We may be in the year 2016, but sometimes it doesn’t feel that way. With all the racism and hate crimes going on, it feels like we went back in time this year.
We need slivers of hope to remind us of the good in this world. Mall of America hiring the first Black Santa Claus might just be that sliver, even if it should have happened years ago.
It looks like the Santa Experience inside the Mall of America has hired it’s first-ever Santa of color. His name is Larry Jefferson, and he is a retired U.S. Army veteran that lives in Dallas.
Mall of America Santa Experience owner, Landon Luther, met Jefferson at a Santa conference in Missouri this past summer.
A Santa conference in the summer? Yeah, it happens, and they play tug-of-war while there.
While most of us think there should have been a Santa of color long ago, it looks like there weren’t many people lining up to do it. Regarding the Santa conference, Jefferson stated:
“We had close to a 1,000 Santas there, and I was the only Santa of color.”
In a country that is more than 12 percent black, it seems kind of crazy that Jefferson is the only Black Santa out there. It’s not like Jefferson has a different message to tell the children this holiday season. He is just like every other Santa out there, as he said:
“I’m just a messenger to bring hope, love, and peace to girls and boys.”
It’s that plain and simple.
However, the racists felt they had to come out and play on this story. Things got so bad the local news station had to disable comments on the story because people are just that terrible.
Looks like we had to turn comments off on story about Mall of America's first black Santa. Merry Christmas everyone!https://t.co/BQVm24DH6y
— Scott Gillespie (@stribgillespie) December 2, 2016
In true crazy fashion, the fact that there is a Black Santa only seems to bother the parents and not the kids. The parents are up-in-arms over a fictional character not being the same color as them.
Kids, they think differently. Jefferson said:
“It gives them something to identity with, but Santa is still just Santa. Just Saturday, I was doing an event, and one child said, ‘Santa, you’re brown,’ and I said, ‘Yes, I am, but Santa comes in many different colors.’ He said, ‘Oh,’ so I gave him a candy cane, he ran off with the other kids.”
We aren’t born with hate; it is learned. And it is learned from the people upset over a Black Santa.
Lose your racism and enjoy the holiday!
Featured Image via WCCO
