Why My Daughter's Identity Shapes Our Political Future

676 words | 2 mins 26 secs read time

One of the biggest desires I have for my child is that she feels free to navigate her own identity.  But as a black mom to a biracial child, I can already see that getting her there is going to be an uphill battle.

It feels like the larger society tends to tokenize mixed-race kids to create the illusion of a diverse, inclusive world. So often, when we see a movie, sitcom, or commercial featuring a family of a diverse background, the children of the family are almost always mixed race to create this illusion.

In reality, the media is using these multiracial kids to absolve itself of the guilt of under-representation while reinforcing colorism. In other words, they give us the breadcrumb of representation but only representation that is palatable to white people. 

At the same time, it feels like folks from marginalized identities will take issue with my mixed-race daughter defining her identity for herself, too. I can't tell you how many social comments I've read from Black people claiming…