Indian-Americans are sounding off on Vice President Kamala Harris’ alleged attempts to downplay her Indian heritage in favor of her Jamaican side of the family.
Less than a week ago, as Harris entered the presidential race, the New York Times wrote that the vice president’s Indian heritage is “little advertised.” Harris, with an Indian mother and black Jamaican father, has long been touted as a historic figure breaking glass ceilings. But some Indian-Americans told the Caller they feel Harris’ Indian identity is highlighted only when it’s “convenient” for her.
“It appears now, as both a vice president and then subsequently, now as a presidential candidate, that she’s made the calculation and the party has made the calculation that her African-American background needs to be emphasized, and that she needs to really kind of lead with that identity in order to continue to secure the African-American vote across the country, which strongly identifies with the Democratic Party, and specifically tied to Joe Biden,” Suhail Khan, a conservative activist and former Bush administration official, told the Caller. “If you look at the 2020, election in the primary, Joe Biden outperformed Kamala Harris on every level, including with African-Americans.”
“While she might want to lean into her ethnic background when it is politically convenient to do so, the reality is that it does not matter. What matters are her policy positions, which would be a nightmare for most Americans and especially for the Indian-American community,” Akash Chougule, an Indian-American conservative commentator, told the Caller. (RELATED: Biden Blasted For Sending Kamala Harris To Important Geopolitical Gathering)
When it has come to Harris’ identity throughout her political career, the media has “long focused on Harris’s Black identity” because of historic discrimination against black people, Vox wrote. In 2016, the outlet notes, the media highlighted that Harris was the second black woman to be elected to the Senate. But in the historic moment, Harris’ Indian heritage was often snubbed. The coverage of Harris’ historic election failed to mention that she was also the first Indian-American — not just woman — elected to the senate.
Fans hold a “Hotties for Harris” sign during a Megan Thee Stallion performance at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at Georgia State Convocation Center on July 30, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Julia Beverly/Getty Images)
Similarly, the NYT highlighted the historic nature of Harris’ presidential campaign following Biden’s dropout in July. The outlet noted that Harris was elected as the first Black woman to serve as California’s attorney general and the second black woman to be elected to the Senate, but did not make the same note of her historic “first” status in those positions as an Indian-American.
Conversation around Harris’ identity came to a head Wednesday when former President Donald Trump sat down for a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists’ conference.
ABC reporter Rachel Scott asked the former president if he believed that Harris was only on the Democratic ticket because of her race. Biden previously noted in 2020 that he was considering four black women to be his vice president and had promised to pick a female.
“Well, I can say no, maybe it’s a little bit different,” Trump said. “So, I have known her a long time indirectly, not directly very much. She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. 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?”
“I respect either one,” Trump said as one of the panelists told him Harris always identified as black. “I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden, she made a turn and she went and became a black person.”
The comment caused a media uproar, with many accusing Trump of a racialized attack against Harris.
“It was the same old show. The divisiveness and the disrespect,” Harris said in response to Trump’s remarks.
“And let me just say, the American people deserve better.”
Harris’ record in office hasn’t delivered for Americans of Indian descent, Chougule argued.
“She’s made very clear that she does not look highly upon entrepreneurship. She does not look highly upon meritocracy. The administration supports affirmative action, which harms Indian-American applicants to college. You can go down the list and see that regardless of the identity politics that Democrats and the media want to play, it’s clear that she does not value the things that have made the American dream possible for us, and that’s because unlike many on the left, most Indian-Americans aren’t interested in competing in the victimhood Olympics,” Chougule said.
Similarly, Ricky Gill, the former director for Russia and European energy security at the National Security Council and former senior advisor at the State Department, told the Caller that Harris’ track record has reflected that she is trying to distance herself from the Indian-American community and that it has been “submerged by design.”
Gill pointed to the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, when Harris raised funds to bail rioters out of prison.
“[Rioters] were torching and looting businesses, and there were innocent business owners, people who were immigrants, in some cases, Indian-American business owners who identified with the dream of starting a business. They saw those dreams go up in a smoke of flames. Why? Because Kamala Harris, as a national figure, and then as a potential vice president, was raising money for protesters to get out of bail or get out of jail scot-free,” Gill said.
“I would tell you, the Indian-American community cares a lot about education, prioritizes security, and I think on both those fronts, Kamala Harris has failed the community that she’s now de-emphasizing in her own past,” he continued.
“Only Kamala Harris knows why her Jamaican heritage is more relevant than her Indian heritage, and while she fixates on that, voters are smart enough to judge her on the Biden-Harris economic and energy policies that has made life more difficult for all Americans,” Jahan Wilcox, an Indian-born Republican strategist and Trump administration EPA official, told the Caller.
In 2020, the Washington Post wrote that Harris’ Indian identity was “left out of the story.” Four years later, the New York Times admitted the same, saying Harris’ Indian heritage is “little advertised.” The NYT wrote in 2020 that ABC News had tweeted a list of seven facts about the California senator. The list, the NYT pointed out, made mention of Harris’ age, her marital status and her “African-American” heritage, but not her being Indian.
Sen. Kamala Harris is the second African-American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. https://t.co/nfAOETEwLb pic.twitter.com/WbgKcByFpg
— ABC News (@ABC) August 11, 2020
Joe Biden admits Kamala Harris is a DEI hire.
“Diversity, Equality & Inclusion are the core strengths of America…I’m proud to have the most diverse administration in history…it starts at the top with the Vice President” pic.twitter.com/X3xRohxR8P
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) July 23, 2024
Regardless of Harris and the media’s focus on “racial attacks,” some Indian-Americans continue to feel snubbed by the vice president.
For Puneet Ahluwalia, an Indian-American Republican strategist and first generation immigrant, the downplaying of Harris’ South Asian heritage is offensive.
“As an Indian-American we’ve left identity politics and this hierarchy of power structure, of people choosing the leaders for the rest of the people to follow. We left that behind from the countries that we immigrated from. This is the reason why we all came to America. It was about freedom. It’s the individual liberty and pursuit of happiness and a free Republic,” he told the Caller.
“I feel it’s glued to whoever the segment of the population is she’s trying to woo, if it’s going to be Indian, then she wants to raise money, she’s going to highlight her Indianness,” he added. “And if she wants to get a large base of black Americans, she’s going to play her black identity.”
“To me, I think who’s more able and capable, who’s going to serve the people of America, is far more important.”