What's White?

Much as I like to assert that all of mankind is some shade of brown, I have to shake my head at all the critics of Megyn Kelly.  She thought she was stating the obvious and you can’t do that among political pundits.  Gaffe is when a politician accidentally tells the truth once in awhile. 

            And so it turns out that Santa Claus isn’t white.  Well, yeah, I figured him to be more of a Desert Sand Blush or perhaps Antique White.   The critics say he is a legend so they can make  him any color they want.  Sure.   Jimmy Hendrix Purple Haze Santa if you will. Or Burnt Umber.  Yeah, but the tradition comes from Dutch German and Scandinavian and both groups argue who had him first.  Which I am sure is where Kelly got her interpretation.  Or maybe the Coca-Cola pictures.  If you want to get technical, St. Nicolas was Greek from Myra, Asia Minor, had black hair and was skinny, wiry, and prone to strong emotions.  Perhaps that would make him Country Olive Tan or whatever. 

            Jesus, the more-intellectual-than-thou critics like Bill Maher insist is “not pearly white”.  I agree.  Since pearl luster is caused by very small amorphous shards of crystal in the pearls, imitated by subvisible metallic flakes in pearl auto finish, Jesus surely wasn’t anything like a pearl. Was he white? Well, no one knows.  A friend of mine who is of African ancestry thinks Jesus was of similar race, citing Is. 53, “There was no form or comeliness in him.”  History channel thinks he absolutely had to be curly-haired, Jewish/Anatolian featured, and short of stature.  Well, that’s making him an average first century Jew.  Maybe.  On the other hand, his ancestor, King David was famed for his red hair, considered odd and ugly by Semitic standards.

            It would have been safe to say that both Jesus and St. Nick came from Caucasian stock.  Which passes in the common usage as “white”.   But given the ambiguity of both, you can make them whatever you want.  Surely we can be tolerant of another’s such views.