`For the first time, in the flesh,` Walker said.
Walker once saw a picture of a black Santa Claus in his younger brother’s kindergarten and wished he could meet him.
`Oh my God, I feel empowered,` Walker said.
Vivian Walker and her son went to Detroit to meet their first black Santa Claus in 2012. Photo: Black Santa Directory
Walker, now 48, runs a Facebook group called `Black Santa Directory` that she founded in late 2016. The group has nearly 1,900 members who inform each other about relevant events.
A high school counselor by day, Walker runs the group with Jihan Woods, 36, a Dallas psychiatrist who created the `Find Black Santa` app.
`We know that children begin to become aware of race in first or second grade,` Woods said.
When Barbara Mullen was 8 years old, she saw her father wearing a red shirt delivering gifts to children at a homeless shelter in San Francisco.
`It’s like Martin Luther King once said. What matters is your character, not your skin color,` Mullen said.
Mullen, now 36 years old, is an educator in Providence, Rhode Island.
Children of a family in Houston took photos with a black Santa Claus in mid-December. Photo: Black Santa Directory
Because the cost of hiring professional Santas is very expensive, events in the black community must rely on volunteers.
Melvin Rhoden Jr., a 44-year-old logistics manager in Arizona, dressed up as Santa for the first time this year at a fundraising event for local black boys.
`You have to get used to dressing like Santa Claus,` Rhoden said.
He emphasized that not only children like to take a photo or two with Santa, but also parents and teenagers are excited.
`From that Facebook page, I got some tips on how to match my costume. They gave me instructions for playing Santa next year,` Rhoden said.
Walker said she couldn’t find a single public event featuring a black Santa Claus in 10 states, including New Hampshire, Maine and Alaska, but she saw progress in the about 300 events she counted
`There are more Santas than I imagined,` Walker said.
She encourages families, regardless of skin color, to attend these events with Black, Asian and Latino Santas.
Hannah