6 hour exclusive video! (Patreon)

Hey guys, I know it's not much of an exclusive, but HERE is my newest video. What IS exclusive that I'm gonna include here is the script I worked off of. Not QUITE a transcript but really close. See what I left in and what I took out.

(Title with “CW: Racism, Blackface”)

*ad for new albums*

Oh boy. I get to do a couple of shows in the UK! Let’s look at ticket prices WWWOOOAH my god. (show screen 1 - ticket prices)

*pretending to be talking on phone*

Huh? What’s that? If you fly from Chicago to Amsterdam it’s a quarter of the price, and then flights from Amsterdam to Edinburgh are like 200 bucks? Well SIGN ME UP! I’m sure Holland is lovely around this time of year! 

(Happy music and a collage of photos. Cut back to me reacting to them each in turn. Very happy. Cut to photos of kids in black face)

Wait I.. (pictures continue) w… That’s not… wwwhhhhAAAAAAAAAAT!? (add effects)

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Hey everybody, PepperCoyote here with another FUN video about racism. (smile, thumbs up)

But lemme slow down here. The whole reason I’m making this video is to find out about SinterKlaas, a Dutch holiday that has been quite influential on the American version of Christmas. I mean look, they got Saint Klaas over here lookin like Santa. They got gift giving, people goin down chimneys, a guy who will, put you in a sack, and beat the heck out of ya if you’re a bad kid. You know. CHRISTMAS!

Christmas is a weird holiday for many reasons, specifically the immense variance in ways it’s celebrated. The UK used to celebrate by having a rowdy street party and harassing their local lord or… duke… or dane (pic of great dane) or whatever by screaming songs at them and demanding free food. 

*talking with hand at side of mouth* kinda wish we could get BACK to that sorta thing

The US celebrates by pretending that Christianity is under attack and isn’t the most popular religion in the states, and doesn’t have immense power over our political process and… you know… government. But in the Netherlands they have Sinterklaass, technically a separate holiday from Christmas over there, but inextricably attached to it nonetheless. I’m here to find out: *said like a chant with text popping up* IS, SINTERKLASS, RACIST and no, this isn’t some clever setup where I already know the answer and spend a lotta time trying to pre-convince you. As of writing these lines, I’m still not totally sure. Let’s get goin.

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Sinterklaas gets a reaction from Americans because of the use of “blackface”. (Screen with blackface definition) Blackface refers to the practice of using makeup to play a character of a race other than your own. This can be broadened to include other visual cues like clothing and hair, but let’s just focus on the paint for now.

A popular form of theater in the mid to late American 1800s was the “minstrel show”. If you want to see a modern interpretation of what that may have been like, check out the Spike Lee film “Bamboozled” (show poster) it is absolutely BANANAS. (show clip of trailer) and it features Savion Glover, the guy who both helped choreograph AND did the motion capture for “Happy Feet” (clip of savion glover and happy feet). Also, yes. Technically, black people can be blackface performers, as we’ll see again when we finally get to SinterKlaas.

Blackface has an embarrassingly recent history in the US for something that was invented specifically to mock an entire race of people. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Classic film. Why did it have Micky Rooney playing a Japanese guy? Why? (pic of Rooney, clip of Breakfast at Tiffany’s) There are a bunch of other examples from Soul Man (pic of main character with “he’s white” text on it) to the King and I (show pic) but what exactly makes this harmful?

Here’s where facts and history get mixed with art and emotion and these discussions often feel like trying to pick up a quarter stuck to the floor using only a piece of cooked spaghetti but hey. Here are a couple things to think about.

Why is the character in blackface?

Is it to make a statement ABOUT blackface? If you instead had the character played by an actual black person, would that hurt the impact of the artwork? With Bamboozled, Spike Lee had the blackface characters played by black people. His goal was to be provocative and make a statement specifically about blackface and media portrayals of black people, so yeah. He had a reason, and that context should be considered. If you’re sticking people in race makeup for no actual reason, you may be reinforcing harmful stereotypes, and helping bigots remain comfortable; their worldview unchallenged.

2. If there’s no real reason, could the character be played by an actual POC?

Even if you’re making a shock comedy with the intention of being offensive and pushing the envelope, why not hire an actor that matches the character you want? Breakfast at Tiffany’s is an example of this. Was it really not possible to find a Japanese comic actor for this roll? If you come at me with “But Pepper a REAL Japanese person wouldn’t have said some of those line” WELL THERE YOU FRIGGIN GO!

