Erica Meiland has adjusted her opinion about Zwarte Piet over the years, but otherwise she thinks that people should not go on like that. “Don’t touch Carnival or Christmas.”
It is getting more and more difficult in this country to say what you want, Erica Meiland says in a letter movie of the local political party it supports. “That will be more difficult. Of course I noticed that myself. Things are also taken out of context. And everyone falls over each other and everyone has an opinion. You have that a lot with social media.”
Black Pete
Erica thinks people are overreacting these days. For a long time she was also annoyed by the discussion about Zwarte Piet, but she has now resigned herself to that. “I was very against it at first,” she says. But: “At some point you will also think about it.”
Now Erica has less trouble adjusting the children’s party. “Apparently these people feel very much discriminated against. Of course you have to do something with that too.”
party of lights
However, they should stay away from the other parties, according to Erica. “Everyone should be treated equally. But to turn history around, remove street names, get to the carnival and the Christmas party. According to the university, that should be called a festival of lights, which is really going too far for me.”
People carry on, says Erica. “I recently heard that the Scheepvaartmuseum in Amsterdam were all heroes from the past, who had apparently also committed abuses… They are trying to get them out. Things are removed, because something sticks to them again.”
Think it over
It is bizarre to tackle things ‘that are way ahead of our time’, she thinks. “I think that’s going too far. As a country and village, we have a history and you should not touch that anymore. And of course there were bad things, but there were also good things and now you have that too. Let history be history.”
Does Erica want to pass on something else to the people? “You have to think before you speak.”