MULTICULTURAL KENTE CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN.Byline: Ken McLaughlin Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire Tiny tots, with their eyes all aglow, run up to Keith Stafford and say, ``Look, Mommy, it's a black Santa.'' Stafford smiles and gently corrects them, giving them a short lesson in African traditions and African-American history. Stafford, you see, isn't a Santa. But he is a Claus - a Kente ken·te n. 1. A brightly patterned, handwoven ceremonial cloth of the Ashanti. 2. A durable machine-woven fabric similar to this fabric, prominently featured in Afrocentric fashion. Claus to be exact, ``the first African-American Claus,'' as Stafford told almost every Macy's shopper who strolled by him last week at Valley Fair Shopping Center The Valley Fair Shopping Center was a shopping mall in Appleton, Wisconsin which opened on August 11, 1954. The mall billed itself as the first enclosed mall in the United States,[1][2] though the Westminster Arcade predates it by 126 years. . If this sounds confusing, well, so is Kente Claus, a multicultural amalgamation of the jolly fat white guy in the red suit and an imposing African king in a full-length West African West Africa A region of western Africa between the Sahara Desert and the Gulf of Guinea. It was largely controlled by colonial powers until the 20th century. West African adj. & n. ``Kente'' fabric coat with black and gold glitter trim. The character grew out of a comment made by one of his wife's foster children a few years ago. ``I thought when we died we all went to heaven and turned into white angels,'' the 8-year-old African-American child told Stafford, 43, a former drug-prevention educator. That inspired him and his designer wife, Shereen Emde Stafford, to start a company out of their Novato, Calif., home. Soon, an abundance of tiny dolls and tree ornaments filled their place. There were black boy angels with dreadlocks dread·locks pl.n. 1. A natural hairstyle in which the hair is twisted into long matted or ropelike locks. 2. A similar hairstyle consisting of long thin braids radiating from the scalp. and black girl angels with Kente turbans. Eventually they worked up to a treetop ornament that resembled a Ghanese king with a flowing, shimmering shim·mer intr.v. shim·mered, shim·mer·ing, shim·mers 1. To shine with a subdued flickering light. See Synonyms at flash. 2. tunic tu·nic n. A coat or layer enveloping an organ or a part; tunica. tunic a covering or coat. See also tunica. abdominal tunic see tunica flava abdominis. and a salt-and-pepper beard. They called him Kente Claus. If the face on the tree ornament looks familiar, it's because it is. Sort of. It's an amalgamation of the most prominent features of Nelson Mandela Noun 1. Nelson Mandela - South African statesman who was released from prison to become the nation's first democratically elected president in 1994 (born in 1918) Mandela, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela , Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson Noun 1. Jesse Jackson - United States civil rights leader who led a national campaign against racial discrimination and ran for presidential nomination (born in 1941) Jesse Louis Jackson, Jackson , Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali, pasha of Egypt Muhammad Ali, 1769?–1849, pasha of Egypt after 1805. He was a common soldier who rose to leadership by his military skill and political acumen. and Willie Brown. Then, a few months ago, the Staffords literally brought the first African-American Claus to life. And Stafford took on the role himself, traveling around the country to stores and children's hospitals. He debuted the character at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. The Staffords' company, the Kente Collection, has grown so large that the dolls and tree ornaments are now made in Asia. Stafford said he hopes that Kente Claus becomes more than a symbol of his company - but also an inspiration of ``love, peace, and family unity for holiday seasons to come.'' He said the ornaments are designed to be used for either Christmas or Kwanzaa, the 33-year-old African-American holiday that begins Dec. 26. He said his customer base is 65 percent white, 32 percent black and 3 percent ``other.'' ``I think it's beautiful,'' said Annie Handy, an African-American teacher at Pomeroy Elementary School in Milpitas, Calif., who met Kente Claus along with her 25-year-old daughter, Tarsha, and her 8-month-old niece, Dajai. ``We finally have something we can call our own,'' she said. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Dressed as Kente Claus, ``the first African-American Claus,'' Keith Stafford travels around the country, hoping to be an inspiration of ``love, peace, and family unity for holiday seasons to come.'' Knight-Ridder Tribune Photo Service |
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