Kamala Harris illustrates the complexity of identity — and the pressure many biracial people feel to suit themselves right into a “box.”

People sometimes feel pressured to do that Choose one identity over one other. Kamala Harris, who’s biracial—her mother is from India and her father is a black immigrant from Jamaica—illustrates the complexity of defining identity.

Harris is usually asked questions on her black identity. She has replied with the words the way it affects their self-confidence. “I'm really clear about who I am, and if other people aren't, they need to get their own therapy.”

At the July 2024 National Association of Black Journalists conference, former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump questioned her black identity by saying, “Is she Indian or is she black?”

The query reflected a narrow either/or approach. As a scholar guided by the ideas of black thinkers To explore how society works, I do know that identity is just not the results of a single selection, but relatively the convergence of several aspects, comparable to an individual's environment and socialization.

“The truths we represent”

Harris' parents, Donald Harris and Shyamala Gopalan, met on the University of California, Berkeley within the Nineteen Sixties. They bonded through the novel politics of the black mental tradition and located each community and shared values. As a part of one Study group and later the Afro-American Association, they developed a language to confront civil rights struggles and systemic oppression.

Harris often identifies herself as each African American and Asian American. During the Democratic National Conventionshe acknowledged her biracial background and upbringing.

But in her autobiography, “The Truths We Hold,” Harris explains how her mother knew some people would see her and her younger sister Maya as Blackand was “determined to ensure we grow into confident, proud black women.”

Harris selected Howard University, a historically black university, and joined a black sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. In her autobiography, she emphasized how her parents instilled in her the values ​​of labor and social justice.

Identities are fluid and expanding

Individuals can hold multiple dimensions of identity based on their race, sexual orientation, culture and social class, amongst other things. It is unattainable to separate one from the opposite. For example, someone will be black, a lesbian, and a girl at the identical time.

Instead, identities inform one another; No one is solely Black, a girl, or a lesbian, but these social identities mix to create a novel experience. Furthermore, identity is fluid, and expand. Your beliefs and values ​​can change, as can the best way people define themselves.

In this fashion, identity is the work of Context and selection. Defining your identity is just not nearly deciding who you must be, but in addition about how you must live and appear on the planet. It is a posh means of making decisions and overcoming challenges. For example, someone on the intersection of race and gender might select to completely embrace each identities, despite external pressures to adapt to societal expectations.

Harris' acceptance of her multi-ethnic identity is thus the results of things she learned from her parents and different contexts and communities during which she lived.

Claims to an identity

Historical, Complex identities were disregarded that don’t fit into clear categories, driven by fears about maintaining white racial purity and protecting the privileges that include it. So when Trump questioned Kamala Harris's racial identity, it delivered to mind the long-standing notion of forcing someone to achieve this Choose one identity over one other.

An example of that is the “one-drop rule” within the United States, where even a small variety of non-white ancestries classified an individual as non-white. Reinforcing strict racial boundaries. The one-drop rule dates back to a 1662 law in Virginia that ensured that a single drop of black blood granted minority status to people of mixed race.

The concept that identity will be simplified to simply one thing, comparable to race, is predicated on the false assumption that these identities never change. It's value repeating that Harris is of South Asian and Black descent and it’s her selection to define her racial identity. I consider that any try to query her on this topic is disingenuous and never based on a willingness to interact with the complexities of her or other people's identities.