“After 15 years, Dutch anti-blackface group declares victory

By AFP
Published: December 05, 2025

[…]

Amsterdam, Netherlands — Cherished Christmas tradition for some, profoundly insulting for others, the Dutch character “Black Pete,” a servant who helps Santa Claus distribute presents, has divided opinion in The Netherlands for decades.

Until recently, Santa’s arrival on the eve of Saint Nicolas Day (December 5) — a major Yuletide celebration for the Dutch — was marked by many people dressing up as Black Pete, complete with blacked-out faces and often afro wigs, creole earrings and make-up to plump out lips.

Stung by the caricature that harks back to Dutch colonial times, Jerry Afriyie founded the “Kick Out Black Pete” (KOZP) movement in 2010 to fight racism and is now wrapping up with the battle won.

“Around this time of the year, you would pass hundreds of Black Petes (Zwarte Piet in Dutch), hundreds of white people in blackface. Today, it is different,” he told AFP.

[…]

In 2010, Afriyie’s foundation “Nederlands Wordt Beter” (“The Netherlands is improving”) set three objectives.

They wanted Dutch colonial history, heavily dependent on slavery, taught in schools, an annual commemoration for the victims and Black Pete to get the boot.

[…]

Then Prime Minister Mark Rutte — who had said for years that “Black Pete is just black” — urged the tradition to end.

‘This is not normal’

Afriyie explained that Black Pete was a figment of the imagination of Jan Schenkman, who popularized the story of Santa Claus in the Netherlands.

Black Pete is “actually a black servant. He (Schenkman) himself said it. It’s a black servant serving a white master,” said Afriyie.

“And I think that in 2025, it’s uncalled for.”

The movement’s goal was to “de-normalize” Black Pete and the blackface tradition, said Afriyie.

“It was as normal as Dutch pancakes. And we felt like, hey, this is not normal. It’s hurting people. A lot of children feel insecure,” he said.

[…]

According to an Ipsos survey, the percentage of Dutch wanting to maintain the tradition has dropped to 38 percent, compared to 65 percent in 2016.

Sporting a “modern Pete” outfit of a long purple wig, spangles and a face lightly dusted with soot, Gipsy Peters told AFP: “It’s good to keep traditions alive but we can adjust them a little.”

[…]

‘It’s not about racism’

However, not everyone agrees and maintaining the Black Pete tradition has become a rallying cry for far-right leader Geert Wilders among others.

Several activists in a recent anti-immigration rally in The Hague dressed in the “traditional” Black Pete outfit.

[…]

Jaimy Sanders, 30, who works in a plumbing firm, told AFP: “It’s not about racism. It’s about fun for the children.”

“And I really don’t care if they’re purple, green or whatever colour. As long as we can talk about the children and not the adults who make such a big deal of it.”

Afriyie said much progress had been made, although the war against racism was not won in the Netherlands, still wrestling with its colonial past.

[…]

By Stéphanie Hamel, AFP”

• Full report “After 15 years, Dutch anti-blackface group declares victory” on the website of CTV News, Canada (last checked in December 2025)

• See also article “Kick Out Zwarte Piet” on Wikipedia (last checked in December 2025)

• Watch also video report “Is the time up for the Netherlands’ ‘Black Pete’?” of Deutsche Welle News on Facebook (last checked in December 2025)

• See also the opinion piece “When ignorance dresses up as a joke” from 7 November 2025 by the Windhoek Observer about German and Afrikaner Namibian pupils in blackface and k*ff*r costumes in the ‘Media Reports’ section of this website.

• See also the article on blackface in the ‘Glossary’ section of this website.