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The Kamala Harris identity debate shows how America still struggles to talk about multiracial people
Last edited Fri Aug 14, 2020, 02:00 PM - Edit history (2)
The Kamala Harris identity debate shows how America still struggles to talk about multiracial people
Identity is complicated, and she shouldn’t have to choose just one.
This week, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced that Sen. Kamala Harris would be his running mate. News outlets heralded the historic nature of her vice presidential nomination, highlighting that she was the first Black woman and also the first Asian American woman to achieve this milestone.
For multiracial people, defining their racial identity in America is a complex and fraught issue. And what the energy expended on debating Harris’s identity tells us is that we still have a long way to go when it comes to talking about multiracial people in America.
...
Pew Research estimates that 6.9 percent of the adult American population is multiracial, and the Census Bureau predicts that the multiracial population in America will triple by 2060. But despite the fact that this identity group is rapidly growing, many Americans still don’t know how to talk about multiracial people. Americans want to be able to easily label people by race and put them into one box.
Harris herself told the Washington Post in 2019 that when she entered politics she felt pressure to define herself: “When I first ran for office that was one of the things that I struggled with, which is that you are forced through that process to define yourself in a way that you fit neatly into the compartment that other people have created,” Harris told the Post. “My point was: I am who I am. I’m good with it. You might need to figure it out, but I’m fine with it,” she said.
Sanchez says that multiracial people can face what she refers to as double discrimination, where they experience discrimination from both communities they are members of. In Harris’s case, that leads to South Asians saying she’s not South Asian enough and Black people saying she might not be Black enough. “So there’s all these different sources of discrimination that are affecting the development of your multiracial identity and your experience with it, and that can make it hard to navigate,” Sanchez said.
...
We’ve seen it before: When one person from a marginalized group breaks barriers and ascends to new heights, they shoulder the weight of their entire community’s expectations. When a woman runs for president, she is expected to represent all women; when a Black person runs for office, they’re under pressure to represent all Black people. And when a woman of color runs for office, let alone a multiracial woman who identifies with two major racial groups, she carries the burden of even more expectations on her shoulders.
But Harris is just one person and she cannot be all things to all people. She doesn’t need to neatly fit into anybody’s box.
Much more here --> https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/8/14/21366307/kamala-harris-black-south-asian-indian-identity
Identity is complicated, and she shouldn’t have to choose just one.
This week, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced that Sen. Kamala Harris would be his running mate. News outlets heralded the historic nature of her vice presidential nomination, highlighting that she was the first Black woman and also the first Asian American woman to achieve this milestone.
For multiracial people, defining their racial identity in America is a complex and fraught issue. And what the energy expended on debating Harris’s identity tells us is that we still have a long way to go when it comes to talking about multiracial people in America.
...
Pew Research estimates that 6.9 percent of the adult American population is multiracial, and the Census Bureau predicts that the multiracial population in America will triple by 2060. But despite the fact that this identity group is rapidly growing, many Americans still don’t know how to talk about multiracial people. Americans want to be able to easily label people by race and put them into one box.
Harris herself told the Washington Post in 2019 that when she entered politics she felt pressure to define herself: “When I first ran for office that was one of the things that I struggled with, which is that you are forced through that process to define yourself in a way that you fit neatly into the compartment that other people have created,” Harris told the Post. “My point was: I am who I am. I’m good with it. You might need to figure it out, but I’m fine with it,” she said.
Sanchez says that multiracial people can face what she refers to as double discrimination, where they experience discrimination from both communities they are members of. In Harris’s case, that leads to South Asians saying she’s not South Asian enough and Black people saying she might not be Black enough. “So there’s all these different sources of discrimination that are affecting the development of your multiracial identity and your experience with it, and that can make it hard to navigate,” Sanchez said.
...
We’ve seen it before: When one person from a marginalized group breaks barriers and ascends to new heights, they shoulder the weight of their entire community’s expectations. When a woman runs for president, she is expected to represent all women; when a Black person runs for office, they’re under pressure to represent all Black people. And when a woman of color runs for office, let alone a multiracial woman who identifies with two major racial groups, she carries the burden of even more expectations on her shoulders.
But Harris is just one person and she cannot be all things to all people. She doesn’t need to neatly fit into anybody’s box.
Much more here --> https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/8/14/21366307/kamala-harris-black-south-asian-indian-identity
An excellent read.
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ETA - I'm wondering how many people on this thread (who have a problem with the article) are bi-racial/multi-racial, because I am. I am also a woman.
If you haven't ever been asked, "you're so exotic looking, where are you from?", etc. (comments/questions that "otherize" you), you really have no frame of reference. And if you think democrats are immune from asking these kind of questions or making these kind of statements, you are incorrect.
Yes, Kamala Harris is an American, this isn't up for debate, but if you are bi-racial/multi-racial you may sometimes be faced with wondering where you fit, especially as a child.
America has a complicated relationship with race, it's just a fact.
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