| |
For some
children,
it is
still a
surprise to
see a
Santa
who
looks
different
from the
rest,
Jefferson
said. On
Saturday,
back in
Texas,
Jefferson
was
putting
on his
coat,
about to
leave a
party at
a
friend’s
house,
when
some
kids ran
up to
him. |
| |
The Mall
of
America’s
first
black
Santa:
‘Santa
comes in
many
different
colors’
By
Samantha
Schmidt
Washington
Post
BLOOMINGTON,
MN - As
he
walked
through
the
crowd of
hundreds
of
bearded,
plump,
and
jolly
white
men,
Larry
Jefferson,
a
professional
Santa
Claus,
stood
out.
It was
July, at
the
annual
Santa
Claus
convention
in
Branson,
Mo.,
which
draws
more
than 800
Santa
Clauses
and Mrs.
Clauses
from
across
the
country.
To
Jefferson,
of
Irving,
Tex.,
the
Santas
at the
convention
were
just
like him
— his
“brothers
in the
red
suits.”
But
unlike nearly
all of
others, and
contrary
to most
classic American
images
of St.
Nick,
Jefferson
is
black.
Unbeknownst
to him
at
first,
there
was a
Santa
recruiter
at the
convention
looking
for
someone
just
like
him. A
Santa by
the name
of
Sid went
to the
convention
on a
mission:
find a
Santa of
color.
The
organizers of
the
Santa
Experience,
which
offers
photo
sessions
with
Santa in
the Mall
of
America
in
Bloomington,
Minn.,
during
the
holiday
season,
were
hoping
to
diversify.
In its
24
years,
the mall
had
never
had a
black
Santa
Claus.
“He said
‘hey, if
you want
to work
in
Minnesota,
we’ll
treat
you
nice,'”
Jefferson
said in
an
interview
with The
Washington
Post.
On
Thursday,
Jefferson
had his
first
day of a
four-day
stint at
the Mall
of
America
— marking
the
mall’s
first
ever
black
Santa,
and
providing some
Minnesotan
families
with a
holiday
experience
they
felt was
long
overdue.
One
woman
told
Jefferson
she had
been
waiting
25 years
to see a
black
Santa.
Other
families
told him
they had
driven
hours
just so
their
kids
could
meet
him.
“They’re
far and
few
between,”
Jefferson,
who is
in his
mid-50s,
said of
Santas
of
color.
“That’s
why I do
it.”
But when
Jefferson
first
became
“Santa
Larry”
it
wasn’t only
about
representing
his
community.
“It was
a
calling,
you
know,”
Jefferson
said.
Once
you’re
Santa,
you’re
always
Santa.
Late
Thursday
evening,
a reporter
called a
phone
number
listed
for
Jefferson’s
event
scheduling,
expecting
a
booking
agent or
an
automated
recording.
“Hello,
this is
Santa,”
the voice
on the
other
end
responded,
as if it
were
second
nature.
After 17
years in
the
profession,
and
nearly a
lifetime
of
taking
on the
role,
his deep
connection
to his
red-robed
alter-ego
is
second
nature.
Larry
Jefferson
takes
part in
a
tug-of-war
at a
Santa
convention
in
Missouri
in July.
Growing
up in a
family
with 11
siblings,
Jefferson
always
loved
Christmas,
he said.
One
year,
when he
was 12
years
old, his
father’s
back was
hurting,
and he
didn’t
feel up
to
putting
the
Christmas
presents
under
the tree
for the
family.
“I need
you to
be Santa
for me,”
he told
his son.
Jefferson
gladly
stepped
up. He
waited
until
his
siblings
were
fast
asleep
before
he
quietly
opened
the door
and
crept
out to
the car
to carry
in the
Christmas
presents.
When his
nephews
were
sick one
year
around
Christmas,
he
bought a
Santa
suit and
asked a
neighbor
to drive
him
across
town to
surprise
them.
And when
he
joined
the Army
reserves
— for
which he
served
as a
captain
for 30
years
— Jefferson
became Santa
for the
troops.
The news
of his
Mall of
America
gig
— his
most
high-profile
yet
— has
made him
a bit of
a
celebrity.
He’s
been
featured
in local
and
national
news
outlets,
and was
invited
to speak
on the
“Steve
Harvey”
show
Friday.
He would
love to
set his
sights
even
further
— “I
wanna go
to the
White
House!”
he
declared.
But not
everyone
has been
so eager
to
change
the
traditional
image of
Santa
Claus.
As
recently
as this
year,
potential
employers have
told
Jefferson
that he
wasn’t
the
“particular
fit” for
them, he
said.
“Some
companies
aren’t
ready to
hire a
black
Santa or
a
Hispanic
Santa,”
he said.
“Minnesota
has
jumped
to the
forefront
of a lot
of
states.”
Of
course,
in many
parts of
the
country,
a Santa
of color
is not
as
unusual.
In
Houston,
Santa
has been
seen
wearing
a zoot
suit and
dancing
to jazz
in
Mexican-American
neighborhoods.
On
Native
American
reservations,
Santa
often adds
American
Indian
attire
to his
red
suit,
according
to an
Associated
Press
story
from
2013.
That
same
year,
a Santa
controversy
ensued
after
Fox News
anchor Megyn
Kelly
spoke
out
during a
panel
discussion
about a
Slate
article titled,
“Santa
Claus
Should
Not Be a
White
Man
Anymore.”
“For all
you kids
watching
at home,
Santa
just is
white,” she
said.
“Just
because
it makes
you feel
uncomfortable
doesn’t
mean it
has to
change,”
Kelly
added
about
the
writer’s call
to make
Santa
more
inclusive.
“You
know, I
mean,
Jesus
was a
white
man
too.”
For some
children,
it is
still a
surprise to
see a
Santa
who
looks
different
from the
rest,
Jefferson
said. On
Saturday,
back in
Texas,
Jefferson
was
putting
on his
coat,
about to
leave a
party at
a
friend’s
house,
when
some
kids ran
up to
him.
“‘Santa
Claus?'”
one of
them, a
boy
who appeared
to be
about 4
years
old,
asked,
according
to
Jefferson.
“‘I
didn’t
know you
were
brown?'”
“I said,
‘yes, I
am
brown,'”
Jefferson
told The
Post.
“‘And
Santa
comes in
many
different
colors.'”
“‘Oh,'”
the boy
said,
looking
up at
him in
bewilderment,
according
to
Jefferson.
“It’s
always
so
genuine,”
Jefferson
told The
Post.
“Kids
are
going to
speak
their
mind at
a young
age.”
But
behind
the
innocent
looks of
surprise
is yet
another
sign of
necessary
progress
in the
country,
Jefferson
said.
“There
need to
be more
Santas
of
color,
because
this is
America,
and kids
need to
see a
Santa
that
looks
like
them,”
he said.
“That
helps
kids to
identify
with the
love and
spirit
of the
holiday,
you
know?”
The
demand
for
photos
with
Jefferson
is
clearly
plentiful;
all of
his
appointments
at the
Mall of
America’s
Santa
Experience
this
weekend
were entirely
booked
by
Thursday.
“It’s
hilarious
to me,
I’m
really
humbled
by it,”
he said,
chuckling.
“Everyone’s
making a
big deal
about
this
because
I’m a
black
Santa.
But
gosh,
I’m just
Santa!”
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
I
HI TECH NEWS
I
SPORTS
I
