Amid the multilple stories to be told about the candidates in this year's New York City mayoral race, the one about New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and his family are some of the more interesting.
De Blasio, who is of partly Italian descent (his surname comes from his mother), is married to Chirlane McCray, a black woman. To see the interracial family stump around the city together is a welcome but unusual sight, even in a city as diverse as New York. Everything about their family is interesting, including, to some, the hair sported by their son, Dante, 15.
After the younger de Blasio appeared in a campaign ad speaking on behalf of his dad, more people noticed his striking Afro than what Dante was saying about his dad's plans to fix public housing. DNAinfo recentlly interviewed Dante about his hairstyle choice and the attention it's been getting:
The teen said he's been mostly unfazed by the wave of attention he's gotten in the wake of his cameo in his dad's campaign ads, but admitted the attention was “still kind of weird.”
“Honestly, for years my hair was really just for me. I didn't think people would love it so much,” Dante told DNAinfo New York in a phone interview Thursday.
“A lot of people recognize me,” he said with a shy laugh. “Some people want to take photos and I’m really just happy.”
DNAinfo also goes into how Dante maintains his style with the help of the family stylist, Riqui Brathwaite, and the influence behind it (Huey from The Boondocks). Thankfully, the interviewer avoids asking Dante for permission to touch his hair.
Read more at DNAinfo.
Jozen Cummings is the author and creator of the popular relationship blog Until I Get Married, which is currently in development for a television series with Warner Bros. He also hosts a weekly podcast with WNYC about Empire called Empire Afterparty, is a contributor at VerySmartBrothas.com and works at Twitter as an editorial curator. Follow him on Twitter.