Wouter Van Bellingen, 45, is a Flemish human rights’ activist who has fought for racial justice in Belgium. One of the issues that he has challenged is the racist legacy of Black Pete (or Zwarte Piet). Apart from issues like cultural appropriation and disrespect for minorities like blacks, the United Nations declared in 2015 that Black Pete was a “vestige of slavery.”
Elected in 2007 as the deputy mayor of Sint-Niklaas, Van Bellingen became the first black deputy mayor of Belgium. Presently is the director of Integration Pact (Integratiepact), an association that promotes integration and inclusion of migrants and minorities in Belgium.
Every year Flemish- and Dutch-speakers celebrate Black Pete from the end of October to December 6.
Van Bellingen remembers as a child and adolescent growing up in Flanders that Black Pete was “mental torture” for him and other black children. Blacks are the most discriminated group in Belgium and at the lower end of the poverty scale. Black Pete reinforces stereotypes about blacks like belittling their intelligence, according to him.
“Since my classmates knew me they didn’t mess with me at school,” said Van Bellingen. “They [white children and adults before] would come up to total strangers and touch your skin and ask if it was going to stain them. It is not a joke. Some believed that our black skin stained theirs.”
Van Bellingen said that when he was a child, he avoided going to stores because total strangers would stop him on the street and yell, “Look Black Pete!”
“I went to see an MP last week, and her daughter, who was of mixed race asked if she could scrub her dark skin and become white,” he said.
Despite the racism that Black Pete brings out in white people who pay homage to this offensive character to blacks and minorities, Van Bellingen says that matters are improving.
“Matters are getting better in Belgium,” he added. “If you looked at the shops five years ago, you could find Black Pete everywhere. I believe it will eventually vanish.”
Van Bellingen said that his children will still have to suffer “the mental torture” he went through, but by the time he has grandchildren, Black Pete character will become history.
“The majority of the people who live in Antwerp have immigrant backgrounds,” he continued. “The majority disapprove of this practice. It will first disappear in Flanders and then in the Netherlands.”
Wouter Van Bellingen, who became Belgium’s first black deputy major in 2007, has campaigned fearlessly against Black Pete/Zwart Piet. Photo by Enrique Tessieri.
Growing up with Black Pete got worse for Van Bellingen as he got older.
Continue reading “Wouter Van Bellingen: Black Pete is an aberration that will become history”
