What to Know About Kamala Harris’ Racial and Cultural Heritage
Kamala Harris has been attacked by conservatives who are homing in on her professional background as well as her racial and cultural heritage. Bad actors have falsely claimed that she is not eligible for the presidency, a rehashing of the “birther” conspiracy theory alleging that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Despite the claims, Harris was indeed born in the US and therefore is eligible for the nation’s highest elected office.
While Harris’ parents were both born outside the US, she was born in Oakland, California, in 1964. Her father, Donald Harris, was born in Jamaica while her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, was born in India. Both of her parents immigrated to the US to attend the University of Berkeley. While growing up, Harris embraced both her South Asian and Black identities by attending both a Hindu temple and a Black Baptist church. As Harris wrote in her autobiography, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey, her parents separated when she was 5 and then divorced a few years later.
Harris attended middle school and high school in Montreal and then majored in political science and economics at Howard University, a prestigious historically Black college, in Washington D.C. She also attended law school in San Francisco, later becoming an assistant district attorney in the Alameda County prosecutor’s office in Oakland, where she specialized in sex crimes.
Kamala Harris (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
During a recent question-and-answer session with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), former President Donald Trump asked, "Is she Indian or is she Black?" Trump was asked if he agreed with Republicans who have labeled Harris as a "DEI hire." Trump, who has previously supported the racist "birther" conspiracy theory, responded by casting doubts on Harris's heritage. Harris's supporters have accused conservatives of leaning into racist tropes due to her Tamil Indian and Afro-Jamaican ancestry; previously, Harris has had her intelligence questioned and was, for instance, referred to as "colored" by ex-Trump aide Sebastian Gorka last month.
It’s worth noting that 90% of the people of Jamaica have African ancestry; Harris’ Jamaican heritage makes her an African American as well, an indication of slavery’s global reach. Many Jamaicans can trace their ancestry to the days of chattel slavery and the large-scale importation of African captives.
In her memoir, Harris mentioned that while her mother instilled pride in their Indian heritage, she recognized that in America, people would primarily perceive her children as Black. When asked how she would personally identify herself, she said that she is simply “an American” and has tried not to self categorize given that she is biracial.
