America - Michael Miller

Hallo,

My name is Michael Miller. I am a freshman (first year) at the University of Michigan. I have two siblings, both younger sisters. I spend my free time during the week watching netflix, and go to parties on the weekends. I am gay as well as an atheist.

Here is a picture of me with my best friend at our Prom

And here is a picture of the students in my graduating class who are also attending U of M



My hometown of Northville, Michigan, is a small but privileged town, similar to how Annemarie has described Groningen to us. Being Our population was mostly white, with a decent amount of Asian students, so my friends and I also did not have a lot of exposure to black people. Even so, upon learning of the Dutch Zwarte Piet tradition, I was very surprised. 

In America, we are very focused on being politically correct. That is to say, as unoffensive as possible to all people in public. It is very much the opposite of the Dutch practice: in public we must practice this political correctness, while in private is when people are typically more comfortable stating any offensive opinions they have. In America, blackface is considered a very offensive and morally wrong practice. In the Netherlands, it seems that some citizens are beginning to share this opinion. I have also learned that a court has deemed the tradition offensive to some of the population. 
(Link: http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2014/07/dutch-court-has-ruled-black-pete-offensive-how-did-it-take-so-long)

As for myself, I think that the Zwarte Piet is headed in the right track. I do not think the tradition should be completely stopped. I think that it should slowly move towards an equal representation of Zwarte Piets and Wit Piets. Then they can be referred to for children as just Piets. This, as I see it, is just a modernization of this tradition. In this time and age, people no longer own slaves. They may, however, have helpers. Why shouldn't Sinterklaas be the same? And if they are not slaves, why must his helpers all be black to fulfill the tradition? This won't be taking Zwarte Piet and the tradition of Sinterklaas away from children, but rather simply moving the love children have of Zwarte Piets to Piets in general. May argue that children are young and don't understand that this tradition could be considered racist. I argue that children are young, and won't mind much at all that there are some Wit Piets among the Zwarte Piets they already know and love. I would love to hear your opinion on this.

Next I would like to ask you a question on another topic.
Through my class on tolerance in Amsterdam, I have learned a lot about Dutch practices the Dutch way of thought. I have found that my own personal views almost completely mirror the Dutch views we have learned thus far. My question is: are there any views in Dutch culture that you don't agree with, or any American views that you believe to be more in line with your own personal feelings?

Thanks so much for your time!
Michael