Department Stores Work to Have More Black Santas

By Maximillian Boudreaux Published: November 24, 2021

Department Stores Work to Have More Black Santas

In this Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013 photo, Dee Sinclair, who bills himself as the real black Santa reads a story to children, in Atlanta. Fusing the icon of the long-white beard and red suit from American artist Norman Rockwell and later Coca-Cola, in recent years the new Santas incorporate their own ethnic take on the Christmastime figure with various interpretations. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

In Summary

Old Navy and other retailers are looking to give families a Santa Claus they can identify with racially.

Old Navy will be hosting a “Santa School for all” virtually on Friday to recruit a more diverse pool of future Saint Nicks.

The goal is to excite families with holiday joy while giving them a new perspective on who can play Kris Kringle, NBC News reported.

Going to malls across the country during the holiday season, people typically run into a Santa that looks like a white man with a white beard and a red suit.

However, through the new training program, Old Navy and other retailers are looking to give families a Santa Claus they can identify with racially.

“Businesses like Old Navy understand that more and more customers want their Santas to look like them,” Kringle Group owner Tim Connaghan told NBC. “But it’s just very hard to find an Asian or Hispanic or African American Santa, especially one with a full white and real beard. Many are, I guess you can say, follicly challenged.”

For aspiring Santas who want to don the iconic red suit, attending this training will give them techniques on being relatable to children of all ethnicities beyond just trying to figure out who was naughty or nice.

“In the 30-minute virtual course, the Santa trainees will also learn some key phrases in both sign language and Spanish, and how to take that perfect holiday photo,” Dion “Santa Dee” Sinclair, better known as the “The Real Black Santa,” said.

With department stores becoming more inclusive of other ethnicities portraying Santa Claus, this will hopefully redefine America’s ideal of how Kris Kringle is supposed to look.