More Dutch cities ditch blackface at Sinterklaas parties; Action group launches hotline

More cities will abandon the use of blackface makeup for Sinterklaas parties this year. Kick Out Zwarte Piet (KOZP), the group responsible for protesting against racism and making people aware of the issue, said it plans to campaign against blackface makeup during Sinterklaas for a full year next year.

In Alphen aan den Rijn, Sinterklaas will make his arrival at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday without any Zwarte Pieten, Stefan de Graaf of arrival party organizer Sint in Alphen said to AD. Four years ago, Sint in Alphen still insisted that it would stick to Zwarte Piet in his traditional blackface makeup, but things have changed. “Certainly, as far as the arrival party is concerned. Also, see what they are doing at the NTR with the national arrival and on TV with the SInterklaasjournaal. We are now also completely changing tack and opting for an arrival party without Zwarte Pieten.”

On December 5, Sint in Alphen employees will visit over a hundred homes. “In that case, the booker determines what color the Pieten are,” the spokesperson said. According to him, Pieten with soot marks on their faces are popular in these bookings.

Nijmegen announced that its Sinterklaas arrival party on the Waalkade on Saturday will feature no Pieten in blackface, De Gelderlander reported. Sinterklaas will still have his helpers, but they’ll have soot marks on their faces or have their faces painted in all colors of the rainbow. The Sinterklaas committee in Nijmegen also said it follows the national trend.

Zaanstad will no longer subsidize any Sinterklaas events that involve Zwarte Pieten in blackface makeup. The city council adopted a motion to that extent on Wednesday. According to the local newspaper De Orkaan, at least two Sinterklaas committees in the municipality are sticking to blackface Zwarte Piet in their arrival plans. Action group Zaankanters Tegen Racisme already announced demonstrations at both these arrival parties.

Earlier, Volendam and Venlo also announced that they would no longer allow blackface makeup at their Sinterklaas parties.

KOZP, an anti-racism action group that has been protesting against Zwarte Piet for twelve years, said it’d seen a major shift in society, but there is still more to be done. “In many municipalities, cities, and villages, time seems to stand still, and Zwarte Piet is still tolerated or even celebrated,” KOZP said in a statement.

The group launched a hotline where people can report if there are still Pieten in blackface makeup at their municipal Sinterklaas parties. KOZP will use these complaints to map out where it needs to protest next year.

Next year, the 150th anniversary of the Netherlands abolishing slavery, will also be a year of action “to make the departure of Zwarte Piet final,” KOZP said.