Desiree Cooper: "Racism is as much about effect as it is intent." (Facebook photo by Shawana Kitt)
Desiree Cooper this month feels the loss of Northland Mall, which shut in March. It's not that she longs to shop there, the former Free Press columnist explains in BLAC magazine:
This is going to be our first Christmas without Northland Mall. And that raises a difficult question for the Black community—where will we go to find a Black Santa Claus?
Cooper, now a grandmother, recalls pre-Christmas visits to the Southfield shop[ping center with her youngsters.
My children grew up with two astounding life experiences that, for me, are the hallmark of the progress we have made as a race: They've never voted for a White president, and they've never sat upon the lap of a White Santa.
I called around to area shopping centers -- including Eastland Center, Fairlane Town Center and Oakland Mall -- asking whether there would be a black Santa this year. The answer was a unified (and sheepish) "No." This is definitely going to be a White Christmas.
The monthly where her essay appears provides a free black Santa opportunity this Saturday at its Ferndale office, and the event registration promptly filled up. A second session is added Sunday from noon-3 p.m. at an AT&T site, 26820 Southfield Road in Lathrup Village. Register here.
Cooper, who was Metro Times editor from 1994-99 before joining the Free Press for 10 years, notes the value of symbols that "cultivate children's racial self-esteem in a society that rarely affirms their Blackness."
Increasingly, Black families are donning their homes with Black angels, Black crèches and Black Santas during the holidays. For them, Christmas iconography should match the culture of the family celebrating it.
They balk at the notion that their children should believe that a White man brings them toys, when the Black parents are the ones working hard to make their children feel safe, loved and happy.
While the evolution of our modern notion of Santa Claus arguably has little to do with race, we have to remember that racism is as much about effect as it is intent. For many Black families, the imagery of a White man coming into Black homes to make the children happy smacks of White paternalism and even slavery—where the master usurped the power of the parents to care for the needs of the children.
-- Alan Stamm
Saturday black Santa event
A reader from the Detroit Parks and Recreation Department, , posts on our Facebook page:
We will have a Black Santa this Saturday at the Detroit Recreation Department's Breakfast with Santa! Tickets are $8 with a 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. seating.
Call 313-628-1100 for more information or tickets.