If you’re going to comment on race, maybe you should have some consultants of the race you’re commenting on. If the people you want to make fun of don’t think your jokes are funny, maybe write better jokes. This could be applied to feature films and youtube videos alike. If you want to talk about a group, try and get input from that group, and YES. I DID consult people on this video. If I can do it, anyone can. It makes it a lot less likely that I’m gonna end up with my foot in my mouth over this video. Ladies (zoom in, eyebrow moves) But, back to black face paint on theatrical actors.

The messed up thing is that oldschool blackface doesn’t really recreate black features as much as it shows what the audience, in this case a white audience, THINKS black features are. I mean LOOK at this. (show same screen but the photo zoomed in). This is a painting which means the real thing probably looked even worse. I mean nobody was “fooled” by this. The idea wasn’t really to put a black character on stage, but a black “Caricature” (put “character” on screen, then swap it with “caricature”). A caricature without complexity. A caricature that white audiences could feel safe keeping at an emotional arms-distance, yet still laugh at and even sympathize with when necessary, but not human sympathy. The kind of sympathy you feel for a dog. Characters in black face were “people” in the same way that buggs bunny is a “person”. This is ignoring the fact that at the time black people weren’t legally allowed on most stages, let alone in the theater seats. This was entertainment by and for white people in late 19th century America. I know a lotta bad-faith internet pundits have been jokingly asking for it so here it is. This was “WET” hehe get it “whites-only exploitative theater” BAM (fog horns and dabbing)

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Now take aaaaalll this stuff associated with covering a white person’s face with black makeup, walk out of the Amsterdam airport and see THIS (scary music with little kid’s painted face)

Well I’m exaggerating. People don’t walk around like this just CASUALLY. There’s a parade and some people dress up for it. Let’s talk about Sinterklaas.

Sinterklass or Sint nicolaas is… he’s Santa. Wherever you are in the world, if you do Christmas, and a guy dressed in red with a big white beard is involved with gift giving? The origin is Saint Nick, aka, Sinterklaas. Lemme give you a very brief rundown of Sinterklaas lore, and I’ll let you notice the similarities.

Saint Nicholas was a real person. A first century Turkish bishop from Greece   who wore fancy robes of white and red along with the accompanying hat. See, if you’re a religious figure, you’re almost definitely gonna be wearing a neat hat. Saint Nick was known for helping the sick and poor which makes sense since he’s all about giving gifts. “sources” think he may have died on December 6th, thus it’s the day chosen to celebrate Sinterklaas. These are facts. Now the fictions.

Nick carries a book cataloguing the average behavior of each child in the… universe I guess. In other words. He knows if you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake. Dutch kids would be told to leave out their shoes the night before the feast of Saint Nick so he could leave them presents… in their shoes. 

*cut to you trying to cram a SNES cart into a shoe* Mom… MOM!… It… HOW CAN HE LEAVE ME SUPER METROID IF IT WON’T FIT IN MY SHOE?

Over the centuries, tradition evolved, and new characters got added to the lore, like any 1500 year old fan fiction should. In the 1800s, someone had the idea that maybe Nick needed a helper, and “Zwarte Piet” (I’m definitely saying that wrong) Black Pete, was born (show pic). Nick’s an old guy and can’t be runnin’ around throwing candy at every house in the land of the Dutch, so it kind of makes sense that a secondary character would develop. Pete Carries a big bag, presumably full of candy and gifts. If a kid behaved poorly that year, legend said that pete would spank you with the broom that he also carries… just in case *eyebrows* and if you had emotionally abusive parents, they may tell you that being a brat may cause Pete to put you in his bag and kidnap you back to Spain.

Spain. Yeah. Let’s talk about why Pete is “Black” Pete. See, as much as your local Trumpists may want to think that Europe is and has always been some mythical Disneyland of white people and Christianity, Spain used to be a majority Muslim place, and to the relatively pasty Netherlanders, the olive-skinned Spanish looked… black to them? I guess? That’s the traditional explanation. Black Pete is a moorish Spaniard and thus has darker skin. “Moorish” by the way doesn’t really… mean anything. It’s like saying “white”. It’s a label put on the diverse peoples of Spain by Northern Europeans and could be applied to Arabs, Sicilians, North Africans, or any Muslim, even if they were European. It was, an “Othering term”. A word meant to draw a line between “us” and “them”. It isn’t a slur or anything but it’s such a general and un-useful term that it kinda makes you sound like you don’t know who you’re talking about when you use it. Hey, fun fact. Filipinos who follow Islam call themselves the “Moro people” as a reference to “moors”. Neat!

