Zwarte Piet and blah blah
Hi my name is Dana and I'm a USA-ian currently living in Groningen, The Netherlands.
I have a problem and I wanted to know some opinions.
What do you do when 90% of a country happily celebrates a Holiday with a character in blackface. I wont explain it here but you can take a look at the discussion here on the Go Dutch community.
My boyfriend is Dutch and I plan to raise kids here (the education and healthcare in this country is awesome), but how do i explain to them...THIS?!!! It's an issue i feel down to my very core as black female and yet I'm being told I'm over-reacting by nearly everyone i talk to (except my friends circle). When ethnic minorities in the Netherlands brought this up 30/20/10/1 year(s) ago it was shot down. I plan on working with children in the Netherlands and I was told flat-out that if i didn't dress up as Zwarte Piet (it's required for alot of children''s holiday functions) that i could be fired. If I tried to sue, I would lose the case completely.
What should i do about this and has anyone else had similarly horrifying cultural experiences? (racially infused of course)
I have a problem and I wanted to know some opinions.
What do you do when 90% of a country happily celebrates a Holiday with a character in blackface. I wont explain it here but you can take a look at the discussion here on the Go Dutch community.
My boyfriend is Dutch and I plan to raise kids here (the education and healthcare in this country is awesome), but how do i explain to them...THIS?!!! It's an issue i feel down to my very core as black female and yet I'm being told I'm over-reacting by nearly everyone i talk to (except my friends circle). When ethnic minorities in the Netherlands brought this up 30/20/10/1 year(s) ago it was shot down. I plan on working with children in the Netherlands and I was told flat-out that if i didn't dress up as Zwarte Piet (it's required for alot of children''s holiday functions) that i could be fired. If I tried to sue, I would lose the case completely.
What should i do about this and has anyone else had similarly horrifying cultural experiences? (racially infused of course)