In diverse U.S., Santa has many faces, races

“Kids don’t see color. They see a fat guy in a red suit giving toys,” said Dee Sinclair, 50, of Atlanta, who bills himself as the “Real Black Santa” and sports a very real, very white beard to prove it. He said in his 12 years of Santa-dom, he has posed with children and adults of all backgrounds during appearances at art centers, private parties and the occasional suburban Christmas tree lighting.

“The character to me is all about the spirit of Christmas,” Sinclair said. “If we leave Christmas to ourselves, we’d be all right.”

This holiday season, however, not all reactions to nonwhite Santas have been jolly.

At Indiana University in Bloomington earlier this month, a dormitory bulletin board posed the question, “Can Santa Claus be a black man?” in hopes of generating fruitful discussion about racial stereotypes. Instead, it generated outrage on social media because it also asked other questions that played to stereotypes, such as whether a black Santa would only visit the ghetto. The display, which a university spokesman described as well-intended but “misguided,” was taken down.

Last week, a high school teacher in Rio Rancho, N.M., was disciplined, and apologized, for telling a black student who dressed as Santa Claus, “Don’t you know Santa Claus is white? Why are you wearing that?” The teacher has since been placed on paid administrative leave.

Also last week, Fox News host Megyn Kelly sparked a heated debate when she declared on air, “And by the way, for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white,” during a panel discussion about a blogger’s essay arguing that children of other races could feel alienated by constantly seeing Santa as white. Kelly later said her comments were motivated by humor, not “by any racial fear or loathing.”

That situation was promptly skewered by comics such as Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and Kenan Thompson of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” who, clad in a full Santa suit and beard, joked about Kelly’s comments and quipped: “You heard of secret Santa? Well, here’s a secret for you: I’m black as hell!”

Richard Reyes, 62, of Houston, who has portrayed “Pancho Claus” for 32 years, found this year’s debate over Santa’s race surprising. He has seen Santa transformed into many images for years, he said. In his version, Pancho Claus has a goatee, and accessorizes his zoot suit with sunglasses and a fedora.

“For these diverse times, it’s important for children to see Santa in all these different forms,” Reyes said.

The short film and book “The Native American Night Before Christmas” by Gary Robinson has “Old Red Shirt,” or the American Indian Santa Claus, visiting children with a team of flying white buffalo to deliver commodities, fry bread and other goodies.

“As with Jesus, cultures adopt images that apply to them,” said Robinson, who lives on the Santa Ynez Reservation in California. “So it’s totally appropriate that we do it with Santa.”