Simone Tarver, 30, whose mother sparked her collecting of Black Santas, holds two Santas and wears her Black Santa pajama pants from Old Navy at her Everett home. “It’s been a good year for finding Black Santas,” she said. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Simone Tarver, 30, whose mother sparked her collecting of Black Santas, holds two Santas and wears her Black Santa pajama pants from Old Navy at her Everett home. “It’s been a good year for finding Black Santas,” she said. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Yes, Virginia, not all Santas are pale old white dudes

Representation matters as stores offer Saint Nick likenesses in a range of skin tones.

EVERETT — A plump old white guy with rosy cheeks isn’t the only Santa in town.

A number of Black Santas also spread cheer.

What’s up with that?

The North Pole has diversified.

Mainstream retailers stepped up to offer more Kris Kringles of color on shelves this year.

“It’s been a good year for finding Black Santas,” said Simone Tarver, 30, an Everett Boeing worker. “Typically I buy everything I see. This year I had to exercise restraint because I saw so many.”

She would have taken home the 5-foot animated Black Santa at Rite Aid had there been space in her apartment.

Home Goods, Michaels and Hobby Lobby have Santa figures in a variety of skin tones. Reddi-wip has a Black Santa on its holiday cans of dairy dessert toppers. Nordstrom video calls are with Santas from a range of ethnic backgrounds.

Black Santas in the flesh were available for socially distanced chats and photo ops at Black Coffee Northwest Cafe in Shoreline and at Rainier Beach Community Center, a Seattle tradition.

As a child, Tarver had to visit south Seattle to sit on the knee of a Santa with her skin color. Later on, shopping trips for decorations were a treasure hunt in downtown Seattle. “We’d go around to a lot of shops and maybe see one brown or Black Santa,” she said.

Hallmark has offered African American Santa ornaments for years, and Tarver grew up with these on her tree.

This year Tarver snagged a Black Mrs. Claus ornament for $3 at Target that could be paired with a Mr. C in Black — or white, to make an interracial couple, matching her relationship with her boyfriend. A tablecloth patterned with Black and white Santas is a new Walmart find.

Her pajama lounge pants came from Old Navy, whose Jingle Jammies and cozy socks collection is available in skin color variations known as Santa Cocoa, Santa Walnut and Santa Beige.

“We are actively developing more inclusive products that represent our customers,” the Old Navy website says.

It’s still a white Christmas in some minds.

A man in Arkansas put an inflatable Black Santa on his front lawn because he wanted his 4-year-old daughter to see herself represented in the Christmas celebration.

He received an anonymous hate letter:

“Please remove your negro Santa. You should not try to deceive children into believing that I am a negro,” said the letter, which was signed, “Santa Claus.”

When word got out, white neighbors put Black Santas on their lawns in solidarity.

Santa Claus is make-believe, so there’s no right or wrong ethnicity for him, or gender, for that matter.

Megyn Kelly garnered controversy in 2013 when she declared on her Fox News show that Santa can only be white. Three years later, the Mall of America, the mega Minnesota shopping complex, had a Black Santa for the first time in 2016.

Some have called for Santa to be rebranded as gender-neutral. An Indiana mall caused a stir some years ago when people learned the Santa behind the fake beard was a woman.

There also has been talk that Santa needs to get rid of his unhealthy paunch, as he did the pipe. It wasn’t all that long ago that Santa was a smoker. Remember: “The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath.” A P.C. version of the sugar-plum classic poem “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” in 2012 kicked his 200-year tobacco habit.

Santa has been whitewashed over the years.

The legend of St. Nicholas goes back to a philanthropic 4th century monk who lived in what is today Turkey and was likely of olive complexion.

The modern image of Santa Claus was created in the late 1800s by an American artist in a series of cartoons for Harper’s Weekly magazine. It became a staple of Christmas cards and advertising images popularized with a 1930s Coca-Cola ad.

This is 2020. Representation matters.

Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Lead Mammography Technologist Starla DeLap talks about the different ways the Hologic 3D Mammography Exam can be situated around a patient on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Providence Everett launches early breast cancer detection program

Prevention4Me, the hospital’s new breast cancer risk assessment tool, will help doctors and patients expedite diagnoses and treatment.

A boat drives out of the Port of Everett Marina in front of Boxcar Park on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Expand the Port of Everett’s boundaries? Voters must decide

The port calls it a workforce measure to boost the economy and add jobs. Opponents say it burdens property owners with another tax.

A closing sign hangs above the entrance of the Big Lots at Evergreen and Madison on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Big Lots announces it will shutter Everett and Lynnwood stores

The Marysville store will remain open for now. The retailer reported declining sales in the first quarter of the year.

Lily Gladstone poses at the premiere of the Hulu miniseries "Under the Bridge" at the DGA Theatre, Monday, April 15, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Mountlake Terrace’s Lily Gladstone nominated for Emmy for ‘Under the Bridge’

The nomination comes after Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe wins for her performance in “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

A Mukilteo firefighter waves out of a fire truck. (Photo provided by Mukilteo Fire Department)
Mukilteo levy lid lift will hike average tax bill about $180 more a year

The lift will fund six more workers, ambulances, equipment and medical supplies. Opponents call it unnecessary.

Doug Ewing looks out over a small section of the Snohomish River that he has been keeping clean for the last ten years on Thursday, May 19, 2022, at the Oscar Hoover Water Access Site in Snohomish, Washington. Ewing scours the shorelines and dives into the depths of the river in search of trash left by visitors, and has removed 59 truckloads of litter from the quarter-mile stretch over the past decade. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
If Snohomish River campaign passes, polluters could be held accountable

This summer, a committee spearheaded efforts to grant legal rights to the river. Leaders gathered 1,300 signatures.

State Sen. Jesse Salomon poses for a photo at his home in Shoreline, Washington on Friday, May 17, 2024. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Amid mental health crisis, local senator forges path for mushroom therapy

State Sen. Jesse Salomon has championed the push for psilocybin research. A University of Washington drug trial is expected to begin in 2025.

Diane Symms, right, has been the owner and CEO of Lombardi's Italian Restaurants for more than three decades. Now in her 70s, she's slowly turning the reins over to her daughter, Kerri Lonergan-Dreke.Shot on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020 in Everett, Wash. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Lombardi’s Italian Restaurant in Mill Creek to close

Lombardi’s Restaurant Group sold the Mill Creek property currently occupied by the restaurant. The Everett and Bellingham locations remain open.

Curt Shriner, right, acts during rehearsal for The Curious Savage at the Historic Everett Theatre in Everett, Washington on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Behind him on the left is a drawing of his late wife Laura Shriner, left, and granddaughter Veronica Osburn-Calhoun, right. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘This play was for her’: Everett theater’s first show in 5 years is a tribute

After tragically losing the two lights of his life, Everett Historic Theatre manager Curt Shriner said the show must go on.

Everett
Woman dies in third fatal train crash near Everett since June

An Amtrak train heading west struck the woman near Harborview Park on Thursday night, police said.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Mountlake Terrace in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Pedestrian hit by semitruck on I-5 in Mountlake Terrace

The pedestrian, a 22-year-old Marysville man, was taken to Harborview Medical Center after the Friday morning crash.

Top row: Riaz Khan, left, Jason Moon, Strom Peterson. Bottom row: Lillian Ortiz-Self, left, Kristina Mitchell, Bruce Guthrie
Education, housing top issues in races to represent Edmonds, Mukilteo

Strom Peterson and Lillian Ortiz-Self are both running for their sixth terms in Olympia. They each face multiple challengers.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.