Jelani’s mother is white, his father is Black. Some people like Jelani choose to identify as Biracial, some as Mixed. Jelani identifies as Black.

Sometimes, some people do this because they believe this is the way the world will see them. Jelani does so because so much of his family and his world are Black, because he has always been loved and included in the predominately Black family in which he was raised, and because he is proud of his Blackness. He doesn’t think being so invalidates his Mom, because she encourages him to strive to grow up into a “Proud Black Man, like Daddy, and Granddaddy and Great Granddaddy too!”

There are multiple ways that people with multiracial lineage may self identify.

What is key for our story is that our lead is shown defining himself, confident in the love and support from his parents and extended family.

Jelani is not confused and he is not alone.

He knows who he is, and he knows he is loved.

Why did we choose to center a Biracial Child in this story?

We, the authors of “My Brother Santa; Great Granddaddy’s Christmas Storytelling Magic”, are an Interracial Couple. Writing a book that centered a monoracially Black child would find us outside of our lane. At the same time, we noticed that there were not many books centering biracial children who identify as Black, so this is why we decided to write about Jelani.