 |
| Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. |
OPINION
(Updated to include the Aug. 29 CNN interview.)
On the subject of race, Donald Trump just doesn't get it. He's not alone in his ignorance. Most of his followers don't understand why race matters to people of color.
“She was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said in an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists convention. “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.”
The grumbling in the audience grew louder but Trump continued: “Is she Indian or is she Black?”
Trump's choice for running mate, JD Vance, ftrying to defend what Trump said in a recent interview with CNN : “I believe that Kamala Harris is whatever she says she is. She pretends to be one thing in front of one audience. She pretends to be something different in front of another audience.”
Truth is: she is both ... and more. What Vance and Trump can never understand is Harris is Black; and she is South Asian, more specifically, Indian American. She is not half of either.
Americans have a hard time with race. They stumble around trying to avoid the subject which comes across to people of color as ignoring the topic.
To make things worse, most Americans of any color tend to cling to the antiquated "melting pot" theory thrust upon children in elementary school that somehow, people of different races, nationalities and ethnicities must shed their physical differences, beliefs and values to become this unique individual -- an American.
That piece of propaganda never actually existed. It was a myth created to make white people more comfortable with themselves. Ask any person of color and they'll tell you a story of racist slurs, intended or unintended. In reality, there were segregated neighborhoods, schools and in most cases, segregated houses of worship.
From a very young age, people of color are o believe that their funny-smelling lunches, the accents and skin color is somehow inferior to the standard of whiteness of "real" Americans.
In reality, this land of immigrants, under the melting pot myth, people were expected to become more like white Americans, popularized by the make-believe neighborhoods depicted in television shows like "Leave It to Beather," "Father Knows Best" and "Ozzie and Harriet" broadcast into the living rooms and hearts and minds of America. Those TV shows helped strengthen the underlying belief that to be American is to be white.
New immigrants often fall prey to the relentless bombardment of propaganda coming from media, schools and our leaders when they refer to their white friends, coworkers or fellow students as "Americans," but denying that label to themselves and their ethnic social circles.
In contrast, Kamala Harris spent her formative years in the multi-racial and multi-cultural communities of Oakland and Berkeley. Like other multi-race individuals, she does not have to choose one over the other. She can accept the heritage of her Indian mother and Jamaican father. She can also accept the Black American culture of the Oakland-Berkeley community and her peers at Howard University, an historically Black educational institution that sharpened and honed the values that helped shape her career all the way to the White House.
What many people who grew up with a single perspective that was reinforced by the educational system and meida-driven culture dominated by Whites, cannot fully comprehend is that a single individual can be many things, all at once.
She can cook Indian dishes or her famous roast chicken. She's as comfortable dancing the Electric Slide as she is wearing a sari. She can relate to an audience of Howard University alumni or an audience made up of Asian American community leaders.
When she spoke in front of the very diverse delegates at the Democratic National Convention, she was able to relate her complicated life journey and make it more like the all-American story touching upon race, being made to feel like an outsider, standing up to bullies, going against the odds, fighting for David-versus-Goliath battles for justice and equality.
The 2020 United States Census reported that 33.8 million people, or 10.2% of the population, identified as multiracial, which is a 276% increase from 2010. Multiracial Americans is one of the fastest-growing population groups of the US.
It shouldn't be an either/or choice for Harris and for the millions of people of mixed racial heritage and multiple cultures. To place one over the other is to not see the rest of her and the totality of Kamala Harris. Her multi-racial background may make Trump and people who think like him uncomfortable but for most Americans, it is what we see every day in our communities, in school and on the job. We learn to go beyond tolerating the differences, but to appreciate them.
In her first interview after becoming the Democratic frontrunner, when questioned about her racial background, Harris' answered, with a smile: "Next question, please," as if there is nothing else to add to her previous responses was enough. "Same old, tired playbook," she added.
Indeed, her acceptance speech at the DNC, her race was not an emphasis, but it was always present in her life and referced in her answers. After her speech, amid the colorful balloons and confetti, her extended family gathered around her showing off the multi-cultural, multi-hued, multi-racial, multi-religious relatives that still surrounds her.
To paraphrase a popular movie with a decidedly Asian vibe, Harris is "everything, everywhere, all at once."
She is the sum total of all those different aspects that shaped her and helped her become Vice President Harris, running to become the first woman, first Black woman, first South Asian President of the United States. In more ways than her critics will care to admit, Kamala Harris' story is an American story. Her story is our story.
