Teacher to student: You can't be Santa -- you're black!

*** Warning if you are waiting for Santa to come to town, or do not want to question the origins of Christmas do not read any further ***

The popular Santa depiction is one of a Yule lad.

Whether it was due to this decree or something else, the Yule Lads became increasingly benign. Over time they ceased to be a threat to children's lives, though they continued to be thieving scoundrels. In the 20th century, the Icelandic Yule Lads became strongly influenced by their foreign colleagues, both in terms of conduct and appearance. They began wearing red garments on special occasions, similar to Santa Claus and the Danish Christmas gnomes. They also developed an unprecedented kindness towards children, to the point where they started depositing gifts in their shoes.

Source: www.thjodminjasafn.is...

I would hope that most on ATS already know that Christmas is a mis-mash of Christianity & Yule. The average person doesn't even realize this. If the holiday was really about Jesus's birth, why is it in the Winter and so close to the Winter solstice? Well... :

Many customs created around Yule are identified with Christmas today. If you decorate your home with a Yule tree, holly or candles, you are following some of these old traditions. The Yule log, (usually made from a piece of wood saved from the previous year) is burned in the fire to symbolize the Newborn Sun/Son.

Source: wicca.com...

Anyhow, I put all of that to say this; I cannot believe people are getting all bent out of shape about a fictional being, who is supposedly based off of Saint Nicholas, that does not even exist. That's like getting upset because they picked a White person to play Goku from the Dragonball-Z manga...

I don't care for all of the extra "Christ"mas stuff, like the aforementioned, but I can get with the giving, seeing family, time off from work, and good spirit celebrated around that time, but that won't stop me from knocking or trying to Scrooge other people's celebration of the holiday.

Some nerve this "teacher" has for chastising a kid for celebrating how they choose to celebrate Christmas over something like the race of a fictional being...

. . . Santa is white because he is based off of several different folklores, including a real person; Saint Nicholas of Myra. . .

Also, the giving holiday, "Christmas", and the Birth of Christ, are two completely different things.

tinner07
Let a white kid play MLK in a play in a black school then we can talk.

The difference between santa and MLK is that MLK is a real person. Have ever seen a black person play John F Kennedy? Or Elvis? No, because these are real people. There are historical facts to take into account.

If the guy really said that it is stupid. National newsworthy? you be the judge.

Talk to fox news and their viewers about whether the fact Jesus or Santa is newsworthy because it wasn't before one of their hosts decided to bring it up. So what if Santa is white? or Jesus is caucasian? so what if a black kid wants to play santa? what's it to people like you? Seriously.

reply to post by Chrisfishenstein

Why do black people take offence to Santa being white?

I actually have never seen black people take 'offence' to santa being white. I see black kids happily to talk to their local 'white' santa at the mall every time in the holidays, no complaints. I've seen black kids watch shows with 'white' santa's, black parents who take no offence. The part that people are getting offended by is this emphasis on the fact Santa is white, or that he must only potrayed as white otherwise it's a great travesty. People are offended by race baiting, the very thing being done here.

So what if Saint nick is white? Nobody cared about this before so why make a deal out of it like Fox news did in the first place? especially around christmas time? why race bait? There's simply no need for this at this period of time in the holidays, seriously.

reply to post by Southern Guardian


Fox was only responding to an article in Slate that called for Santa to be a penguin and move to the South Pole.

-Just putting things in perspective.

Santa is fake, he can be purple with tentacles if that suits your fancy.

Full grown adults getting their g-strings in a twist about Santa, for shame.

reply to post by amurphy245


There are three distinctions:

1) "Santa is white"...this is just an observation and means absolutely nothing.
2) "Santa should be white"...this is a borderline heinke attitude and suggests discomfort at the notion of anyone other than a white man representing Pere Noel.
3) "Santa must be white"...congratulations, you're a biggot. Come and collect your lump of coal.

I can tell by you're tone of your post you're in the second category.
You'll deny this but your "righteous indignation" is a dead give away.
I probably want less to do with you than WrightWing so on that note...

-Good Bye-

On the plus side he now has his own 30 minute show on Fox News.

Southern Guardian
I actually have never seen black people take 'offence' to santa being white.

I have to agree with you.
What black people do take offence at is being told:

"You can't be Santa because you're black"

-Peace-

Nvm. Post retracted as I don't care to get in a racial debate over it.
Nobody should lose their job over a casual remark like that.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


Santa Claus is fake. He didn't come from anywhere. We might as well argue for the racial purity of Cthulhu at this point.

reply to post by HardCorps


Everyone knows Santa is Jewish

reply to post by superluminal11


I thought he was from Georgia.
Damn

Southern Guardian

tinner07
Let a white kid play MLK in a play in a black school then we can talk.

