SSN Commentary

Kamala Harris Is Black and Indian. Both. Let’s Move On.

Policy field

Connect with the author

Southern Methodist University

Originally published in The Emancipator on August 2, 2024.

On July 31, former president Donald Trump addressed the National Association for Black Journalists convention in Chicago. Responding to the three interviewers on stage with wildly offensive and nonsensical statements, Trump chose to wade into the waters of mixed-race discourse by talking about his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black,” Trump crowed to a stunned audience of convention attendees. “So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”

His remark highlighted a common experience that mixed-race people, and mixed-race politicians in particular, face as they navigate public life — the illegitimate questioning of one’s identity.