Kamilah Newton, Yahoo! News, December 10, 2020
When the story of an Arkansas family and their Black Santa display went viral earlier this week, it did so for two reasons first for the angry, anonymous racist note it inspired, and then, shortly thereafter, for the supportive displays of Black Santas it inspired in the neighborhood, turning a deeply upsetting experience into a “warm and fuzzy feeling” for the family.
The first part of that story, though of the racist ire that began with “Please remove your negro Santa Claus yard decoration” is, sadly, a familiar one. In 2016, when the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., upended a 24-year-old tradition by inviting a Black Santa to take part in its annual “Santa Experience,” both the mall and “Santa Larry” himself received tons of backlash. Years before that, in 2013, then-Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly hosted an entire, controversial segment to remind “kids watching at home” that “Santa just