The difference between santa and MLK is that MLK is a real person. Have ever seen a black person play John F Kennedy? Or Elvis? No, because these are real people. There are historical facts to take into account.

If the guy really said that it is stupid. National newsworthy? you be the judge.

Talk to fox news and their viewers about whether the fact Jesus or Santa is newsworthy because it wasn't before one of their hosts decided to bring it up. So what if Santa is white? or Jesus is caucasian? so what if a black kid wants to play santa? what's it to people like you? Seriously.

Im pretty sure this all came out as a tongue in cheek comment about the Fox news quip:

The teacher's remark came amid something of a dust-up over Santa's skin color after Fox News Channel picked up on a Slate.com writer's piece questioning the mythical character's ethnicity.

The teacher might not have even been making the comment directed at the kid. For all we know he raised the issue in the class, had them discuss it and then made a joke about it with the kid. (In which case obviously bad judgment by the result).

But the school apologize, moved the kid from class, and the dad is still up on the news throwing a tantrum. The parents are just as much responsible here for making the kid feel dumb as the teacher is.


The teacher self reported the incident by the way, and made apologies:

The school’s spokeswoman told the Associated Press that the teacher has called the family to apologize for the incident. The teacher reportedly acknowledged that he made a “stupid mistake.”

"The remark was inappropriate and should not have been made. The teacher feels very badly about what occurred," district spokeswoman Kim Vesely told AP. "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."

antonia
reply to post by Asktheanimals

 

Santa Claus is fake. He didn't come from anywhere. We might as well argue for the racial purity of Cthulhu at this point.

Saint Nicholas was a real man, he was also called Sinter Klass, or, Santa Claus.

Fake?

Let me take you back to the Christmases of my childhood. My mother is a big Santa figurine collector. She once had a massive figurine collection that would take over the house every November through January, nothing but Santa of all types & cultures. She had one from every country that had their own version of Santa/St Nick/Sinterklaas/Old Man Winter/etc. Every. Country. Save for places like Iran, N. Korea, Myanmar, which I don't ever remember a representation of ever gracing the house. Every country's wintertime jolly guy sat out in our house, and I'd look over each & every one of them every season. It made me realize that even though the common Santa personification is a white old fart that everyone has their own version, and that's fine. Hell, one of the coolest in her collection was a Moroccan one, he was pretty intricate. Baba Achour, I think the title engraved on him was. He had really neat embroidery on his colorful attire (well, painted on, they were all ceramic/porcelain) She even had a Sudanese Santa, and he damn sure wasn't lily white.

Anyone can dress up like Santa. Anyone. This teacher is a total douchebag. The modern standard Santa might be white, but the idea of Santa damn sure isn't.

What is with all the Santa and Jesus threads lately ?

After all politics has tried to kill them both.

Our lord and savior, and giver of free stuff is suppose to be Government neways.

Asktheanimals
Nvm. Post retracted as I don't care to get in a racial debate over it.
Nobody should lose their job over a casual remark like that.

edit on 16-12-2013 by Asktheanimals because: (no reason given)

I don't think she was ever in danger of losing her job over it. It's fox news, she didn't even approach the limits of what they consider poor taste.

Santa is whatever the heck you want it to be. The image of Santa used to be a skinny old white guy who looked like Odin the grey wander. Before that it probably looked like something else. This reminds me of an argument someone had with me concerning Twilight. it's not a book I like, but it applies here. Edward was a sparkly, mopey vampire if I recall correctly (I haven't read the book), this upset people. Vampires don't sparkle! Well, why not? Vampires aren't real. They can do whatever you want them to. Santa is the same thing. If i want to have a sassy southern santa with a sled pulled by 12 paula deens then I'll do that.

I'm just laughing at the idea there was anyone up at 10 o'clock at night who really believed Santa was real. Who was she sheltering from the cold hard truth? The average Fox viewer is way too old to still believe in Santa.

antonia
If i want to have a sassy southern santa with a sled pulled by 12 paula deens then I'll do that.

That was the wrong thing to read while taking a sip of coffee, now I need wipe down my monitor. Thanks for the visual, it's hilarious, lmao

TheWrightWing


Saint Nicholas was a real man, he was also called Sinter Klass, or, Santa Claus.

Fake?

Does a fat man with 12 reindeer come to your house every christmas and drop new electronics under your tree? Does he make it rain benjamins down your chimney? No! Then there is no Santa. We are not talking about a historical figure called Saint Nicholas. We are talking about the jolly old fat man pouring it up under your tree-He does not exist.