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[NYCmetsfan]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...auds-charity-parade-in-brussels-10120821.html

The Belgian Foreign Minister, Didier Reynders, has drawn criticism over a decision to parade in central Brussels wearing black face paint and a white ruffled collar.

Mr Reynders, who has been in his post since 2011, joined a philanthropic association known as the Noirauds (“Blacks”) for their annual gathering, when they dress up in tail coats and top hats with their faces painted black and take to the streets in Brussels’ old town.

Mr Reynders tweeted a photograph of himself at the parade on 14 March, and wrote a blog post extolling the “joy and good humour” of the 133-year-old tradition, saying it helps raise funds for disadvantaged children.

Not everyone was feeling so charitable. “This is inappropriate and shows a total lack of empathy for people of colour, especially for a Foreign Minister who is our representative abroad,” Wouter Van Bellingen of the Minorities Forum was quoted as saying by state broadcaster, VRT.

Peter Bouckaert, a Belgian who is emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, tweeted “Shame on you”, and asked whether the minister would wear black face paint to meet with African leaders. Even US actress Mia Farrow weighed in, retweeting a photograph of Mr Reynders with an exclamation mark.

The Nigerian-born author Chika Unigwe, who is based in Belgium, took to the platform to criticise lingering colonialist attitudes.

“In other civilised countries his political career wouldn’t survive this, but in Belgium he just continues,” she tweeting, adding that: “Nothing’s changed since the days of Leopold.”

She was referring to Belgium’s King Leopold II, who plundered the Congo for more than two decades, running it as his own private factory to produce rubber until 1908, when he was forced to give up control. Millions of Congolese are believed to have died under his rule. The Noirauds association was established in 1876 and their costumes were inspired by the exploration of Africa at the time.

The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment from The Independent.

 

[Lagamorph]

.....Wow....

 

[Rapstah]

What "joy and good humour"?

 

[Order]

Disgraceful

 

[luckygodzilla]

Jesus Christ

 

[Barrylocke]

I was going to chalk it up to cultural differences and let it slide, but when the article pointed out how the tradition was based on the Congo conquest, I can't really feel much sympathy. Following through on traditions like that is pretty gross, especially if you're the Foreign Minister of the country (and thus working heavily with other nations).

 

[Marauder Shields]

Out of curiosity how is Blackface supposed to be offensive?

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

Out of curiosity how is Blackface supposed to be offensive?

Search for "blackface" threads

There are more than a few

 

[Komo]

I didn't know it was 'shit on black people week'

 

[~Devil Trigger~]

Some traditions, no matter how old, should be left behind

Out of curiosity how is Blackface supposed to be offensive?

Historically Its a practice that largely used by Europeans(or of euro decent), in entertainment, to dehumanize "black" people.

 

[Skellig Gra]

This is one of those times it actually is blackface...ugh.

 

[Onyar]

As I understand people is mad about the association and not for paint his face black.

 

[Sai-kun]

good lord that is just

so stupid

As I understand people is mad about the association and not for paint his face black.

yes

the association of painting your face black

 

[EMT0]

Wait, their version of blackface is inspired by the days of the Belgian Congo?

What the fuck. I thought it was hundreds of years old, not a homage to mass murder.

 

[Barrylocke]

Out of curiosity how is Blackface supposed to be offensive?

Gives a good overall history of it in America from what I (briefly) saw.

 

[Skellig Gra]

Out of curiosity how is Blackface supposed to be offensive?

Black people aren't cartoon characters.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Smh

 

[Blair]

when the whole squad rolls through lookin fresh

 

[Clydefrog]

does he not have advisors telling him "sir, this may not be a good idea" ??

when the whole squad rolls through lookin fresh

ah, these must be the advisors.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

I was going to chalk it up to cultural differences and let it slide, but when the article pointed out how the tradition was based on the Congo conquest, I can't really feel much sympathy. Following through on traditions like that is pretty gross, especially if you're the Foreign Minister of the country (and thus working heavily with other nations).

The tradition is not based on the Congo conquest.

It's still inappropriate though, obviously.

 

[slit]

Jesus Christ

No that's not him.

 

[Andrew Korenchkin]

Da fuck?

Shame on this man, ugh.

 

[Artofwar420]

Do they just not give a fuck? What's the deal here. Is the black population there so small that they don't think it matters? Do they think it's for funsies?

So many questions. I'd like to hear from a Belgian person.

 

[tbm24]

Do they just not give a fuck? What's the deal here. Is the black population there so small that they don't think it matters? Do they think it's for funsies?

So many questions. I'd like to hear from a Belgian person.

Seems like typical ignorance more than anything overtly sinister, tho from what I'm hearing of this group I may be wrong.

 

[Jackpot]

If the tradition of painting their faces black is solely an allusion to their organisation's name and nothing to do with race does this mean it's a sort of "niggardly" situation?

 

[Snkfanatic]

Out of curiosity how is Blackface supposed to be offensive?

I can't tell if this is a serious question or not....

 

[Lifejumper]

I can't tell if this is a serious question or not....

That question is asked by most people here in the Netherlands, sadly.

 

[adamsappel]

What a missed opportunity to include bright red lips!

 

[ISOM]

Out of curiosity how is Blackface supposed to be offensive?

Imagine your race being used as a caricature for the entertainment of other people. That's why it's offensive.

 

[Hieberrr]

I can't tell if this is a serious question or not....

Depends who is asking. Blackface, as far as I know, in North America is a big no-no since it was used in entertainment to mock black people. In the Netherlands, it's completely different if I recall correctly.

 

[Slayven]

Fuck him, and I mean atleast Republicans know enough to Dog Whistle.

