On the shooting of 5 Black protesters — and Santa

[November 24, 2015]

Last year, during a NYC protest affirming Black Lives, a Santa cut in front of my group. Santacon, which is a festivity where people dress up in their holiday best and go from bar to bar, just so happened to coincide with the march borne out of the frustrations of shootings of Black people and non-indictments of cops and/or vigilantes.

It made for some good laughs. That was, until, Santa cut in front of my group. (Not pictured)

He didn’t want to just get across the street, he wanted to remind us that it wasn’t our street and angrily barked, “Go home”. I saw red — and not just his suit. It sounded like, “Go back to Africa” or “Go home nigger” when it was processing in my mind, and the next thing I knew, I yelled back, “YOU go home!” and started walking towards him. Thankfully, my homegirl yanked me back and we kept marching (peacefully and purposefully), but in that moment, I felt a need to respond to the perceived threat.

Click on the title to read my full post on MEDIUM.

Riana Anderson