Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic Party nomination on Thursday to become the first woman of Black and South Asian heritage to be a major party’s presidential candidate for the White House.
She honoured her origins as the child of a brown-skinned woman and a man from the Caribbean. In her speech, family members of various intersecting ethnicities joined her on stage, showcasing her narrative and conveying a visual political message.
During the convention’s roll call, delegates declared their support for Harris as the nominee, and some speakers mentioned the vice president’s middle name, Devi, as a recognition of her South Asian heritage.
Multiple speakers proudly acknowledged Harris’ racial background. Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton, president and CEO of the National Action Network, pointed out that Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress who later ran for president in 1972, would be pleased with Harris’ achievement.
“I believe she’s observing us tonight, as a Black woman takes a stand to accept the nomination for president of the United States,” Sharpton said.
Donald Trump, who will challenge Harris as the Republican candidate, has raised doubts about her Black heritage. He gave a false impression to a group of Black journalists that Harris altered how she presented her racial background whenever it suited her. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, Trump’s running mate, has labelled Harris a “chameleon,” with his supporters arguing that this refers to her policy shifts. He has also insinuated that she puts on a “fake Southern accent.”
Comedian D.L. Hughley, when speaking before Harris on Thursday, criticised Trump’s insinuation that Harris had previously minimised her identity as a Black person despite having attended historically Black Howard University and frequently discussing her African American heritage early in her political career.
“Kamala has embraced her Black identity for longer than Trump has identified as a Republican,” he said.
Harris, whose parents emigrated from Jamaica and India, was born and raised in Oakland, California. Oakland is a working-class town once a bustling African American enclave renowned as the birthplace of the Black Panther Party.
“My mother was a brilliant, five-foot-tall, brown woman with an accent, and as the eldest child, I saw how the world would sometimes treat her,” Harris said. “But my mother never lost her cool.”
She added: “She taught us to never complain about injustice but to do something about it. And she also told us never to do something ‘half-assed.’ And that is a direct quote.”
The closing night program of the convention started with Kamala Harris’ voice being featured in a biographical video shown to delegates. The video highlighted the upbringing of the vice president and her sister. In the video, the vice president shared that their Indian mother raised them as Black because she believed that was how the world would initially perceive them.