Kamala Harris's Racial Identity Disputed.

Vice President Kamala Harris is facing a fresh wave of attacks from conservatives and their surrogates, who are questioning her racial and cultural heritage, as well as her eligibility for the presidency.

A list titled "Kamala Harris Facts," shared widely on social media, contains false and misleading claims about her background, including that she is "Not African American — Indian & Jamaican." These attacks, reminiscent of birtherism, falsely suggest that Harris is not eligible to be president due to her immigrant family's history, even though she was born in Oakland, California, in 1964.

Experts in Caribbean and Africana studies, political science, and anthropology confirm that the claims being made about Harris misrepresent her multicultural and multiracial background, and reflect a poor understanding of the complex nature of racial identity in the United States.

Keneshia Grant, a political science professor at Howard University, characterized the attacks as an attempt to "other" Harris, a common tactic in American politics. Grant added that such tactics are effective because they prey on people's biases and fears.

The conversation around Harris's racial identity is complex. According to experts, it involves understanding the African diaspora, the historical slave trade, and the broader implications of anti-Black racism and violence. Harris herself has identified simply as "an American," emphasizing her comfort with her multicultural identity from an early age.

Sources:

• https://x.com/mkraju/status/1815458890714075521
• https://archive.is/pwy8H
• https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9s-V1gysYR/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=4f5af54e-c569-4d4f-9ce7-65163cafdae8
• https://www.facebook.com/TheFederalistPapers/posts/pfbid03a2rChfvvKu2x3HnYZ89g1Bjt9aq4zY2ncXJE4YCqnCvyECGpFiVbs4Kncr2QWwfl
• https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9vrV1qNXUI/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=58e76aec-ab23-46cb-bb36-4f4267ead904
• https://www.politifact.com/article/2024/jul/25/fact-checking-so-called-kamala-harris-facts/
• https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/jul/22/instagram-posts/birtherism-is-back-but-kamala-harris-born-in-calif/
• https://cdt.org/press/women-of-color-political-candidates-in-us-targeted-with-the-worst-online-abuse/
• https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525560718/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thewaspos09-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0525560718&linkId=c7770170e9d020aed7b023a2d37b6fe1
• https://issuu.com/digjamaica/docs/1_pdfsam_general_report_census_2011/112?ff
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3299582/
• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/opinion/kamala-harris-black-identity.html
• https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:DKUX4txxnGsJ:https://www.jamaicaglobalonline.com/kamala-harris-jamaican-heritage/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/i-am-who-i-am-kamala-harris-daughter-of-indian-and-jamaican-immigrants-defines-herself-simply-as-american/2019/02/02/0b278536-24b7-11e9-ad53-824486280311_story.html