racism tarnishes the Three Kings parades

taketonews

The controversy over racism has returned to take the parades of kings Spanish with white actors with the black painted face to interpret the king balthasar. This practice, called ‘blackface’, has had its main protagonist in Madridwith a controversial King Baltasar who has sent videos with the painted face and pretending that he did not know how to pronounce Spanish well, but it has not been the only municipality, but there are many places that maintain this practice of caricature to an Afro-descendant person with makeup.

In addition to Madrid, the most famous case this year has been that of Sevillewhere a businessman —Jose Luis Cabeza Hernandez— has dressed up as bullfighter, with a tunic inspired by a green and gold light suit, and he has painted his face black to emulate King Baltasar. Founder of the ‘Mesones del Serranito’ hospitality chain, this curious wizard has taken advantage of the ‘royal’ float to, instead of candy, throw snack vouchers of your restaurant chain.

“King Baltasar of Seville comes out with his face painted black, dressed as a bullfighter and he is a businessman who is taking advantage of the children’s party to advertise his business. This is what the left does and we have to ask for another amnesty”, has criticized the coordinator of the Más Madrid Executive, Ramon Lopez.

Also the Catalan town of Equalizerwhere the oldest parade in Catalonia, Baltasar and his pages have once again carried the painted face, as reflected by some citizens on social networks. “We do not consider ourselves xenophobic or racist“, nor do we consider racist the fact that some people dress up and put on makeup to act and bring joy to children,” he defended. Eduard Creuswho leads the private organization behind the parade, speaking to Reuters.

In the town hall of Villar del Olmoin Madrid, King Baltasar was played by a black actor, but at his side two pages with colored faces They marred the parade. “We already have a real black Baltasar, but we still need to demonstrate our racism,” criticized the militant of We can Pablo Echenique through his account on the social network X (formerly Twitter) along with a photograph of the town’s parade.

Other locations such as Málaga, Alicante, Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz) or Granada They have done the same, with actors with their faces made up; while one of the most controversial municipalities is always Alcoiwhere hundreds of neighbors exercise every year royal pages with a tinted face dark and the thickened and painted red lips. They are the so-called ‘els negrets’ (the blacks) who go out every January 5 to the streets of the Alicante town to distribute gifts to children.

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The entity Afrofemalespromotes since 2021 a online signature collection to transform the Alicante parade. So far, they have collected 40,400 signatures to modify this tradition. “It doesn’t matter what you think you’re trying to represent. It doesn’t matter that you think that’s how you make children happy. It doesn’t matter if it’s a tradition. If you paint yourself to caricature a black character, it’s racist,” they say.

Those who defend painting Baltasar’s white face black justify the practice by the “tradition”while anti-racism organizations describe it as racist. Some citizens wonder on social networks why the opposite does not happen: a black actor with white painted face.



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