 

[freenudemacusers]

Out of curiosity how is Blackface supposed to be offensive?

.

 

[LostMyNarbles]

when the whole squad rolls through lookin fresh

That looks distasteful and tacky as hell.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

Youre not a Euro leader if youre not into blackface, just ask Dave

 

[nillapuddin]

Says its annual, joined in 2011

That means atleast 4, maybe 5 times he has done this before.

Has this been a topic of controversy in the past festivals?

 

[Pelydr]

Do they just not give a fuck? What's the deal here. Is the black population there so small that they don't think it matters? Do they think it's for funsies?

So many questions. I'd like to hear from a Belgian person.

If you had been a part of any Zwarte Piet thread on here it would just be a bunch of racist asses who think that racism only exists in the US and that blackface is ONLY an American thing. So when they paint their faces black, don bright red lipstick and put an Afro on their head its NOT being racist. :lol Even when the tiny black population in their country protests against it.

Racism is everywhere and just like many Americans don't want to acknowledge it so do most Europeans.

 

[freeofgreed]

Fucking Belgium. Every time I see this country mentioned on here it's always about this same shit. Why do they have such an obsession with painting their skin black? This is the same country that has a fucking statue of one of the biggest mass murderers in history. Dude was so bad even other colonial governments thought he was crazy.

 

[adamsappel]

Is this a Zwarte Pete thing? At least (most of) these people look like they're going for the "chimneysweep" look.

 

[meppi]

As if the whole government here wasn't enough of a joke already. Jesus fuck. What a retard...

Fucking Belgium. Every time I see this country mentioned on here it's always about this same shit. Why do they have such an obsession with painting their skin black? This is the same country that has a fucking statue of one of the biggest mass murders in history. Dude was so bad even other colonial governments thought he was crazy.

Just remember that there are quite a lot of people that live here that hate this country just as much. :-/
I'm not saying this as a faux outrage kinda thing, but I've been thinking of selling my home, picking up all my belongings and moving to the Netherlands for the past 2 months or so...
If only changing jobs wouldn't be such a hassle. :-/

 

[Paracelsus]

Reminds me of that thread about the dolls that we had few months ago.

 

[kess]

Guys, it's just like Tin Tin

...

happy adventures in the Congo

 

[freeofgreed]

As if the whole government here wasn't enough of a joke already. Jesus fuck. What a retard...



Just remember that there are quite a lot of people that live here that hate this country just as much. :-/
I'm not saying this as a faux outrage kinda thing, but I've been thinking of selling my home, picking up all my belongings and moving to the Netherlands for the past 2 months or so...
If only changing jobs wouldn't be such a hassle. :-/

Aside from the weird obsession with painting your skin black, what else do you dislike about it?

 

[Prinz Eugn]

I think this is the right organization?

http://translate.google.com/transla.../www.bruxelles.be/artdet.cfm/5277&prev=search

The origins
The association -to Brussels association says "socheté" - the swarthy was created in 1876 to save a Brussels crèche at the edge of bankruptcy. At that time, the exploration and discovery of African countries speak to the imagination of the people and disguise in "African significant" is ideal to ensure the anonymity of collectors, often good citizens and regular customers of restaurants they make the quest ...

Historically, I think it's interesting that anything bad the allies were claiming the Germans did to Belgian civilians, Belgium actually did ten times worse to the Congo, and on a much grander scale.

 

[spwolf]

Historically, I think it's interesting that anything bad the allies were claiming the Germans did to Belgian civilians, Belgium actually did ten times worse to the Congo, and on a much grander scale.

"Claiming"? Prinz Eugen? Hmm.

 

[Oersted]

Shameful. Unbelievable that they are still holding uo that tradition.

 

[Dryk]

Racism is everywhere and just like many Americans don't want to acknowledge it so do most Europeans.

A lot of European countries always seem to conveniently forget their part in colonialism and the slave trade whenever blackface comes up

 

[meppi]

Aside from the weird obsession with painting your skin black, what else do you dislike about it?

At this point, mostly the way how the government seems to exist solely just to screw over the working class.
There's really too much for me to go into, and certainly at this time of day where I really should he heading off to bed...

Society as a whole certainly seems to be heading in a very fucked up direction as well.
Perhaps that's just me getting older, but I doubt it as friends seem to feel the same and come across the same kind of situations with certain types of people that you sometimes wonder why they even exist.
And before anyone interprets this as being about race, don't! That's not what I'm talking about at all. Quite the opposite if fact.

There's tons of racism everywhere and tons of people that seem to find pleasure in fucking others over for whatever reason.

This of course depends on the region where you live and many other factors.
Let's just say I'm not in a very good place at this point in time and haven't been for quite a few years.
Really would love to get out of the hell hole that I'm in, but that takes money. A bit too much for what I have atm.

 

[theignoramus]

I find it more offensive they are jovial about paying homage to the freaking Congolese conquest. Millions died and it was on of the worst atrocities of the last century. Have they no sense of shame?

 

[Prinz Eugn]

"Claiming"? Prinz Eugen? Hmm.

Not to say many of the claims weren't true, but there was a significant amount of embellishment as to the cruelty, like German soldiers throwing babies into the air and catching them on their bayonets, IIRC. But children did really get their hands cut off in the Belgian Congo for harvesting insufficient rubber, and the number of civilians killed by Belgian actions in the Congo was greater by several magnitudes as far as I'm aware.

 

[CadetMahoney]

Fucking Belgium. Every time I see this country mentioned on here it's always about this same shit. Why do they have such an obsession with painting their skin black?

Their paranoid inert racism seeping through the cracks is my guess.