White Christmas

What color is Santa Claus? Some U.S. department stores are installing black Santas for their black customers. In Detroit's J.L. Hudson emporium, mothers and children have their choice of lining up for eight white Santas or two black Santas. But 75% of the blacks have chosen the white Santas. It is perhaps sad to impose racial politics upon the mythologies of children, but the reasons for the choices are intriguing. The simplest explanation may be that children have almost always seen only white Santas, thus the black man looks odd in the role. But maybe some of the black mothers are making a deliberate choice. Department store Santas can't deliver the goods, of course, only promises, promises. It may be that some mothers prefer to have such gentle hypocrisy emanating from a white Santa Claus.

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