The Furore Over Kamala’s Identity

“Okay, so what we are going to cook today is an Indian recipe – because you are Indian.” – Mindy Kaling to Kamala Harris

“Yes…yes” – Kamala Harris

SB Veda

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a Joint-Session of the United States Congress, he remarked that, “There are millions of people in this country with roots in India. Some of them sit proudly in this Chamber. And,” he said, pointing to Kamala Harris who as Vice President, presided over the session,”there is one behind me, who has made history.”

It was an august occasion, evoking a standing ovation at which Kamala Harris, smiling with hands clapping, certainly accepted the Indian Prime Minister’s gesture of ancestral kinship with her, warmly. With the media furore over her identity, one might think if the event had happened, today, she might have interjected and said,  “Wait, but I’m black! At least that’s what I’m supposed to say!”

This is just one of many occasions in which Harris, when it has been convenient, has identified herself as Indian. It has mostly been in front of adoring Indian American crowds – a growing and significant voting demographic in the United States. They have grown to become the most populous segment of the Asian American community – and an affluent voting block. Just recently, around 4000 voters who call themselves South Asian Women for Harris, which included prominent actress, Mindy Kaling, raised a quarter of a million dollars for their candidate in just twenty-four hours.

Actress Mindy Kaling making Dosa with Kamal Harris, calling her Indian to which Harris Agrees and says “You look like half my family.”

That said, as Indian Americans are dispersed throughout the United States, they do not constitute a significant voting block in particular constituencies the way Blacks, Latinos, and more recently Arab Muslims have done so in specific voting districts in various US states.  Indeed, the Democrats have relied on the black vote and black voter turnout since Civil Rights laws were enacted in the sixties.

Particularly in swing states like Georgia, the black vote may well make up the margin of victory in a state that brings a prize of sixteen electoral college votes. Indeed, it’s the electoral college system in which the eventual winner for President must win the majority of votes in each state to receive the electoral college tally that adds to select who becomes President. Had the US election been one of direct democracy with the outcome  hinging only on the popular vote, Indian Americans would hold much more sway in who is elected President. But the communities mentioned above, being concentrated in areas that are voting districts impact far more profoundly whether a candidate wins a state or not.

So, it’s electoral math that’s at issue, really, in determining Harris’ racial identification. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have become such a flashpoint in 2024. After all, she has been on the national scene since 2019 and this issue hasn’t come up.

That’s why during an interview with ‘Charlemagne The God’, she said she was black and made no mention of being bi or multi-racial. That said, the radio host went on CNN afterwards and said she was both Black and Indian.

Recently in Georgia, Harris donned a fake Southern accent and shared a stage with her “friend,” Quavo, the rapper, and with hip hop/dirty rapper (as defined by Google – not my words) Megan Thee Stallion who declared herself a member of “Hos for Harris” as she twerked on stage and towards the TV cameras. While many black people have taken to X (formerly Twitter) and Youtube to denounce the spectacle as insulting the intelligence of the black community, others talked of the energy boost that the campaign received after their inability to fill dingy gymnasiums in other states. The characterization stood in the media despite the fact that a significant proportion of the audience left after Stallion’s performance less than halfway through Harris’ speech.

Malcolm X had remarked that the use of black entertainers to garner the black vote was offensive then. At the time, it was white candidates who were playing the game. Now, it appears the Harris has inherited this tactic. That she felt compelled to use it demonstrates clearly that she doesn’t identify with being black, and the antics on stage were designed to project a certain kind of ‘blackness’, which she obviously feels will appeal to African Americans. It has had mixed results at best with many blacks really feeling offended that they should be seen to be bought so easily by identification with night club culture.

DEI HIRE?

As the controversy raged, Harris’ opponent, President Donald J. Trump weighed in to his detriment. By saying she identified as Indian and only recently as black, Trump crudely tried to argue that Harris’ race-identification changes based on the audience with which she is trying to curry favour. As is typical, he only ended up uniting the left behind Kamala, who made sport of his remarks, calling them racist and misogynistic (the usual suspect adverbs).

Trump  was responding to whether Harris was a DEI hire at a conference of black journalists. He asked the host to define the term. She responded by identifying what the acronym stood for: diversity, equity, and inclusion. She failed to actually define the term, which refers to organizational frameworks which seek to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination on the basis of identity or disability

Had the host properly defined the term instead of merely identifying the words in the acronym and claiming repeatedly that she had defined it (perhaps she was ignorant of what it meant), Trump could have simply quoted the Las Angeles Times or countless other media outlets on the subject. The Times wrote in 2020, “Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden pledged months ago to pick a woman as his running mate. Now he’s under increasing pressure to make that pick a Black woman.” By definition, this would have made Harris a hire based on her identity for purposes of diversification and equity. Biden has also boasted of being the first President to appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court.

