You Can Be Both

My cousins are bi-racial. Their mother was Japanese, and their father was Black. They were raised in Compton, California. When their father passed the family stepped in to help in raising them, as their mother was directly from Japan new to the country and had few relatives to turn to for help. Family being family, grandparents, aunts and uncles made sure they were aware of their Black roots and identity. At the same time my aunt made sure they knew of their Japanese heritage as well. I can remember visiting as a child from Northern California during the summer and how I couldn’t wait to eat at Aunt Teddy’s. At some point during the summer, she would always cook my favorite dish. Sukiyaki. She insisted I pronounce it correctly. I would also visit with Mama & Papa, their grandparents where I got the best down home Louisiana cooking in the world. As adults, my cousins traveled to Japan to meet their relatives there and spend time in the country of their mother’s birth. Did I mention they were raised in Compton? You can be both.

Kamala Harris was born in Oakland, California and raised in predominately Black West Berkeley. After her parents separated, she speaks of spending time with her Jamaican father and his family in Palo Alto where he was an Economics professor at Stanford University. She and her sister also traveled to Jamaica with him.  She wrote of how her mother, a cancer researcher who immigrated from India to pursue and complete her Ph.D., thought it was important that in a country that would see them as Black she and her sister grow into proud Black women. Her mother would regularly take the family to an African-American church where they sang in the children’s choir. At the same time, she introduced them to Hinduism and Indian cooking and the culture. Kamala Harris attended Howard University a HBCU and pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha, a Black Sorority. You can be both.

This nonsense of  Kamala Harris suddenly turning Black is ridiculous. Because she has done things publicly to embrace her Indian culture, the dumb ass Orange Clown convicted felon stated that he didn’t know she was Black until recently when she turned Black. I’d be interested to know how you turn Black or if anyone has experienced this phenom. This has led to a conversation in conservative and some Black spaces to question her ethnicity and they are now pushing the narrative that Kamala chooses to be Black or Indian when it’s convenient for her. This is common for those who can’t understand a person can identify as more than one race. It also shows a lack of intelligence and a very obvious tactic to turn Black voters against her with the assumption that she’s not really Black. This so-called controversy is just another Republican racist dog whistle. They may as well call her a half-breed. These are the same failed tactics they used against Obama. He’s not Black, his mother was White. He’s not a citizen, we demand to see his birth certificate. It’s all about the Demon Other strategies with these people.

Kamala Harris is a highly educated, extremely accomplished woman and this is some serious bullshit from the Bloaty Orange convicted rapist. It’s an attempt to distract from the issues facing the next President. Issues and problems for which he has zero solutions. Rather than discuss what his plans and policies will be for the country going forward, he instead creates a non-existent crisis, because he ain’t got shit to say. When did the Orange Stain become the authority on Black authenticity? He’s not and Black people should not give a damn about his opinion on the subject. By the way, don’t get me started on the one drop rule. For those who don’t know, this was a Jim Crow era definition which stated if you had one drop of Black blood in you, yo ass was Black. In spite of this and other racist assertions I want to be clear because I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before but, you can be both.