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| Kamala Harris |
Harris Declined to Explain Her Response
Unfortunately, racial and ethnic hatred have long driven Donald Trump’s political life, and, in an August 29, 2024 interview on CNN, correspondent Dana Bash asked Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris what she thought about Trump’s latest racist insult:
“He suggested that you happened to turn Black recently for political purposes, questioning a core part of your identity.”Harris responded:
“Yeah. Same old tired playbook. Next question, please.”Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz tossed in his even briefer response:
“Yeah.”Apparently dumbfounded, Dana Bash followed up:
“That’s it?”Harris’ response:
“That’s it.”Dismissing Trump’s remarks as unworthy of discussion – which, indeed, they were.
Why Was Harris’ Cryptic Response to Trump’s Racism Enough?
Harris’ mother was born in India and her father was from Jamaica. So, like many Americans, Harris has a mixed ethnic background. This horrified Donald Trump when he spoke with the National Association of Black Journalists:
“I’ve known her a long time, indirectly ... And she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I did not 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.”Happened to turn Black? Trump continued:
“I respect either one,” he added, “but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden, she made a turn and … she became Black. ... Somebody should look into that, too.Reflecting on my childhood in a deeply neo-Confederate region, I learned that conservatives have long complained bitterly that they don’t know what to call Black people. For my entire upbringing, conservatives grumbled that they did not know whether to call Black people “colored,” “Black,” “Negro,” or whatever. They have longed to pigeonhole minority people under labels. Predictably, they pretend that Harris’ background confuses them. That, evidently, explains why Trump thought he could “respect either one,” but evidently not both. He was troubled because he did not know, “Is she Indian or is she Black?”
“Is she Indian or is she Black?”
Brazen Racism Does Not Deserve Refutation
Harris could have expounded about her heritage, but what would be the point? Nor would any explanation address Trump’s racism, for racism does not cooperate with reason. Instead, Harris wisely did not let Bash move her onto Trump's agenda.
Harris’ brief response was enough: “Same old tired playbook.” Yes, Trump’s complaint stands in an endless heritage of racist rhetoric. Racist rhetoric has long had a powerful effect on a large minority of American voters. Sadly, racist rhetoric sometimes wins elections. Many Black people in the United States of America have heard things like what Donald Trump said, or worse. Trump’s only purpose was to give offense. Why argue with him? Argument wasn’t his point. Harris exposed Trump’s outrageous comment for what it was. She was brief. She said plenty. She said enough.
by William D. Harpine
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Historical Note: Americans have long labeled one another by their ethnicity. During the slave era, slave states wrote laws to ensure that anyone with Black ancestors, especially on the maternal line, would legally be counted as 100% Black. Black people could accordingly be deprived of basic civil rights and were typically subject to slavery by birth. So, a person with one Black grandmother (or even one Black great-grandmother) was legally Black and, often, legally enslavable. That was economically handy, at least from the enslavers’ viewpoint. Slavery is gone, but racist traditions continue to spread their vileness from sea to shining sea. Inevitably, the racist cause continues to categorize certain people as Black, or Latina/o, or Asian, or whatever label or category currently arouses their ire. In the Jim Crow era, it was vital to know whether a person was Black, because Black people could legally be discriminated against. Such are the roots from which Trump’s brazen comment arose.
Indeed, by the late 1800s, many Black communities preferred the term “Afro-American.” Bizarrely, more than 100 years later, racists continue to think that “Afro-American” or “African-American” are new and confusing linguistic inventions. I published a 2010 article in the Howard Journal of Communication that offers examples of terminology preferred by historical Afro-American journalists. Click on “William D. Harpine’s Publications” above and scroll to the article about “African American Rhetoric of Greeting During McKinley’s 1896 Front Porch Campaign.” I also briefly cite the terminology briefly in my book, From the Front Porch to the Front Page. (Now in paperback! Also available for checkout in many large research libraries.)
Copyright © 2024 by William D. Harpine
Image: official White House photo, public domain
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