An Arkansas man has continued his work as a professional Santa Claus to promote diversity, three years after receiving a racist note for displaying a Black Santa Claus statue in his yard.
Chris Kennedy, of North Little Rock, Arkansas, is currently in his third year as a professional Santa Claus. He attends both local and out-of-state events as “Santa Chris”. What once started as a rebuttal to a racist note about his diverse Christmas decorations has now grown into a bonafide, seasonal business that continues to thrive.
Kennedy first began dressing up as Santa Claus in 2021, a year after receiving a bigoted note about a Black Santa inflatable that Kennedy had placed outside his home. He said that he and his wife, Iddy, intentionally displayed the Christmas decoration to include Black representation for their seven-year-old daughter.
“Even in fictional characters like Santa, Black kids need to see themselves reflected,” Kennedy said, adding that traditional media still struggles with diversity.
In response, Kennedy received a racist letter, demanding that the Black Santa statue be removed. The anonymous note accused Kennedy of “trying to deceive kids into believing that Santa was Black”, he said.
Furious, Kennedy posted about the incident on Facebook. News of the note quickly went viral.
Kennedy’s neighbors immediately put up Black Santas in their own yards as a show of support. Some even travelled to neighboring states to purchase Black Santas after the decorations sold out locally.
But in the aftermath of the racist note, Kennedy also decided to become a professional Santa Claus – despite having only previously dressed as the character for family.
“We [wanted to] send the message that not only are we not taking our decorations down, but now [I was] going to be Santa Claus,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy emphasized that one of the most empowering parts of embodying Santa is bringing more diverse representation to others, specifically other Black people.
“The Black kids that see Santa being Black love it and freak out,” Kennedy said. “[The older Black people] will tell you they’ve never seen a Black Santa. So they’re super happy.”
In the lead-up to his first professional Santa season, Kennedy attended Santa Camp, an annual, two-day boot camp in New Hampshire that offers education to professional Santas, Mrs Clauses and elves.
The camp’s organizers reached out to him after hearing about his experience. His journey at the camp, as the only Santa of color, was captured in the film Santa Camp.
With the other Santas, Kennedy had discussions about the lack of diversity in depictions of Santa Claus. As seen in the film, many of the other professional Santas were upset at the racism Kennedy had received for his decoration.
“I’m still in touch with a lot of them to this day,” Kennedy said of his fellow Santas, adding that he hopes to return to the camp in 2024.
Since then, Kennedy has found new ways to embody Santa. The 35-year-old decided to stop bleaching his “jet Black” beard, instead opting to use temporary paints for a more salt-and-pepper effect.
“Looking at older Black men, I realized that most of us don’t actually have white beards, it’s usually a combination of black and silver,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy is also in a Black Santa Facebook group, which has more than 200 members. There, Black Santas exchange advice and share appearance opportunities.
Over the last three years, Kennedy’s business as a professional Santa has grown significantly. In 2022, after only one season as Santa Claus, Chris had already appeared at more than 250 events, the Washington Post reported.
Since the start of his most recent season on 2 November, Kennedy says he has been booked “every weekend” with television appearances or other events, including one at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Last month, Kennedy appeared in North Little Rock’s annual light festival, serving as the event’s sole Santa Claus for more than 10,000 attendees.
“I was in over 1,000 photos for over 1,000 families. So it’s just great,” Kennedy said, adding that the window for photographs with him was extended due to interest.
Kennedy’s family is also involved in his appearances as Santa Claus. His wife stars as Mrs Claus and their seven-year-old daughter is Santa’s head elf, Elf Winky.
“She also is very quick to tell everyone that her dad is Santa Claus,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy said that in the coming seasons, he looks forward to continuing to develop how he portrays Santa. He wants to create a literacy organization to bring diverse Christmas stories to children.
While his journey to becoming Santa didn’t have a particularly positive beginning, Kennedy is glad to continue playing the role for many who simply know him as Santa Chris.
“There’s a whole bunch of people who just know me as Santa Claus and don’t even know that that’s the origin of it,” Kennedy said. “And I don’t think that there’s anything better than that.”
