Black Santa Bee Ess

Keen, an excuse to use images from the Holiday/Seasonal folder:

In response to a piece by Aisha Harris in Slate that was half a joking suggestion that Santa Claus be replaced by a cheerful penguin, and half a heartfelt reflection on the difficulties of not seeing any part of yourself in an omnipresent cultural symbol, Kelly decided to dig in on an odd priority: declaring that Santa Claus has always been an old white guy, and an old white guy he must remain. “Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean it has to change,” she declared confidently. “I mean, Jesus was a white man, too. He was a historical figure. That’s verifiable fact, as is Santa. I just want the kids watching to know that. But my point is, how do you just revise it in the middle of the legacy of the story, and change Santa from white to black?”

I keep asking that about Nick Fury. [AS I TYPE, CHRIS HAYES ON MSNBC ANNOUNCES HE'LL BE SPEAKING W/ AISHA HARRIS AFTER THE BREAK. NOW I MUST TYPE FASTER.]

And Kelly’s dismissal of other people’s comfort raises the question of whether she’s concealing her own. Beyond tradition, why could it possibly be this important to someone that Santa Claus be white? Is it as a career subsidy to Tim Allen, in the hopes that we’ll get another Santa Claus movie? It is fondness for advertising history and the work of Thomas Nast?

Or is it that Santa Claus is a figure who defies certain rules we teach our children? He’s a stranger who’s allowed to enter our houses without an explicit invitation, and to do so when we’re asleep and vulnerable. In setting out milk and cookies, we’re even giving him permission to stay a while. At a time when a lot of children are taught to be suspicious of strangers, especially men, and who aren’t supposed to let people who aren’t blood family, close family friends, or educators touch them, that rule is suspended for Santa Claus. Children are encouraged to sit on Santa’s lap and confide in him. That special exemption is why we find stories about mall Santas who are sexual offenders a particular betrayal of our trust. If you’re freaked out by the prospect of a non-white Santa Claus, it’s probably worth asking yourself if some of that objection comes from the fact that you might be less comfortable making these exceptions for a man of color.

That lack of charity isn’t exactly shocking. Many of the less savory parts of Kelly’s career involve stoking fears against black men, whether she’s spinning conspiracy theories about the New Black Panther Party’s influence on elections or giving airtime to a source who suggests avoiding groups of young black men as part of the scare-mongering coverage of the so-called “knockout game.”

Now, it could very well be that Rosenberg is over-thinking this just a teeny tiny bit (I type that mostly because the possibility that a FOXNews Blonde Princess had thoughts deep enough to over-think is pretty low) but in the steroidal Bedlam of the reactionary conservative mind such bizarre crap is not surprising. Apparently non-white Hay-soos & non-white Santa are existential threats to Western Civilization/Christendom.

Yo, Megyn Kelly: It's Santa, & he's a ...!!