Santa isn't black!

[LSN80]

At least not according to an unnamed teacher at Cleveland High School, who told freshman Christopher Rougier that how he was dressed was inappropriate, as "Santa is white." Rougier was wearing a Santa hat and beard to school, where he was met with said comments from his teacher. Now, the family, specifically Christopher's father Michael, is upset at the way the school is handling things. Michael is white, with Christopher's mother being black. So if anyone would understand the difficulty from racial profiling, one would think it would be them.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/16/us/new-mexico-teacher-black-santa/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

First off, let's talk about the boy, Christopher Rougier. He's what, 15 years old? Just because a predominently white culture decided to depict Santa as white, that doesn't mean that the mythological man can't be black. I don't know about you, but I've been to the mall during Christmas, and while the mall Santa's are predominently white, not all of them have been. Further, I've never seen or heard of a complaint regarding a black Santa. So why did Rougier's teacher feel the need to step in and tell him that "Santa isn't black?" Is it sheer ignorance, or racism here? Rougier's dad, Michael, says prejudice, and that it's ruined Christmas for his son already.

This has ruined Christmas for Christopher. He no longer wants to decorate the tree, something he’s always enjoyed doing. Santa Claus is Asian, he's Mexican, he's German, whatever country and whatever society that celebrates Christmas like we do. In our family, you got Miss Claus, who is black and Santa Claus is white. I just want him to be back to the Christopher that was bouncing off the walls about Christmas.”

As for the unnamed teacher, School District Director Kim Vessely had the following to say:

"This situation involves a teacher recently hired by Cleveland High who made -- and admits he made -- a stupid mistake. The remark was inappropriate and should not have been made. The teacher feels very badly about what occurred. He self-reported the incident to the principal and has apologized to the student and to the student's parent. Appropriate disciplinary action has been taken."

Has the appropriate disciplinary action truly been taken? According to the aforementioned School District Director Kim Vessely, the teacher is on paid leave until after the holiday season. Essentially, the man is getting a paid vacation during a pretty darn nice time to happen. Perhaps he can get his Christmas shopping done and catch a few movies during his time off.

As for Rougier's parents, they understandably aren't happy with how the situation is being handled by the school. According to Rougier's dad, they didn't find out about the situation from the school, they heard about it through the gossip mill, other parents. Rougier's father did say that the teacher did call and personally apologize to Christopher, but that isn't enough. The family also requested that Christopher be moved out of the teacher's class, and the school acquiesced. Still, that's not enough for Rougier's dad.

"He needs to be fired. For him to make a comment like that, there has to be at a minimum prejudice in him, and we don't have room for that."

My hope in this situation is that the teacher was simply young and, as a result, said something careless. We do tend to associate Santa as being a white man with a big white beard, so my hope is the teacher was simply being careless with his words. However, I doubt it. For a teacher to come and outright say to a student who was having fun dressing up that "Santa isn't black" was essentially him telling Rougier that it would be fine if the white boys dressed up like Santa, but not the black ones. That in and of itself reaks of prejudice, in my opinion. Do you fire a teacher over that?

That's a good question.

Two journalists, Aisha Harris, who is a black writer, and Megyn Kelly, an anchor for Fox News, have been trading snipes back and forth in the media. Not over the Rougier situation, specifically, but over the controversy that now exists of Santa mostly always being white. Said Harris, in an excerpt from a piece she wrote:

When I was a kid, I knew two different Santa Clauses. The first had a fat belly, rosy cheeks, a long white beard, and skin as pink as bubble gum. He was omnipresent, visiting my pre-school and the local mall, visible in all of my favorite Christmas specials. Then there was the Santa in my family’s household, in the form of ornaments, cards, and holiday figurines. A near-carbon copy of the first one—big belly, rosy cheeks, long white beard: check, check, check. But his skin was as dark as mine. Seeing two different Santas was bewildering. Eventually I asked my father what Santa really looked like. Was he brown, like us? Or was he really a white guy?