Democrats seem ashamed of this fact, and can’t seem to defend the fact that there is nothing wrong with appointing a person from an under-represented group for that very reason to a position for which they might otherwise be overlooked due to prejudice. However, MAGA Republicans have turned DEI hires into a four crude epithet, connoting that such hires lack the qualifications, experience or competence for the job and are chosen above people who possess those essential qualities. While that might be true of Justice Clarence Thomas – a Republican DEI hire, it is not generally true and Democrats have failed miserably to dispel that myth. It’s as if they don’t know how to defend their own policies when attacked, except to say, “You’re a racist or sexist or transphobic.” – or could it be that deep down, they believe the myth?

The culture of accusation and counter-accusation has become extraordinarily harmful for American politics. It dumbs down the debate, and preempts an intelligent discussion of viewpoints.

In that sense, Harris clinging to her Irish heritage might have countered the DEI claim (her father claims to be Indian and Irish, though he says that his Irish ancestors owned a lot of slaves, hinting that he may have been the product of a non-consensual interracial encounter). The fact that Harris is of Irish ancestry is something that is never mentioned in the press but it is as true as her ‘blackness.’

The supremacy of electoral ascendency trumps such identification. Kamala Harris, unless she is speaking to an Indian crowd, will from now until November identify as unmistakably black.  Doing otherwise risks peeling off the black vote to Republicans or demotivating blacks from voting – at least according to Harris and her advisers. Being honest about having a diverse ancestry likely would have no effect on her support among the black community. Again, to think otherwise, is to to think less of them.

The fact is that the Trump campaign, while believing that attacking President Joe Biden on grounds of growing infirmity and cognitive decline, would weaken him as a candidate, they never actually prepared for the eventuality that Biden would step down and Harris would be named the presumptive Democratic nominee. Her selection has diminished Trump’s leads in the swing states and, essentially brought the polls back to the statistical dead heat they were in in June when the contest between Biden and Trump was a toss-up. The risk of losing is now very real to the Trump campaign.

Republicans chose a VP candidate in JD Vance who did not tick any diversity boxes, though he married an Indian American. Trump may have thought Vance could appeal to poor people in a way that he can’t, especially in rural Appalachian America, the subject of Vance’s best-selling book, Hillbilly Elegy. But Vance is proving to be a loose canon, and doesn’t seem to be appealing to many voters at all. He also represents the status quo.

Had Trump chosen Republican rival Nikki Haley as his running mate, he could have at least pointed to the fact that he selected someone very different from him both in her positions and also in background. As a woman of colour, she could have countered Harris’ dominance in that demographic, and stripped away some minority women from the Harris camp.

However, once again, the Trump campaign thought they would be running against Joe Biden. Their miscalculation has led to being stuck with a dud as VP nominee and no way of countering the inclusiveness of the Democratic Party. Hence, the most convenient way to attack Harris, as Trump sees it, is to say she is being disingenuous about her race. Per Trump, she is black when it is convenient but basically Indian.

Whether Trump’s accusation is true or not, Harris’ self-identification as a black woman is difficult to counter.

THE INDIAN INFLUENCE

HOW HARRIS’ INDIAN ROOTS SHAPED HER POLITICAL VIEWS

The histrionic reaction of the media in 2024 to questions about Harris’ identity is rather new and stands in contrast to their own characterization of Harris four years ago when the New York Times described her Indian influences as having shaped Harris’ political conscience: “Although Ms. Harris has been more understated about her Indian heritage than her experience as a Black woman, her path to U.S. vice-presidential pick has also been guided by the values of her Indian-born mother, her Indian grandfather and her wider Indian family who have provided a lifelong support network that endures even from 8,000 miles away.” They surely didn’t add, “But in the end, none of that counted; she is black, imbued with black culture and ideas, and nothing Indian has rubbed off on her.”

The NYT article went on to quote Harris as saying: “I remember the stories that they would tell and the passion with which they spoke about the importance of democracy,” Ms. Harris said in a 2018 speech to an Indian-American group. “As I reflect on those moments in my life that have had the most impact on who I am today — I wasn’t conscious of it at the time — but it was those walks on the beach with my grandfather in Besant Nagar that had a profound impact on who I am today.”

Kamala Harris (top left) in Indian attire posing with her Indian family members

IS KAMALA BLACK OR INDIAN OR BOTH?

The existential question that is being posed in questioning Harris’ ‘blackness’ is not a new one in American politics. Although Barack (Barry) Obama identified as black, he is in fact the product of a Nigerian father and a white American mother. For a time, he struggled with his identity, something that is well-documented. In stark contrast to Obama’s experience to whom she is loathe to be compared, Harris says her Hindu roots helped her to manage own self-perception because of the philosophy espoused by that faith that we are all one.  That Obama married a black woman in Michelle who can trace her roots back to slaves, burnished his black credentials. Despite Harris’ own peace with her identity, ostensibly, she can only trace her black ancestry back to Irish slave owners who likely raped at least one of their slaves. In contrast to the perception of Obama, this is not a narrative that’s going to win any black votes. And, this is why liberals are so visceral in their attacks on anyone who brings up Harris’ mixed ancestry. Don’t call her Irish!

Harris has a white Jewish husband and white step children. Her romantic linkages to black men are not viewed in a terribly positive light as the relationships have been characterized as cynical attempts to boost her career. Her affair with married California State political boss, Willie Brown directly resulted in her getting plum jobs with no work involved, a BMW car, and donors for her election campaigns for District Attorney and Attorney General of that state.

