This paper investigates the ways in which multicultural rhetoric situates black-white mixed-race individuals and their families as a bridge between disparate groups and ideologies. Using Bill de Blasio’s New York City Mayoral campaign in 2013 as a case study, I highlight specific media moments in which de Blasio’s children and his interracial marriage to a black woman are deployed as symbols of political (and by extension, racial) futurity. The key questions of this paper ask: How was mixed-race as a symbol deployed in the de Blasio campaign, particularly in the context of the family? What specifically did mixed-race symbolize in this political sphere? Did de Blasio's family fight back against essentialized multicultural ideals or simply deploy them to capture the minority vote? In answering these questions I conduct a close reading of de Blasio’s well-known TV advertisement featuring his then 15-year-old son Dante, and put it in conversation with persistent racisms in the form of police brutality, an issue that was central to de Blasio’s campaign. This work engages topics at the intersection of critical mixed-race studies, performance studies, and visual culture, drawing upon and contesting current research that places mixed-race people at the forefront of a changing American demographic and political climate.



The Black Humanities Collective (BHC) is an interdisciplinary graduate student organization at the University of Michigan that fosters a community of scholars invested in the intellectual, professional, and social growth and development of students across disciplines whose research interests focus on the African Diaspora. In working toward our mission to affirm and improve the University's commitment to the intellectual and professional development of persons at the University of Michigan studying Africa and its Diaspora, we host a variety of events throughout the year that cater both to graduate and undergraduate students.