His Beauty Isn’t Skin Deep : Children of All Backgrounds Can Find a Santa Claus to Call Their Own

The 8-year-old boy hopped onto Santa Claus’ lap, looked into his dark brown eyes and frowned.

“You’re not Santa Claus,” the African-American boy said reproachfully. “You’re too dark to be Santa Claus.”

Santa was William Castillo, a 37-year-old Latino, at Plaza Pasadena’s Christmas display, run by Fox Photo. Across the San Gabriel Valley, rent-a-Santa places are looking for St. Nicks such as Castillo who reflect the population’s diversity. That means Santas who are white, Latino, Asian and African-American.

“I think it’s important that children of color don’t become fixated that all the icons, people we look up to, the myths we look up to, are white,” said Robert Harris, assistant director of parks and recreation in San Gabriel. His city’s Santa program includes a Latino Santa and two elves who speak Spanish.

“Santa Claus is a spirit. It’s not a person. The spirit fits in with whoever the person is,” Harris said.

Early in the season, at the Glendale Galleria, Santa Claus was a bilingual Armenian who worked for two weeks, until he had to go back to his regular job, said Mimi Dahle, owner of the San Dimas-based All Seasons Promotions, which runs the mall’s Santa program. Dahle, who also is Armenian-American, said she sent the Santa to Glendale because the city’s population is roughly 30% Armenian, and she didn’t want Armenian children to feel left out.

“Most of the kids today--the children, the little ones--don’t speak English yet,” Dahle said. Eagle Rock Plaza always has an English-Spanish bilingual Santa on duty, manager Dan Millman said, pointing out that 45% of the mall’s customers are Latino, and many of the children don’t speak English.

“We believe they should be able to make their wishes known to Santa like anyone else,” he said.

At Plaza Pasadena, Castillo decided to punt when the little boy accused him of being a pretender. Castillo, a youth minister, looked down at the boy through round, gold-rimmed glasses that rested on his full cheeks.

“I’ve been in Miami,” said Castillo, looking jolly in a resplendent red suit, black boots and white gloves, and sitting on a tall, royal blue throne. “I have a tan.”

The boy tried to fake him out. “Where are your reindeer?”

“In the North Pole,” Castillo shot back.

The Hail Mary pass came when the boy tugged on Santa’s long, white beard.

“Ouch” Castillo yiped. “That hurt.”

“After a while,” Castillo recalled, “he went, ‘Oh, OK.’ ”

Other kids pull out lists and recite their Christmas wishes, without a second glance. The Spanish-speaking kids rattle away at him, and he responds in their language.

“Santa Claus is supposed to speak all kinds of languages, probably in their minds,” Castillo said.

Most kids see Santa as the Christmas spirit personified and don’t even look behind the beard, said Mike Helm, an African-American Santa for the city of Walnut.

“Kids are colorblind for the most part,” said Helm, 28. “All they see is Santa. If he happens to be black or white or Asian, I don’t think it matters to them. They’re so overjoyed in the thrill of seeing Santa Claus.”

Others do a second take. One 11-year-old white boy told him: “I didn’t know Santa was black.”

“Didn’t you know Santa comes in all colors,” Helm replied. “Every color of the rainbow.”

“Uh-uh,” the boy said. “They don’t come in purple.” But soon, Helm had the boy asking for a Nintendo and Gameboy video game set.

In Alhambra, the city loans out four Santas, including an African-American and an Asian-American. In Monterey Park, the city provides a white Santa and a Latino Santa, neither of whom are bilingual. But that’s because no bilingual Santas or minority Santas applied, said Ben Herrera, who coordinates the program for the city’s Recreation and Parks Department.

At Plaza Pasadena, 20-year-old Masi Mora watched her 8-month-old daughter, Azlynn, sit wide-eyed on Santa’s lap for a photograph. Mora, a Latina, said she couldn’t believe it when she took a close look at Santa.

“I’ve never seen a Hispanic Santa before,” she said, adding that she was pleasantly surprised. “It gives everyone an equal share.”

Pam Jackson, 43, and her husband, 44-year-old Marvin Jackson, took their 9-month-old son, Jeremy, to be photographed with Santa. The Jacksons, an African-American family, didn’t think twice--until asked--about the color of Santa’s skin.

“Santa’s universal,” Pam Jackson said. “Santa’s all races, all creeds.”

Said Marvin Jackson of ethnic Santas: “Long overdue.”