It's a fair question to ask, and I think the answer is that Santa is whomever you make him out to be. TV programming and such is not, in the recent future, at least, going to go away from the typical white Santa. but I don't think there's any harm in considering Tyler's point of view. For families where dad still dresses up as Santa, Santa is whatever color or nationality the family is. There must be frustration, however, for children of non-white families to see Santa depicted as their skin color at home, but 90% of the Santa's you see in places like the mall and all that you see on TV being definitely white. Because of this, I think it's important to consider Tyler's point of view with regards to our society.

Fox Anchor Megyn Kelly sees things differently, which she expressed very clearly on a recent broadcast of Fox News:

"And, by the way, for all of you kids watching at home, Santa just is white, but this person is arguing maybe we should also have a black Santa. But, you know, Santa is what he is. And so, you know, we're just debating this because someone wrote about it, kids."

This seems much more narrow-minded, but in essence, she's right. Our society has been telling us that Santa is white by the way they depict him at malls and other Christmas events, and in commerialization by way of television, be it commercials, TV Shows, or movies. Still, I can't but help feel Kelly was being somewhat dismissive of Tyler's point of view with her comment of "were just debating this because someone wrote about it, kids." No, I think the Rougier situation is some of the reason, as is other families who undoubtably have faced such dilemnas as Tyler did growing up. One more round from Tyler to Kelly and back, and we'll wrap things up here. This is from Tyler:

"To me, it just spoke to the reason why I wrote the piece, is that there are a lot of people out there who automatically assume that Santa must be white and there's no way -- it's laughable that he could be anything else.
The point I was trying to make was that I think that we have, the world has changed a lot over the last 50, 100 years, and Santa Claus is a fictional character. He is nothing like the original historical figure he was based off of anymore. We've kind of evolved him into this magical mythical figure, and for kids, I think it's important that they don't have to feel necessarily bogged down that Santa is always white, and that's the way he should be."

I'm curious if there are those who are non-white here on Wrestlezone, to see if they experienced such confusion growing up. Anyways, here's Kelly's retort:

“Humor is what we try to bring to this show, but that’s lost on the humorless. This would be funny if it were not so telling about our society, in particular, the knee-jerk instinct by so many to race-bait and to assume the worst in people, especially people employed by the very powerful Fox News Channel.”

Personally, I see nothing funny about this, as this wasn't just some attempt to race-bait, as Kelly put it. It was a white teacher telling a black student that Santa is white. Sometimes, things aren't as black and white as Kelly seems to think they are.

Does the comment the teacher made towards Christopher Rougier speak more to a dumb mistake, or prejudice on his part?

Is the punishment handed down to the teacher an appropriate one, or should the consequences be more severe? As Michael Rougier suggested, should he be fired?

Are there any non-Caucasians here on the site that experienced any trouble or confusion growing up about what Santa looked like? In what way?

Do you agree with Aisha Harris here that the color Santa is portrayed as is serious business, or with Megyn Kelly, who believes that it's no big deal?

I usually try to go shorter then this, but there was a lot of ground to cover here. All other thoughts and discussion are welcome here.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Does the comment the teacher made towards Christopher Rougier speak more to a dumb mistake, or prejudice on his part?

Since Santa Claus is as real as The Easter Bunny and The Bunny's complexion receives no discussion whatsoever, I see this more as a prejudice remark than a simple dumb mistake.

This is an icon of the holidays that is portayed differently across the entire world. To say a fictional character has to be white is ignorant.

Is the punishment handed down to the teacher an appropriate one, or should the consequences be more severe? As Michael Rougier suggested, should he be fired?

I don't know the protocol for prejudice remarks as a professional educator, but since they are supposed to be professionals, I'd assume termination.

These are the people we trust to educate our children. It should be met with serious repercussions.

Are there any non-Caucasians here on the site that experienced any trouble or confusion growing up about what Santa looked like? In what way?

I can't truly speak for those who are not Caucasian, but having been in several relationships with women outside of my ethnicity and been in their homes during the holidays, they portray Santa in their image just like everyone else. The last time I discussed Santa's pigmentation I was met with "who fuckin' cares?"

I agree with that sentiment.

Do you agree with Aisha Harris here that the color Santa is portrayed as is serious business, or with Megyn Kelly, who believes that it's no big deal?

Megyn Kelly also said some pretty dumb shit like Christ was also white. I take whatever she says with a grain of salt because if she is met with opposition, she backpedals and turns it into a victimized situation.