And, black women, in particular, take a dim view of women who “steal another sister’s man.”

One black female YouTuber even stated that Harris took advantage of black men to climb the political ladder but when it came to settling down with a man, she chose white.

It may be telling that all the women in the Harris family who have made America their home, including Harris’ niece have been given Indian names. Interestingly, Kamala who is named for the lotus flower, which is used in Hindu rituals and considered holy, shares the same first name as my grandmother. Her sister Maya Devi’s name is also Indian, as is that of her niece’s Meena. Each of these women have fathers who were not Indian. What does it reveal about the women of the Harris family that, across two generations, they chose to give their daughters Indian Hindu names?  This is certainly at odds with Nimrata (Nikki) Haley who discarded her Indian name with, in all likelihood, the intent to fit into white American society. Just as the fair-skinned Nikki chose to mask her Indian identity and pose as white, Kamala could cemented her black identity by using the name Kate or Kelly – but she chose to be called by her Indian name. Why? Indian culture must mean something to her and to her family. Why shouldn’t it mean something to the media?

Militant advocates of Harris’ ‘blackness’ cite the fact she went to an Historically Black College or University (HBCU) and was a member of a black sorority as evidence of their claim that this identity trumps all others.  The reality is that HBCUs are not exclusively reserved for black people and there is no racial test upon admission.  And, Harris’ sorority, though the first sorority composed entirely of black women, has the following policy: “Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated^® does not discriminate in its membership selection practices on the basis of race, color, age, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, creed, marital status or disability.” So, technically one needn’t be black to be a member.

It is true that Harris’ mother, to her credit, did her best to bring both of her children up with a sense of their black heritage, so as not to deny them this piece of their ancestry. In doing so, she seems like she was a very balanced person and a good parent.  And, so, anyone claiming that Kamala Harris has only recently identified as black would be wrong.

However, the way has been which Harris is projecting her ‘blackness,’ recently is shamelessly disingenuous. She doesn’t have a southern accent. She has a rather diverse experience, having grown up in Canada. And, whether she listens to Quavo or Megan Thee Stallion, she could have chosen to put people on her rally stage who do not represent a version of being black that black people on social media have described as ‘trash’. She could have called upon some more accomplished members of the African American community in various fields to represent her as a proponent of excellence in the community. I refer to people like Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett, Lead Scientist for the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, poet Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet and founder of youth writing and leadership program, One Pen One Page, Rashida Jones (not to be confused with the actress of the same name), the first black woman to run a major TV station, and novelist / professor, Paul Beatty the first American of any colour to win the United Kingdom’s prestigious Booker Prize. These people are truly inspirational. Instead, Harris chose associate herself with Quavo and Megan Thee Stallion, instead, scraping the bottom of the barrel instead. This was supposed to impress and garner the support of the black community. The tactic seems to have fallen woefully short of that aim.

Identity politics seems poised to complicate Harris’ run for president. It is actually recurring, not because of attacks by Republicans, now, but because the liberal media is repeatedly bringing it up. Recently, ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos, while interviewing a black Republican guest – someone who tried to talk about policy but kept being dragged back by the host to the identity issue – cynically called stating the facts about Harris’ identity a racial slur.  Others are bound to follow suit because it enables the left to play offence against the right without having to defend Harris’ record on the border or the Biden-Harris administration’s record on inflation, and foreign policy.

The tactic is a double-edged sword because many black people aren’t buying it. Every single black person knows all too well what a racial slur is. One would be hard pressed to find a single black person who hasn’t encountered one during their lifetime. They certainly don’t need a privileged white news anchor like Stephanopoulos to gesticulate and feign offence while educating them on such matters and pretending to defend them. He was patronizing to the extreme!

Kamala Devi Harris must find a public way to come to terms with her diverse heritage in a way that is authentic and inoffensive to blacks. Repetitions of the Georgia rally are bound to turn away the very constituency she is trying to court. At the same time, such exhibitions risk tarnishing the halo with which Indian Americans have adorned her and the conservative Democrats who constituted Joe Biden’s base.

The Georgia rally and hyper-identification with being black has already damaged her campaign. Indian-origin former Republican presidential contender, Vivek Ramaswamy recently criticized US Vice President Kamala Harris, claiming that she has “cast aside” her Indian identity for political convenience. He made the same criticism of his Republican rival Nikki Haley during the Republican primary contest. Moreover, the Indian publication The Print, carried this headline when Harris first announced for President: Hinduphobia makes Kamala Harris’ identity a liability. So she is ‘Black’ in US media.

Historically, Harris has confounded attempts by others to categorize her identity, which is certainly her right. “I am who I am,” she once said. “I’m good with it. You might need to figure it out, but I’m fine with it.” More power to her for essentially saying, my identity is my business – now let’s get on to the issues. The problem is, she seems to have abandoned that stance, indulging people to vote for her based on leaning into an inauthentic ghetto caricature of a black person, instead of being who she is: a highly successful, worldly, mixed heritage public official. Shouldn’t that be good enough for all communities?