Interracial Marriage and Political Candidacy

It is the start of fall, and with the start of fall comes election season! And what's election season without a little bit of race related politics!

Public Advocate candidate Bill de Blasio (a white man) has been accused by City Councilman Charles Barron of pandering to the black community by having flyers featuring his interracial family (his wife is black) distributed throughout the community. Full blog post from Gothamist here.

At first I feel a bit conflicted about this. On the one hand, I HATE HATE HATE being the "token" colored person to some white friends. I hate being the one they point to when they say "Of course I'm not racist! Look at my friend! I hang out with her!"

However, I'm certain that's not Bill de Blasio's purpose here. He's married to the lady and has beautiful interracial children, and it's simply a photo of his family on a flyer asking people to vote for him. The accusation that he's pandering to the black community by having that flyer is just ludicrous.

So while this article made me pause for a few seconds and reread and research just to make sure that Bill de Blasio wasn't exploiting his family, ultimately it makes me happy to see this campaign. No matter how progressive we think America is becoming (it's not), interracial couples are still in the minority, and there will always be people who are uncomfortable with it.

It also made me realize yet again that I'll always have a slight chip on my shoulder about being a woman of color married to a white man. If Bill de Blasio were black this would not be a news item at all. If his wife were white, also not a news item. But because they are an interracial couple it's all of a sudden a discussion and a no-win situation. If he puts them on a flyer, he's pandering. If he doesn't put them on a flyer, as one commenter astutely points out, he's ashamed of them.

As cultural barriers break down, what was considered "normal," if there was ever such a concept, is becoming less and less defined. Perhaps that is the reason there is still so much anger. Perhaps people are angry because they simply can't say "marriage" anymore and have that mean the same thing to everybody. It is heterosexual, same-sex, mixed-orientation, interracial, civil, religious, interfaith. As the times change there will always be people who fight it, but one thing is true of all of the types of marriage. It is a bond born out of mutual love and a promise to spend lives together.