The coloration of a fictional character shouldn't be defined by anything since they're fictional characters. It's pretty sad that we are even having this conversation due to professionals not behaving professionally.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Does the comment the teacher made towards Christopher Rougier speak more to a dumb mistake, or prejudice on his part?

A dumb mistake, but the error wasn't in pointing out the racial make-up of a fictional character.....it was casting aspersions as to anything that brings up topics that are subject to racial overtones. Too often, someone is going to take exception to this type of thing, and the matter gets blown up out of proportion.....as it was here.

Recently, a movie was made about Alfred Hitchcock. When casting the film, if the producers used a black man to portray Hitchcock, an objection would have been raised that "Hitchcock wasn't black." Of course, it would have been correct because Hitchcock was an actual person.... and a white man. Claiming that Hitchcock's wasn't black shouldn't offend anyone, yet isn't there someone, somewhere who would have taken the remark as racist? (As long as Al Sharpton is out there, you can be sure there would).

On the other hand, if a black man was portraying Jesus Christ, the fur would fly, although many would be afraid to contradict the claim, on the probable theory that they would be depicted as racist for daring to say it. In fact, no one really knows if Jesus was a white man, do they? Got any photos? Wouldn't 2000 years of Christians be surprised if it turned out he was black?

Then, there's Santa Claus. It was stupid of the teacher to make the remark: first, because he should have known what he would be stirring up, and second, Santa Claus is a fictional character and his race really doesn't make a damn bit of difference, does it? Yes, all drawings of him have shown him as a white man, but if he's depicted as black, why should it matter to anyone?

I don't think the teacher was racist......just stupid.

 

[Slyfox696]

Does the comment the teacher made towards Christopher Rougier speak more to a dumb mistake, or prejudice on his part?

Impossible to say without knowing the teacher's history. But if all we're judging is on the basis of this comment, it is far more likely a dumb mistake, especially since the teacher self-reported and has apologized.

Is the punishment handed down to the teacher an appropriate one, or should the consequences be more severe? As Michael Rougier suggested, should he be fired?

The consequences have been too severe already. Why should the teacher be suspended for pointing out Santa is generally depicted as a white man?

Was the comment insensitive? Absolutely. Does it matter what race Santa is? Of course not. But the teacher was not discriminating against the student in any way, preventing the student from doing something he would allow other students to do. He didn't make a hateful comment to the student nor did he remain steadfast to his position. The teacher made a comment and apologized to everyone for it.

It's absolutely asinine to think an educator should be fired for one simple statement which had absolutely nothing to do with his job. And as far as the father goes, it seems pretty clear to me he's a crap starter. His son no longer likes Christmas? Yeah, I'm calling a big bowl of BS on that. The teacher has already apologized to the student and the family, what more does he want? It sounds far more like a situation where the family is trash and is just trying to embarrass the school. I've seen it many times.

Do you agree with Aisha Harris here that the color Santa is portrayed as is serious business, or with Megyn Kelly, who believes that it's no big deal?

Megyn Kelly DOES believe it's a big deal, and it's her belief it's a big deal is what's so ridiculous.

Santa can be any color one wants. The real person he is modeled after, St. Nick, likely was not even white. For Megyn Kelly to make ridiculous and untrue statements shows she cares way more about it than she should.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Megan is spelled M-E-G-A-N. Meejine Kelly just needs to accept that and stop trying to change what is universally accepted.

The teacher said something stupid. There really isn't enough context around this story to make a complete judgement on the teacher's comment. It was clearly wrong but not necessarily a deal breaker on the guy's employment. Was he trying to be funny? Was he referencing something he saw on The Daily Show? Or is he a lunactic racist? Seems to bme the humility and compassion he has shown to apologize shows some level of regret and understanding. Or maybe he just really needs to keep his job?

I agree with Sly on the dad. The dad's comment seem like complete and utter bullshit. The kid is fifteen and was probably just being a goof wearing Santa gear at school. He's not damaged by this comment.

And it doesn't matter what race Santa is. He is clearly going to die soon from diabetes. But for those who want to know the truth Santa is 100%

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Moondog