Muddled

One of Kamala Harris' parents- her mother- hailed from India but became immersed in the civil rights struggle for black Americans. The vice president has fairly consistently identified as black, and no doubt throughout most of her personal life and professional career, she has been perceived as black by nearly every individual and organization.

At the end of July, Donald Trump clumsily stated at the convention of the National Association of Black Journalists "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. So, I don't know, is she Indian or is she black?"

Although Trump continually lies, he may here have been either misguided or confused about a widely misunderstood subject.  In April of 2023, the vice-president had traveled to Africa and

was welcomed as a “daughter of our own country” when she sat down with Zambia’s leader.

The visit, President Hakainde Hichilema said, was “like a homecoming.”

It was a reference to a childhood trip to Zambia when Harris’ grandfather worked here, but she heard similar refrains throughout her weeklong trip to Africa that ended Saturday.

In Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo told Harris “you’re welcome home.” In Tanzania, a sign in Swahili told Harris to “feel at home.”

The greetings were a reflection of the enduring connections between the African diaspora in the United States and Africans themselves, something that America’s first Black vice president fostered during her trip. Although her historic status has led to extreme scrutiny and extraordinary expectations in Washington, it was a source of excitement over the past week.

But Kamala Harris never lived in Ghana or in Zambia and is not part of the African diaspora. And in the spirit of allowing the candidate herself- rather than her opponent, Donald Trump- identify herself, as she did in February of 2019 when the former state attorney general said that

she has smoked marijuana and supports the legalization of the drug.

In the interview, given to the New York-based radio show “The Breakfast Club,” co-host Charlamagne Tha God asks Harris if she has ever smoked.

“I have. And I inhaled – I did inhale. It was a long time ago. But, yes,” the California Democrat replies, invoking former President Bill Clinton’s famous “didn’t inhale” remark he made during his 1992 presidential run.

Harris, laughing as she realized the attention that her admission might draw, said that she tried pot in college and noted that it was in the form of a joint.

“I just broke news,” she said.

The 2020 presidential contender dodged Charlamagne Tha God’s question about whether or not she would try it again if it were legalized “all throughout the country,” but said that she thinks “that it gives a lot of people joy and we need more joy.”

As for marijuana legalization, Harris told Charlamagne Tha God that she supports it.

They say you oppose legalizing weed,” he said.

“That’s not true. And look I joke about it, half joking – half my family’s from Jamaica, are you kidding me,” Harris replies, laughing.

In a moment of candor fairly unusual for a politician, Harris pleaded "half my family's from Jamaica, are you kidding me?" Nearly humorous, it was accurate because half of Harris' family is from Jamaica, as she claimed. She is not generational African-American, as she indirectly conceded, instead having a parent from Jamaica which, before the political rise of Kamala Harris, always was recognized as an island country in the Caribbean sea, far from the continent of Africa.

Descendants of someone from Jamaica may originate from Africa- and from other continents. So, too, do white Americans, proud of their descendants from Italy, Ireland, or Poland, have descendants generations ago from continents other than Europe.

Kamala Harris identifies as black which is common and logical as a citizen of the USA who has at least one black parent.  Evidently, this is difficult to understand for some people, including ABC's George Stephanopoulos, who claims to believe hat Harris is bi-racial and yet simultaneously ethnically black. 

Within reason, the vice-president has, as we all do, the right to identify herself. With Kamala Harris, that is black and Jamaican-American, whatever Donald Trump, a famous broadcast journalist, or others may maintain.

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