Often lost in the news are stories that reflect the good that lives in people. Let’s be honest, a news story about racial conflict in 2020 is certain to get mass media coverage, but a news story about people of different races bonding may not attract the same attention.
In a neighborhood in North Little Rock, Arkansas, Chris and Iddy Kennedy put up an inflatable Santa in their front yard. The Kennedys are black - and so was their Santa. Chris Kennedy said that he wanted his 4-year-old daughter, Emily, to see herself represented in the Christmas celebration - thus, the Black Santa.
Kennedy always thought he lived in a peaceful, understanding neighborhood and that’s why he was shocked when he received a letter from Santa condemning his Black Santa. The letter from Santa read:
“Please remove your Christmas yard decorations. You should not try to deceive children into believing I am a Negro. I am Caucasian, White man to you.”
When some of the white neighbors learned about the letter, other Black Santas began appearing.
Chip and Cheryl Welsch, who are white, ordered the exact Black Santa the Kennedys had put out. Chip said, “I ordered the same one, and so did the Joneses, and so did the Ketinas, and the Kellers next door got one.”
Chip Welsch said he felt like this was a good way of distinguishing his family from the person who sent the Kennedys the letter. Cheryl said, “I think you have to speak out against racism, and I think the letter is very, very racist. And it really kind of hurt my heart that someone in our neighborhood was sending something like that to one of our neighbors. I read the letter and I was like, get the biggest one you can find!”
Chris Kennedy said his original goal was to reinforce that to their young daughter, Emily, Santa was Black and always has been in her life. He said he noticed other Black Santas showing up on neighborhood yards and admitted, “the outpouring definitely helps to heal up the wound you know when you break something it tends to grow back stronger.”
The fact that this occurred in a neighborhood in North Little Rock, Arkansas and not in a suburb of liberal cities like, Portland, Seattle or San Francisco, proves that kind hearts dedicated to an understanding that we can coexist in a united America are real.
It is unfortunate that the positive stories about race relations never garner the same attention as the stories of conflict. But these white neighbors in that neighborhood in North Little Rock, Arkansas represent Americans all across this country that feel the same way.
And this Christmas story exemplifies the true meaning of Christmas!
