There’s been a lot of noise and division within the Black community over Vice President Kamala Harris’s ethnicity. Some are questioning whether she can truly represent Black people because of her mixed heritage—Jamaican on her father’s side and Indian on her mother’s. But this divide is unnecessary, and honestly, it’s counterproductive.
Here’s the simple truth: under the lens of America’s “one drop” rule, Kamala Harris is undeniably Black. We know how America’s racial history works—if you’ve got a trace of Afrikan ancestry, you’re Black. That’s how the system was built. Whether that’s fair or not, it’s a fact. So, by those standards, her Blackness is not up for debate.
But let’s look beyond the “one drop” rule for a second, because I think we can go deeper, especially when we consider Afrikan traditions. Across Afrika, there are different ways of tracing ancestry—patrilineal, matrilineal, and even dual descent systems. And while these systems vary, the key idea is that identity in many Afrikan cultures is fluid and often shaped by both sides of one’s lineage.
Kamala Harris’s father is from Jamaica, with clear Afrikan roots, and her mother is Indian. Both sides of her heritage play a role in who she is. In fact, Afrikan cultures would understand this complexity. Whether it’s through the father’s or the mother’s line, there’s a respect for the entirety of one’s ancestry.
So, instead of choosing sides, we should recognize that Kamala Harris is both. She represents both sides of her heritage; we don’t have to force her into a singular box. The fact that she has Afrikan ancestry makes her Black by American standards, and her Indian heritage is just as much a part of who she is. There’s no need for division because her identity isn’t something that should be split. She’s a product of both worlds, and she carries that complexity with her into everything she does.
Let’s not allow a false divide to make us lose sight of what’s really important. Kamala Harris’s story is one of a global, interconnected identity—something we should be celebrating, not picking apart. We can claim her, but we must claim all of her.
