Why is Kamala referred to as a Black Woman?

[Vior]

Watched a doc on iplayer and it struck me that many commentators referred to Kamala as a black woman. It’s not just sloppiness as some of the black, democrat women participating did similar.

It intrigues me. Especially as a woman with a half Indian daughter. I think I would be pretty surprised if DD referred to herself as purely English or purely Indian. She can pass for both depending on tan.

I know the US has a much different view on race and assume it is based on that. Genuinely interested. Not rage baiting. Have googled the question and no answer has really emerged.

Not all of the Republicans like Trump. Dick Cheney has said that he will be voting for Kamala Harris as he wants to vote but just can't vote for Trump. Good on him.

@Dweetfidilove I wonder does this go back to the segregation in US where mixed race were considered black and therefore discriminated against.

Incidentally does Trump ever mention his Scottish heritage? He really had adapted the all American white role, but his Mum was a Scottish emigrant wasn't she?

This is OP's first post. Report and don't feed.

She is Brown and she actively does NOT use a "racial identity"

• see her response in the recent TV interview

Its because of the one drop law in the USA which came from slavery. Sometimes black slave women were raped by white european slave owners which resulted in mixed race babies. In order for these children to be deprieved of the rights of the white slave owners, a one drop rule was enacted by the white pro slavery population… if you had one drop of black ancestry… you were considered black. And as such had no rights.

Please tell me what I've said that is racist nonsense? Was Obama raised by his father? If you didn't know then let me educate you, his father was a student in the US from Kenya, dated his mother a white American woman in Kansas and she got pregnant, he returned to Kenya and she raised the baby, moved to Hawaii to love with her parents who helped raise Obama. But somehow it is racist lol he literally only see hai father one more time after he left when he came to the US when barrack was 10 years old and that's it.

As I said I'm black of Nigerian heritage so maybe that's why the fact is just fact to me and to you isn't "racist". Go and read his book if you didn't know that about Obama 😂

As I said I'm black of Nigerian heritage born in the UK after my parents migrated to the UK and I have lived in Chicago over 10 years and it's a fact Obama identifies as black for votes. He started his grassroot movement here in Chicago, his house in Kenwood is about 20 mins away from me so I know what I'm talking about. Why do you think many African Americans in Chicago have soured on Obama?

Or are you trying to claim identity politics is not a huge issue in American politics today? When politicians need black votes they come trying to relate, dancing to hip hop, going to black chickens etc then after they get into office the disappear, oh sorry that's racist as well?

She has described herself as a Black woman on multiple occasions.

Yes, she's also half-Indian. She's perfectly entitled to describe herself as Indian or "brown" too.

I have a family member who is mixed race. She identifies solely as the BAME part of her heritage. I think it is up to people to state what they are comfortable with and how they see themselves. I think if you have a black parent, it is fair enough to call yourself black. Dont forget that in the US, if there were any black people in your family, you were considered black until 16 generations on or something like that (under past laws and attitudes, not now).

She said before that after her parents divorced her Indian mother had two black babies to raise and that she did that within the black community. I suppose because she knew her daughters would get perceived as black by America and wanted them raised in a community that would uplift them and teach them how to navigate that. But all her official bios and published stuff refer to her as Black and Asian.

Absolutely as above. As a person of colour, she has chosen how she identifies.

Personally, if anyone asked me if I was black, mixed race, or my nationality, depending on my mood, my reply would be either brown or by the passport I hold.

I am very mixed race, with one half being white and the other half being made up of 3 different ethnicities.

I've not assumed anything, I just said that's what your wording suggested. Why would anyone need to 'pass' for being white, the phrase is offensive and antiquated.
The next time your girl has a tan and someone asks you if she's entirely Indian, you can just say no, she's mixed race / biracial, which I'm sure is what Kamala would say if someone asked her directly.

That was supposed to be politicians going to black churches not black chickens.

Kamala Harris is often referred to as a Black woman rather than an Indian woman because of how racial and ethnic identities are perceived and categorised in the US. She herself has spoken about her identity as both Black and South Asian, but media often bring out her Black heritage more prominently due to the racial history of the US.

I never heard of the 'one drop rule' until now. I don't know much about US history but I'm actually quite shocked. It was still in place right up to the Loving case in 67!! Bloody hell. Harris was born in 64 so it makes sense that all her life she would have been defined as a black woman. It's sometimes easy to forget how recent the racist laws were in the US.

I think is the last drop of blood stuff that was use to segregate any mixed race in the past.

History. One drop.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule

If you ever doubted racism was stupid as well as evil. I'd like Harris to win for that alone.

Perhaps actually use that as your opener because the opener you have used will attract quite a lot of more political leaning views.

I imagine sees herself both as a black woman and and Indian woman. It’s really not that hard to understand. OP has a mixed race daughter , I’m surprised she doesn’t have more insight or sensitivity of this subject.

I don't think Meghan hairstyle makes a difference in how she looks - she looks likes a typical person of dual heritage.

I know! No one cared about this until recently.

It's all rooted in segregation and racism, even here.

See the one drop rule referred to upthread. It's prevalent everywhere.

Trump is not required to mentioned his heritage, as he's just accepted as a white man.

Kamala has often spoken about her Indian family and that she is fine with her mixed heritag. But she knows that in America she is seen as black.This article summarises her thinking and public statements https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2501n5rvvno.amp

In the US if you have a black parent, you are black, goes back to days of slavery and segregation, which really wasn't that long ago. Kamala will have been seen as and treated as a black woman in the US. The UK didn't have segregation laws so how we view dual heritage is different.

In my experience people of South Asian descent are not always accepting if interracial marriage especially with a black person so I wonder if that may have influenced things.
Disclaimer: I don't actually know Kamala or her mother just an opinion.

I'm mixed race too (no black, but I also look Mediterranean) and my feelings are the same as yours. As far as I'm concerned I am not any 'race' and it also annoys me when these boxes are put on forms.

Race is a completely nonsensical made up concept for the purpose of forcing people into boxes, even when they don't fit.