country.

Listen up kids, racist sterotypes are really cool Im a white guy in blackface so it must be ok! Racist stereotypes are awesome!! Lets all dress up like Chinese - just tape your eyes back and put in some funny teeth - haaa soooo!!! Also, why don't we dress up like Jews with big horns and claws!!! Racism is great fun for kids. P.S Im not American, the rest of the Western world got rid of blackface because its racist. Do you like everyone to call you racist?