Support for blackface Zwarte Piet tradition halved in six years

Support for controversial Sinterklaas character Zwarte Piet in his “traditional” blackface form halved among adults in the Netherlands in the past six years, I&O Research found in a study. Especially young people no longer want to see blackface at the annual Sinterklaas parties, AD reports.

A third of adult Netherlands residents want to keep Zwarte Piet in blackface makeup. In the young adult age group, 18 to 34, support for blackface Piet decreased from 34 percent last year to only 19 percent this year.

Support is falling less quickly in the older age groups. Among people 35 to 49 years old, 33 percent still hold on to Piet in his traditional form, compared to 37 percent a year earlier. Among Dutch aged 50 to 64, support fell from 45 to 39 percent. Among older Dutch, support for Zwarte Piet dropped only 1 percent to 44 percent.

Zwarte Piet will slowly go “extinct,” researcher Milan Driessen of I&O Research told AD. “Especially now that so many young people want a different Piet, it is only a matter of time before the support goes to zero. Moreover, in recent years, Zwarte Piet has disappeared from the streets, the Sinterklaasjournaal, and the media.”