Anyway, this is why people dressing up as Pete, tend to darken their faces with makeup, and redden their lips because *Yelling off mic* WHY THE LIPS? THE LIPS MAKE IT 1000 TIMES WEIRDER. Essentially they made up a character and made him foreign as a way to initially make him a little scary, like a krampus-lite, and later to make him “different” Believe me, this is still super xenophobic and stereotypical. It’d be like modern US santa having a Mexican helper who kicked your butt if you were a bad kid, wore a poncho, a sombrero covered in christmas lights, and rode a donkey. Not a great look. But who expects better from the 1800s?

MODERN Sinterklaas has changed from “Black Pete is a foreigner with dark skin who we’re dressing up as”, to “Naw he just has soot on his face from going down the chimney to deliver gifts!” and personally, I’m inclined to like this change. Pete is NOT based on any specific person, and since he’s a work of complete fiction, much like James Bond, he could be pale skinned, dark skinned, whatever. It doesn’t matter because he isn’t real. This also means that the face paint is not a requirement. The dutch resist calls to get rid of Pete not because of a deep-seeded hatred for the Spanish, but because they like the character. The adults have all the same childhood memories that you probably have around YOUR favorite holiday regardless of which one, and those memories are intertwined with these characters. Kids like Pete because he gives them presents and candy. 

Not many Dutch people have looked into these traditions or their origins and when you try to challenge them on this the reaction is very “oh come on, you’re over reacting. It’s just a kid holiday thing. It’s tradition. Why don’t you like fun?” and if that seems weird and tone-deaf to my American viewers, I have bad news about the history of Thanksgiving. Definitely don’t google it. Also Columbus day should be changed to Native People’s day. *Whispered, close to mic. Closeup* Trump… just add more mandatory federal holidays. Everyone would like more days off work… Biggly.

Oh, and last thing before I move on to the conclusion, yeah some dutch people are black and some them ALSO dress up as Black Pete, complete with coal black makeup and red lipstick. This does not invalidate my previous points. Everyone wants to “belong”. Some people don’t know the history. Some do, and just don’t care. I don’t think blackface should be encouraged, and by participating in this particular tradition, ammunition is given to those who’d rather bury their head in the sand, but I also don’t have their perspective. Mostly I’d like to hear their thoughts. If you’re a black person who does blackface in holland, let’s talk. (put up email address)

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So what’s the solution here? Is Black Pete facepaint the same thing as blackface? Yeah kinda, I mean the technique is pretty much exactly the same but I’m thinking more about the history behind the two. American blackface was invented as a way to make quick money and get cheap laughs by mocking a very recently enslaved group of people. American blackface  cannot be separated from a history of dehumanization and cruelty. Black Pete however, is a fully fictional character who, with a few changes, could be implemented in an inclusive, and even wholesome manner. The good news is that the Dutch have already kinda solved it.

*exhasperated tone* Just make the makeup look like dirt from a chimney instead of creepy race makeup. The end. ya did it. (show pic) There is pretty much NO downside to this. It washes off easier, it makes more sense from a story perspective, ANYbody can do this since it’s not linked to a specific race, just… chimney sweeps, AND you’d no longer look HORRIFYING to foreigners who might not have the time to watch a 20 minute long video on the thing. *getting closer to the cam as you talk. sultry even.* Netherlanders. Hollanders. Hollandites. Dutchies… may I call you Dutchies? I don’t want to cancel your holiday. I don’t want to stomp on tradition. You can do this in a way that isn’t hurtful. OR you do full facepaint but make it green or something like these people are doing if the goal is to look ridiculous. Also probably fine.

Heck, not all Dutch people are down with Black Pete in his current form. Remember how I mentioned a parade? I was IN the Sinterklaas parade in the town of Hilversum outside of Amsterdam. I was not prepared for all the little kids in blackface and instead chose to wear coyote-face as you can see here. This parade was not only protested, but re-routed due to the protests. Something about people throwing eggs? I can say this. From an American perspective, this seemed like an overreaction to a few dozen protestors. I mean look at all those cops? The signs they’re holding say “A party for EVERY child” implying that the celebration can be alienating to kids with darker skin who likely wonder why their “facepaint” doesn’t wash off. Others say “Free Black Pete” referencing how if you know Dutch history, Pete would have likely been a slave or former slave as the Dutch were kinda HUGE into the slave business back in the day.

I’m encouraged by the diversity amongst the protest group. It’s not just dark-skinned people. It’s not just young people. It looks like a cross-section of the Dutch people while I don’t think I saw a single non-white person participating in the parade. Maybe that says something. Maybe they gotta talk about Pete. 

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So what do you think. This is not a topic that I am in ANY way an expert on and I’m still trying to form my full opinion on it.