Hi! my name is Jack Bushell. I am a freshman (first year of college) at the University of Michigan. I am from Roslyn, New York, which is approximately 25 miles outside of New York City. I enjoy playing sports such as ice hockey, golf, lacrosse and soccer! I am in a fraternity on campus as well, which is a very fun time. I get to create great relationships and amazing memories with my best friends! We all live in the same house together and spend lots of time together. I enjoy going to football and basketball games and watching our University's team play against other universities.

The tradition of Zwarte Piet is very new and unknown to me. I am white, but I have a lot of black friends and I know they would see this as very racist. In America we have elf's that help Santa deliver gifts, but they are not considered slaves. Making the Zwarte Piet only black and giving them the persona of being stupid and immature is very racist. It portrays all black people as personifying these Zwarte Piet's and having the same mental and social abilities. It may not be the real reason why you paint your faces black, but it ends up implying that all black people are not as smart or as advanced. I understand that painting your face black and lips red is the tradition and supposed to be fun, but it resonates a feeling of racism to those who are unfamiliar with the tradition.

Check out this article about new racist thoughts on Zwarte Piet:
http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2014/07/dutch-court-has-ruled-black-pete-offensive-how-did-it-take-so-long

What is the social scene like in the Netherlands? Do you go to bars or house parties?
What do you do in your free time? Do you have any hobbies?
How long is Zwarte Piet celebrated for, because Christmas is basically the entire month of December.