Inflatable Black Santa Claus Slashed in Yard; Neighboring White Santas Allegedly Left Untouched

Slashed Black Santa
An inflatable black Santa was slashed and destroyed from an Oregon couple's yard while neighboring white Santa displays were allegeldly untouched. Richard Santa

A couple in Oregon believes the demise of their 8-foot tall inflatable black Santa Claus yard decoration may have been racially motivated.

The African American couple has lived in an unincorporated area outside of Portland known as Bethany for 21 years, but this is the first season they have displayed a large inflatable black Santa Claus in the front yard. Typically, they have used other traditional decorations. But when Fritz and Belinda Richard looked in their front yard Thursday morning, they found their inflatable black Santa all crumpled up, according to a report.

Closer inspection of the holiday decoration revealed that their big black Santa had been slashed.

"Somebody went out of their way to do this," Fritz Richard told The Oregonian. "Who slashes a Santa?"

Richard's wife, Belinda, wondered if the slashing wasn't racially motivated since other Santas in the neighborhood were apparently untouched.

"There are white Santas all over our neighborhood," Belinda Richard told oregonlive.com. "They aren't getting slashed."

Bethany has a population of just more than 20,000 residents and only 1 percent are black or African American. Bethany, in Washington County, is 60 percent white and 31 percent Asian.

The vandalism was reported to this sheriff's department, which investigated and found the inflatable black Santa had a slash of about a foot-and-a-half down its side, according to the report.

The Richards said they are considering buying a replacement and they have also found support from neighbors on social media. The couple told about the black Santa slashing on social media, including Facebook and the NextDoor app, according to oregonlive.com, and at least one neighbor said in response they would purchase and display a black Santa for their yard in support.

"The nice thing about the response from the next-door neighbors," Fritz Richard said, according to The Oregonian, "is that we don't know any of these guys."

Black Santa's have increased in popularity in recent years, including live appearances and products including inflatable Santas. In Detroit, for instance, an annual Black Santa Photo Experience helps share the Christmas spirit with an African American Santa.

"Just so they know Santa is a spirit," said Jeryn Calhoun, a 62-year-old man who dressed up as Santa for children of Detroit, according to freep.com. "It has no color...It should not be embodied in just one specific color. It's a spirit of hope, it's a spirit of better things to come, of positivity."

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