Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet: Why a holiday has me talking to my kids about blackface

When my son was 5, I took him to see the World Press Photo exhibit. I’d taken him every year since he was a baby, but that year — 2015 — he was noticeably more cognizant of what he was seeing and had many more questions.

The recipient of the World Press Photo Multimedia award was the video of Eric Garner’s death at the hands of Staten Island police, which my son watched with some confusion. “Who are the men in dark clothes?” The police. “Why are they holding that man on the ground?” They are arresting him. “Why won’t they let him breathe?” Because he’s black.