An election year that was already bitterly partisan has been completely upended by President Joe Biden鈥檚 decision to drop out of the 2024 White House race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. But it鈥檚 not just Harris鈥檚 late entry that has electrified things. It鈥檚 also the history to be made if the likely Democratic nominee becomes the first female president who is also multiracial.
The daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both of whom immigrated to the U.S. during the Civil Rights Movement, Harris鈥檚 historic presidential bid has again and the growing number of people who say they are multiracial.
Different countries divide people into categories depending on different national traditions. The U.S., with its slavery-molded history, divides people into Black or white, and nine million people identified as multiracial in 2010.
When Harris ran for vice president in 2020, 33.8 million people in the U.S. identified as being more than one race, according to the census.
Is Kamala Harris a Black woman?
Yes, she is. Her father Donald Jasper Harris, professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University, is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Jamaica.
Harris has said her mother deliberately raised her and her sister as Black because she felt that was how the world would see them first. Harris chose to go to Howard University, a historically Black college and university in Washington, D.C. The vice president maintains close ties to her alma mater and to her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
Being multiracial often means people try to categorize you and then treat you accordingly, said Dr. Kalya Castillo, a licensed psychologist in New York whose clinical interests include multiracial identity. She has met with patients who come for therapy for one issue and end up talking about being biracial or multiracial.
鈥淲hat are the messages that you鈥檝e received from your family along with the outside community and society?鈥� said Castillo, who is Black and Japanese. 鈥淚 have more people who are curious about exploring that now.鈥�
Every multiracial person鈥檚 experience and how they choose to present themselves is different. There鈥檚 also no predicting if someone decides to stereotype you. Castillo said many people assume she is a member of a 鈥渕odel minority鈥� group because of her Japanese heritage.
Growing up, however, her Asian mother was afraid how Castillo would be treated if people saw her as Black.
鈥淪he knew a bit about the discrimination that African-Americans, Blacks, have faced in America,鈥� Castillo said.
Is Kamala Harris also an Indian American woman?
Yes, she is. Her late mother Shyamala Gopalan, a biomedical scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, was born in India.
In 2020, there was criticism that Harris' Indian heritage wasn't given much media attention. Some wonder if that's happening again.
鈥淲hat I鈥檝e already seen just in the last 24 hours is folks who are advocates for the South Asian community arguing or complaining that her Asian-ness is getting erased,鈥� said Stephen Caliendo, co-founder and co-director of The Project on Race in Political Communication at North Central College.
鈥淪he鈥檚 often referred to as a Black woman candidate,鈥� he said.
From the playground to the workplace, being multiracial can be fraught with challenges. In politics, it can spark attacks rooted in race instead of policy disagreements.
The day after Harris replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett called her a 鈥淒EI hire鈥� in a TV interview. Conservatives have been using diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to argue that unqualified people get hired solely based on their race and gender.
But, GOP leaders are now urging Republicans to for fear of alienating voters.
Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University who has written extensively about Black politicians and political mobilization and race, says both racist and sexist tropes were inevitable for Harris. GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance said at a rally that for the last 20 years.鈥�
鈥淜amala Harris got something that was especially tailored to stereotypes about Black women,鈥� Gillespie said.
Even seemingly innocuous words from Harris sparked what seemed like racist arguments, Caliendo said. In her first statement after Biden's withdrawal, Harris announced 鈥渕y intention is to earn and win this nomination.鈥� Very quickly, some Republican officials quipped that she hadn't earned anything.
鈥淚t plays into a stereotype of undeserving members of minority groups, particularly women, 鈥榳elfare queen鈥� kind of thing,鈥� Caliendo said. 鈥淪he feels entitled to something that she hasn鈥檛 earned. She's using it as an inoculation against what she expects.鈥�
Conservatives have also butchered Harris' first name, igniting accusations of racism and disrespect. Kamala (KAH鈥�-mah-lah) means lotus in Sanskrit. In his first rally since Harris became the likely Democratic nominee, Republican Donald Trump repeatedly mispronounced her name as part of a broad attack on someone he called his "new victim to defeat." And at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee earlier this month, several speakers mispronounced the vice president's name.
Supporters say these mispronunciations are meant to stress her multiracial background as something scary.
鈥淚 think we should all expect more, from all corners of American civic life. But certainly we should expect more from the halls of Congress,鈥� said Chintan Patel, director of the political empowerment organization Indian American Impact.
Do some people think the vice president isn鈥檛 Black or South Asian enough?
When Harris announced her presidential candidacy the first time in 2019, it didn't take long for people in the Black community to question if she was 鈥淏lack enough.鈥� Some cited the fact she is Jamaican, not African American. Others pointed to her marriage to Doug Emhoff, who is white. Candidate Harris decided to address these accusations head-on by going on all-Black-hosted radio shows like 鈥淭he Breakfast Club."
鈥淚鈥檓 black, and I鈥檓 proud of being black,鈥� Harris, then a U.S. senator, said in the 2019 radio interview. 鈥淚 was born black. I will die black, and I鈥檓 not going to make excuses for anybody because they don鈥檛 understand.鈥�
Gillespie called such a criticism a tired trope, saying Harris has always rightfully been a part of the Black community and the Black experience. Gillespie also points to the two Zoom calls held this week by Black women and Black men, respectively, that raised nearly $3 million.
鈥淭he idea that you could get tens of thousands of Black people on a call that was organized at the last minute to talk about how are we going to support this presidential candidate, I think speaks volumes to how black grassroots activists are going to organize in support of her and how they鈥檙e organizing and embracing her as a member of their community,鈥� Gillespie said.
Patel also hit back at any notion that Harris is not 鈥淚ndian enough.鈥� He praised her for supporting Indian American Impact when it launched in 2018.
鈥淪he has keynoted at many community events that we鈥檝e had across the years, across the country. She's hosted Diwali event celebrations, Eid celebrations at her home,鈥� Patel said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 really showed up and championed South Asian American communities.鈥�
Why do racial labels continue to matter in American politics?
The idea that someone gets to be the authority on someone else's racial identity is reminiscent of the 鈥渙ne-drop rule.鈥� A legal principle rooted in slavery, the so-called rule determined anyone with even a drop of Black lineage could not own land or be free. To come up with criteria to validate a multiracial person is pointless and hurtful, Castillo said.
鈥淵our legitimacy is questioned. It鈥檚 like this superficial, arbitrary stuff that鈥檚 like super performative," Castillo said.
What Castillo has found helpful is the 鈥淏ill of Rights for Racially Mixed People," a list published by Maria Root, a renowned clinical psychologist who is also bi-racial, in 1993. The list contains a dozen declarations such as 鈥淚 have the right not to justify my ethnic legitimacy." Castillo showed it to her daughter after the girl's friends argued 鈥渨hat percentage Asian she was versus Black.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 also been super-empowering for me,鈥� Castillo said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 something that I still am trying to practice and really be thoughtful about when I鈥檓 in situations in which I think people are trying to tell me who I am.鈥�
Terry Tang, The Associated Press
