Candidate criticized for publicizing his interracial family
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
(Thanks to Tariq for this tip!)
A local South Florida politician is coming under fire for pushing his candidacy by drawing attention to his interracial family. Nick Sakhnovsky is white, his adopted son James, is black, and his wife Alice is black too:
The billboards feature the ubiquitous picture of Sakhnovsky and his adopted son, James, 9, standing next to a gold and white logo with a dark hand and a white hand on the verge of a handshake. “For all of us! Elect James’ Dad,” the ads say…
Sakhnovsky even registered himself as Nick “James’ Dad” Sakhnovsky with the Florida Division of Elections.
Usually I would say hey, the guy has an interracial family. What’s the big deal? All politicians use their families as campaigning tools — why should it be different for Sakhnovsky?
But I am a bit disturbed by this case. It would be one thing if he included photos of his family in a matter-of-fact way, but he seems to be going out of his way to say “hey look at me, I’m the father of a black son!” Just the fact that he’s identifying himself as “James’ Dad” smacks of exploitation to me.
It’s also interesting that Sakhnovsky is positioning himself as a candidate who understands diversity because he has an interracial family. I guess it’s the old “I can’t be racist, I’m in an interracial relationship!” posturing that we’ve documented extensively here on Racialicious.
As the underdog in the race for state representative in District 93, Sakhnovsky hopes his focus on diversity will translate into votes among all races.
“I basically have a unique ability to bring different perspectives to the table in Tallahassee,” he said. “I live this kind of diversity every single day.”
…He has made diversity the theme of his campaign, emphasizing his interracial family at every turn, and claims that he is in better position to represent the entire district because of his appreciation for diversity.
So here’s a question for you: If you know that a politician has an interracial family, would you think that he/she has a better grasp of race and diversity issues than a politician without an interracial family? What would be your gut reaction?
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Tariq Nelson wrote:
It is a catch-22.
Many politicians put up pictures of themselves with their family. If he is putting up the pictures only in the black, Latino and Asian neighborhoods, then it is exploitation.
If not, I’m not sure that it is
Posted 09 Oct 2006 at 10:39 am ¶
S wrote:
No. Just because he’s in an IR doesn’t mean he understands the needs of the communities of minority races. This is such a silly notion to me. I know several females who are dating black men who think they know allll about the black community JUST BECAUSE they are dating a black guy, attended a black family dinner or two, watched a few hours of BET, had a 1/2 black child, etc. But they usually don’t have much more than a clue. Some of them are NICE, but NICE doesn’t mean they have “a better grasp” of race and diversity issues. There is a difference between knowing an individual and knowing the needs of a community. Look around. Some of the biggest movers and shakers (Bono, Bill Gates, etc) are NOT in IR’s. Yet, they have made some of the biggest impacts for non-white raced communities…and nations!
Posted 09 Oct 2006 at 11:01 am ¶
Didi wrote:
I live in the Ft Lauderdale area and actually saw one of these billboards Saturday night on the way downtown, while driving through a predominantly black area. I haven’t seen them in my neighborhood, which is suburban, and more white/hispanic. (ftr, there are no large asian enclaves in Broward county)
I have mixed feelings about it, because it did strike me as a little exploitive, but OTOH, it was nice to see an interracial family depicted. Just yesterday, my husband (asian) and I (white) were waiting in line at Office Max and the guy opening up a new register called me over to get checked out. When my husband started walking along with me, the cashier tried to wave him back, even though Husband and I had been talking and standing together and had our 4 year old biracial kid with us. Stuff like this happens all the time and it makes me crazy.
Posted 09 Oct 2006 at 11:25 am ¶
Jeremy Pierce wrote:
I think you need to frame the question more specifically. Does being in an interracial marriage automatically make someone more sensitive to important racial issues? Of course not. Does it increase the likelihood that someone will be aware of those issues? Absolutely, and anyone who denies that seems to me to know very little about the kinds of racial issues that almost always will be raised by the very existence of interracial families.
Is it a proof that someone is racially sensitive? Surely not. Is it evidence that someone is more racially sensitive than other people? I think it might count as some evidence, but it isn’t especially strong evidence in the absence of other evidence. But is it evidence that the person is more racially sensitive than the person would otherwise be? Absolutely. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it’s extremely strong evidence that the person has overcome some of the biggest racially charged negative attitudes that still remain. I know lots of white people who are in principle ok with interracial marriage but who just don’t find themselves attracted to black people and would have a hard time seeing how they could be.
