Personally I think that every mistake is a teaching opportunity. In this context, rather than try to sweep the racism under the rug of history as quickly and quietly as possible, I think changes should be made but in a way that invites people (especially children) to ask questions about the background of the traditions and why those representations of persons of color are problematic and should be changed. Without this it just looks like an attempt to cover up and deny the existence of the past forms of discrimination, which especially does a disservice to people experiencing present forms of discrimination.
And also, maybe, dealing with these things should not be fast or easy.
Nothing about this is imaginary, because in some ways these problems haven’t changed much. There is value in spending time on it in the present.
All of that said, I am a white guy from North America, not a POC from the Netherlands, so my input is just an opinion.
Personally I think that every mistake is a teaching opportunity. In this context, rather than try to sweep the racism under the rug of history as quickly and quietly as possible, I think changes should be made but in a way that invites people (especially children) to ask questions about the background of the traditions and why those representations of persons of color are problematic and should be changed. Without this it just looks like an attempt to cover up and deny the existence of the past forms of discrimination, which especially does a disservice to people experiencing present forms of discrimination.
And also, maybe, dealing with these things should not be fast or easy.
Nothing about this is imaginary, because in some ways these problems haven’t changed much. There is value in spending time on it in the present.
All of that said, I am a white guy from North America, not a POC from the Netherlands, so my input is just an opinion.