Dutch court won't rule whether 'Black Pete' folk character is racist

The Netherlands' highest administrative court on Wednesday refused to wade into the increasingly acrimonious national debate over "Black Pete," the folk character sidekick to the Dutch equivalent of Santa Claus, Sinterklaas.

Critics call Pete — who is often played by white people wearing blackface makeup and frizzy Afro wigs — a racist caricature. Most Dutch people insist he is a harmless fantasy figure.

In Dutch folk tradition, Sinterklaas arrives by steamboat in mid-November and spends a month in the country accompanied by dozens of Black Petes, clown-like figures who leave cookies, chocolate and other treats for children. The celebrations end in a night of gift giving on Dec. 5, and on Dec. 6 in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium that also celebrates the children's tradition.

The Netherlands’ Council of State on Wednesday overturned a lower court's decision that the Amsterdam municipality should not have allowed last year's festive “arrival” of Sinterklaas in the city because Pete "forms a negative stereotyping of black people."

Council of State President Jaap Polak said Amsterdam's mayor is not empowered to take the issue into account when granting permits for the celebrations.

That ruling means the Council of State "cannot and will not answer the question" of whether Black Pete breaches Dutch anti-discrimination law, Polak told a packed courtroom.

The ruling said opponents could instead file civil or criminal complaints against organizers — shifting the debate to other courts, and possibly opening the door to such complaints from around the country.

"I think a lot of people will be disappointed with that — supporters and opponents who were waiting for a judgment on what we should think of Black Pete," said Wil Eikelboom, a lawyer for critics of the character.

Quicy Dario, a leading advocate against Black Pete, told Dutch broadcaster NOS that "a couple of hundred" people would gather in the streets to protest the ruling Saturday, when Sinterklaas and his helper officially descend on the country according to Dutch tradition. Following the ruling, Dario also called on people to file complaints against groups who organize Sinterklaas parades.

Dutch advocacy group "Guild of Petes" told NOS it welcomed the ruling and that marking the folklore character as racist cannot be carried out by a court. "Tradition can't be killed by enforcing change," spokesman Mark Gilling said.

Last year Verene Shepherd, an adviser to the United Nations on cultural affairs, wrote a letter in which she lambasted the tradition’s “racist” roots and demanded the Netherlands update the tradition to reflect the country’s changed politics.

“The character and image of Black Pete perpetuate a stereotyped image of African people and people of African descent as second-class citizens, fostering an underlying sense of inferiority within Dutch society and stirring racial differences as well as racism,” she wrote.

In November, Amsterdam's  Mayor Eberhard van der Laan wrote in a letter to the City Council that there is a need to try to “make Black Pete less black and less servant.” Some have suggested Black Pete paint his skin purple and wear a red wig, or simply smudge his face with soot.

The mayor has said some of the Petes in this year's parade will be yellow-faced "Cheese Petes" and "Cookie Petes" — a reflection of the city's ongoing debate on how to best change the character's looks to suit contemporary sensitivities while preserving the spirit of the tradition.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press