Posted 09 Oct 2006 at 12:45 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
I think it depends on the individual and the campaign usage of the family.
Does the wife appear w/ him on the campaign trail? Has she been seen w/ him in commercials? Has the son? With an IR couple this visually obvious (I assume), there could be a more dignified way of showing one’s IR family than portrayed in the article.
I do think that just being in one IR does not make you an expect in the other ethnicity. For all anyone on the outside knows, the other person grew up in a bubble of privelege and has experienced nothing of what the majority of their ethnicity experiences.
But as Jeremy said, it does make it a little more likely, and maybe a point of discussion… but only if the other candidate has some racial skeletons to dicipher (*cough*Allen*hack*).
Posted 09 Oct 2006 at 3:27 pm ¶
Didi wrote:
Lyonside - the billboard I saw just had the father and son on it. I had no idea that his wife was black until I saw the article this morning.
Posted 09 Oct 2006 at 3:57 pm ¶
merq wrote:
I’m sorry, but while I agree with Jeremy’s and Lyonside’s points, from what the post said, it seemed Sakhnovsky was simply yelling out “I love everyone. See? I have a black son to prove it!”
If that works for him, you know Ray Allen’s next in line.
Posted 09 Oct 2006 at 8:22 pm ¶
Jay wrote:
*I know lots of white people who are in principle ok with interracial marriage but who just don’t find themselves attracted to black people and would have a hard time seeing how they could be.*
I think that starts getting down the slippery slope of what’s considered “normative beauty” and stuff. Remember that whites being beautiful is a standard that is being sold all over the world, so ideally people would examine the context of what makes people pretty (but in reality most people don’t even try).
Posted 10 Oct 2006 at 3:14 am ¶
Jennifer wrote:
Yeah it sux when people have to defend themselves about not being racist and saying things like, “I married a black woman.” Buy, my question is, why is it such a big deal in the first place that he is married to a black woman? So what?!
Posted 10 Oct 2006 at 5:38 am ¶
Jennifer wrote:
Yeah it sux when people have to defend themselves about not being racist and saying things like, “I married a black woman.” But, my question is, why is it such a big deal in the first place that he is married to a black woman? So what?!
Posted 10 Oct 2006 at 5:39 am ¶
eric daniels wrote:
Hey, you got to sell that diversity, At least it’s not a brotha selling his ‘white’ wife, he would lose the election by 20 points.
Posted 10 Oct 2006 at 12:54 pm ¶
colored voter wrote:
I am completely and entirely offended by the Nick Sakhnovsky billboards. Not only are they in poor taste but also they mimic the black face ads of old with a little poster black child. And couldn’t we portray a picture of a cleaned up black youth and not one with a t-shirt and uncombed hair. If he is to be a poster child, can we not portray him as one that is enjoying the benefits of being in an interracial family, knowing that appearance is very important in public and professional life. I am surprised he didn’t have a gold tooth and an earring on. Furthermore how offensive it is to think that black people are so foolish as to vote for him, because there is a picture of an underprivileged one of them on a billboard. Shame on you James’ Dad … you should be fined for blatantly misrepresenting a race. We as black people have been used times before and this is just so utterly offensive that it makes me want to hurl. Anyone who has to exploit his black adopted kid to get votes doesn’t really care about his black kid or any other black person for that matter.
Mr. Sakhnovsky do you have any other kids? Or just the black one for the political campaign? And if you do have more where are they, do you not love them as much or is this the way James pays for his dinner, as your adopted son is to stand with daddy and look ghetto?
If you do love your son and love all people. Take down the god-awful billboards and show people that you will not use them for personal gain, rather be an ally for them in the Legislature.
Posted 22 Oct 2006 at 7:13 pm ¶
vmartita@gmail.com wrote:
It offended me big time - Forget the exploitation of race issues - What about the exploitation of a child? - Adopted children face this danger all the time. Madonna isn’t the first. Picking up kids like knick-knacks for conversation pieces - -attention-addicts -I know those types - The mother of my son’s adopted school-mate could never look me straight in the face.
Posted 12 Nov 2006 at 5:58 pm ¶
naima wrote:
it does seem awfully cheesy that he should EMPHASIZE how his family is multi-racial. why is he so self-conscious about it?
Posted 05 Dec 2006 at 12:01 pm ¶