After Donald Trump told journalists on Wednesday that his presidential opponent Kamala Harris “turned Black” for political gain, Trump’s comments have impacted the way many multirace voters are thinking about the two candidates.
“She was only promoting Indian heritage,” the former president said during an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists convention last week. “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.”
“Is she Indian or is she Black?” he asked.
She’s both.
Harris, whose mother was Indian and her father is Jamaican, would make history if she is elected president. She would be both the first female president and the first Asian American president.
Multiracial American voters say they have heard similar derogatory remarks about their identities their whole lives. Some identify with Harris’ politics more than others but, overall, they told NBC News that Trump’s comments will not go unnoticed.
That will accomplish nothing. White people in the US love saying both where we are from and where we know/think our ancestors are from. It’s a common question for white people to ask other white people. White people in the US are so proud to say they are Irish or German or “Italian on my mother’s side!” It’s like we crave to have something interesting about ourselves since the US is a bit generic, while also being fiercely proud of being from the US. Heck, it’s also easy to find people who act proud of being 1/16th Native American… without realizing the reason you’re 1/16th is because your great great grandfather stole your great great grandmother from her parents.
