BLAC’s Black Santa Photo Experience returns for the second year

t started with a conversation here at BLAC: Desiree Cooper, who writes our Detroit Proper column monthly, noticed that when Northland Mall closed, it would mark the end of photos with a black Santa Claus every year for many area families. So what if we kept the tradition going?

We set aside one day last December, but the response was so overwhelming we hastily added a second for many of our readers to come on out to see Santa. In all, about 2,000 families came last year. Now our Black Santa Photo Experience is back for a second year, and we’re hoping to see just as many, if not more.

As Desiree wrote last year, having a black Santa is “about black parents and how they can both protect and cultivate their children’s racial self-esteem in a society that rarely affirms their blackness.” That was 2015, while we still had a black president. We still do, for now – but we’ll need to work harder to affirm that blackness in the coming weeks, obviously.

With our sister publication, Metro Parent, BLAC invites all families to welcome back Santa for another two-day visit from the North Pole. Bring your own cameras or camera phones to the Southfield Pavilion Dec. 10 and 11, 2016, and make sure you get your swag bag and a special holiday card that doubles as a coloring contest. See you there – and ho, ho, ho!

Black Santa Photo Experience, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10 and noon-3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, Southfield Pavilion, 26000 Evergreen Road. Pre-register at BLACdetroit.com/BlackSantaEvent. First come, first served.