Donald J. Harris is the father of Kamala Harris, whose ethnicity was recently challenged by Donald Trump in an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Convention. Mr. Trump falsely claimed that Kamala, until recently, only acknowledged the Indian heritage of her mother. Trump implied that Kamala suddenly realized some advantage to being Black and switched up, turning Black as if turning on a light switch.
Donald J. Harris was born in Jamaica, a place Trump believes is a shithole country. He is of African descent, with at least some Irish mixed in. His paternal grandfather told him she was descended from Hamilton Brown, who founded the local Anglican Church and owned at least 1120 slaves. There is a technical term for how a slave owner produces a child from someone he enslaves; it’s called rape, no matter how holy the background of the rapist. Harris’s grandmother wasn’t pure Black, and neither was Donald’s parents, who were Afro-Jamaicans, Black by any other name. Kamala isn’t pure Black, her father having mixed lineage and her mother of Indian heritage. I can’t say for sure I’ve ever met a Black person born in America who is pure Black, but I know plenty of Black people.
There used to be a legal definition for what makes one Black: having at least one drop of Black blood. It didn’t matter what else was mixed in. If any Black person could be found in your ancestry, you were deemed Black. There is also being Black by looking Black. If you look like one of your parents or grandparents and they were Black, you’re Black in the eyes of most people. In America, if you look Black, you’re Black; it isn’t optional.
Then again, what you feel you are can also play a role, though there are exceptions. Rachel Dolezal thought she was Black and told everyone she was, even to the point of becoming president of an NAACP local chapter. Someone could have told her the NAACP has many white members and officers. She didn’t have to lie. Dolezal is the exception to the rule. Most people claiming to be Black are, and Kamala Harris is in that category. Harris addressed the subject; in a 2019 interview, where she said the following:
“So I was born in Oakland and raised in the United States except for the years that I was in high school in Montreal, Canada. And, look, this is the same thing they did to Barack (Obama). This is not new to us. And so, I think that we know what they are trying to do.
I’m Black, and I’m proud of being Black. I was born Black. I will die Black, and I’m not going to make excuses for anybody because they don’t understand.”
Kamala has said in the past that her mother raised her to be proud of her Indian heritage, but never to the exclusion of her Black heritage. Harris went to an HBCU, Howard University, and pledged into the first Black sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
It’s ridiculous that this discussion has to be had. But we have a feeling lowbrow blows for Donald Trump are just getting started.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of Dona Mwiria's work on Medium or via her email list. And if you dig her words, buy her a coffee.