“For Harris, identity is simply ‘American.'” That’s the title (print edition) of a gushing article about Kamala Harris in today’s Washington Post. The Post’s Kevin Sullivan then rambles on for paragraphs discussing Harris’ multi-racial, multi-ethnic background.
“Simply American” or not, Harris isn’t above discussing it, either. When she decided to run for president, she wrote a book about her heritage.
Here’s what I’d like to know. When Harris applied to law school, did she identify herself as an African-American? As an Asian-American? Or did she decline to identify herself as a minority on the theory that she’s “simply American.”
Harris might not have needed to identify herself as African-American because she attended Howard University as an undergraduate. Still, I’d be interested to know whether she identified herself as such.
I’m told that when he attended Harvard Law School, Barack Obama made a point of telling people he did not check the “African-American” box on his law school application. With a name like Barack Obama, I don’t suppose he needed to.
Kamala Harris is no Barack Obama. However, they have in common not just their mixed-race background but also their eagerness to play that card while pretending not to.
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