Carson Mall Executive Suspended in Flap Over Replacing Black Santa

The marketing director at the Carson Mall has been suspended, mall officials said Wednesday, while they investigate her handling of a Christmas program in which a black Santa Claus was replaced at the last minute by a white one.

The marketing director, Connie Wilson, declined to comment. Mall officials apologized Wednesday to NAACP officials who had complained about the matter, and said the group’s protest stems from a misunderstanding.

The controversy erupted at the mall the day after Thanksgiving--the biggest shopping day of the year--during what were described as frantic preparations for a Christmas show and breakfast for more than 100 children.

Donna Grundy, who works for a promotions company that supplies Santas for the mall, said one of the Santas she hired, Rodney Newton, was supposed to pop out of a box during the event. But Newton was too tall. So Grundy decided to use her teen-age son instead. Newton would also appear at the show as Santa and would hand out gifts, Grundy said in an interview.

Grundy said that when Wilson learned that a black Santa would be part of the show, Wilson told her: “You should have checked with mall management, because there is no black Santa.”

During an interview Wednesday, Grundy said she felt at the time that the remarks were racially based, although now she is not sure.

“My opinion at the time was that she didn’t want a black Santa working,” Grundy said, adding that she may have misunderstood.

Mark McGaughey, a partner in Carson Mall Partners, which owns the mall, said it was all a misunderstanding. He said the mall has had black Santas for many years and intended to use Newton this year but failed to explain what was going on because of the chaos surrounding the busy shopping day.

McGaughey said Newton wasn’t used because a technician for the show said having a black Santa pass out gifts after a white Santa popped out of the box would “break the continuity.”

Wilson took the matter to the NAACP, and on Wednesday about 30 members of the organization picketed at the mall briefly and demanded the firing of Wilson and the mall’s general manager, Cynthia Sinchak, who they said was responsible for hiring Wilson. They also demanded an apology.

Sinchak also said the dispute is a misunderstanding.

After meeting with the protesters, McGaughey issued a written statement saying mall officials were “deeply apologetic for any inconvenience or insensitivity this matter has brought about.” Wilson was suspended while the mall management’s law firm investigates.

Robert Wilson, head of the Carson-Torrance branch of the NAACP, said in an interview that he was “satisfied at this point” but will resume picketing and encourage “selective patronage” of the mall if Wilson and Sinchak are not terminated.

Newton, a bearded man who wore a bright red shirt to the demonstration, said he waited in the mall office for 45 minutes last Friday without being told what was happening and finally left. After the controversy erupted, the mall invited him to return and play Santa, he said, but he declined.

“I was humiliated,” Newton said.

Despite the uproar Wednesday, a black Santa Claus sat on a throne in the middle of the mall, passing out gifts to the children--both black and white--who climbed upon his knee. Watching their smiles, one woman commented on the controversy, which was apparent to shoppers at the mall.

“I think Santa Claus is Santa Claus, no matter what color he is. Kids don’t know the difference.”