@Nothing-above-Gronin Only because the story tends to stop halfway. People see a black guy in service to a white guy and think slavery, but the story as it goes back was that the zwarte piet figure was a child slave who was freed by Nicolaas, hence Saint Nicolaas being known as the 'friend of children.' Piet then became his knecht, which is an old Dutch term for assistant (which also means he was paid), and helped Saint Nicolaas spread joy to children.
32
@Nothing-above-Gronin Only because the story tends to stop halfway. People see a black guy in service to a white guy and think slavery, but the story as it goes back was that the zwarte piet figure was a child slave who was freed by Nicolaas, hence Saint Nicolaas being known as the 'friend of children.' Piet then became his knecht, which is an old Dutch term for assistant (which also means he was paid), and helped Saint Nicolaas spread joy to children.