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Kamala Harris' election will makes Americans reflect on racial identity

Posted by Liam, 02 Dec

Photo credit: Juli Hansen / Shutterstock.com

Looking at the politics of the US, the election of Kamala Harris makes her just but the second multiracial person to hold that office. We definitely can’t ignore the fact that she is also the first woman to take office as vice president.

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Already little mixed race girls have begun noticing that she 'looks' like them as we saw in the case of 4-year-old JoLee Parcell who noticed that Harris looks like her – mixed like her.

For Harris to hold that office is a cultural moment for everyone to examine “different practices and structures of assigning race… and identity”, as chair of UCLA’s department of Asian American Studies, Natalie c puts it.

Harris’ father is a Jamaican immigrant and the mom, an Indian immigrant. Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, such a demographic of American’s have been yearning for and needed this fulsome representation in the politics of the U.S.

Masuoka said

“In terms of long-term impact, I hope this opens opportunities for women leaders… seeing the power of voters of color… Voters of color are core supporters of the Democratic party and Harris’s position as vice president shows how critical it is that they be represented in party leadership. It will be interesting to what extent her diverse background can be seen in the different efforts she chooses to engage in as vice president.”

We can’t deny the fact that there is a rise in Americans who self-identify as mixed race or multiracial. In 2000 when people were allowed to select more than one race during the census, more than 7 million of Americans did so.

In Masuoka book, “Multiracial Identity and Racial Politics in the United States”, there is culture of American’s thinking about race as a product of identity – “it is about how you think of yourself, rather than how others classify you.” Let’s take a look at former president Barrack Obama.

Much as he acknowledged his interracial parents, he chose to identify as a Black man – not mixed race. He came into terms early that much as he had a white mother, he will always be seen as a Black man when hailing a cab.

Harris also self-identifies as a Black woman. She also speaks highly about her South Asian heritage and how it has influenced her. That said though, Harris’ mother knew that the larger society was going to treat her daughter as a Black.

Interracial intimacy and racial mixing has changed the way we analyze and understand matters of race. Unfortunately, even as our culture changes to embrace multiculturalism, the privileges associated with race and whiteness in particular seem not to change at all.

One thing for sure is that Harris role will encourage broader considerations of race by the people of America and those in office. We hope that her multiculturalism and that of other U.S. citizens will spark a dialogue that will change our culture be inclusive as opposed to still remaining one that has prioritized whiteness for over 200 years and still persistently leans towards that same old culture.

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10 responses to "Kamala Harris' election will makes Americans reflect on racial identity"

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  1.   kooljamesy says:
    Posted: 29 Jan 21

    Kamala harris was succesful and was able to progress because she has accepted the fact that she is part black and indian decent. Most people of indian decent try as much as possible to avoid been labelled as black.They say they are brown,pale,white whatever.They dont love themself and accept who they really are. People would accept and respect you if you first accept who you really are.Racial racial racial should not be always be the defining features in the american politics.As a black person,i truly understand why the american white people are so much afraid of been in the minority.It would be really difficult for them to survive,hence they are doing everything possible to put other races down.dont forget that only europe was the continent where white people can be found.The americas was founded for poor white people from europe to escape their poverty and establish themself outside of europe.After slavery was abolished in south america.The goverment was scouting europe and encouraging the most vulnerable white people to move to brazil,argentina, paraguay ,chile Peru to counter the population of the black people living there and becoming prosperous.the story is long

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  2.   reallycute says:
    Posted: 22 Jan 21

    Let us not forget why we are here to find love in crazy places by way of different faces, black or white is not the reason we choose to be blinded by what the world thinks in their sight is not right.

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  3.   blackbelle01 says:
    Posted: 09 Jan 21

    CONGRATULATIONS THIS IS AWESOME.

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  4.   StyxFan77 says:
    Posted: 05 Dec 20

    Identity* politics.

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  5.   wiseoneinmil says:
    Posted: 04 Dec 20

    Congratulations to Vice President Elect Kamala Harris. Unfortunately, many of the Trump crowd, who maniacally, but foolishly and erroneously believe that President Elect Joe Biden "stole" the election, will NEVER respect the incoming Vice President, based principally on her race. Whereas many of us see such an accomplishment as progress, these angry, mostly white citizens will use it as motivation to extend their hate and prejudice.

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    • StyxFan77 says:
      Posted: 05 Dec 20

      Congratulations on pushing the leftist race narrative. Way to go Kamelhead Harris. Identity politics is what keeps racism alive. But I don’t expect the people who voted for these two fools to ever understand that. Oh and umm.... they are not “elect” until ALL STATES CERTIFY. Seems you all have forgotten Joe’s PROMISE to Chris Wallace that he WILL NOT declare victory UNTIL ALL STATES ARE CERTIFIED. Amazing how you sheep on the left tend to conveniently forget things like that

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    • Fargoguy53 says:
      Posted: 06 Dec 20

      Perhaps you should also pay attention to her conviction record of hundreds of black Americans for nothing more than marijuana possession and her threat against those who hold different political beliefs than she does but then you probably don't care . . . . . . . . do you.

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  6.   LookingFor81 says:
    Posted: 03 Dec 20

    The election as not yet been officially called and won't be until the electoral college announce the winning in mid-dec. Despite what the mainstream media say, this is the fact. So has of right now, she is not the vice president of anything. Please stop posting this nonsense and do some fact checking first,and no CNN does not count!

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