Is Kamala Harris Legally African American, Indian, Both, Neither, or Something Else?
Harris' origins allow her to properly claim Asian or Black/African American legal status, and she has chosen the latter.

DAVID BERNSTEIN |THE VOLOKH CONSPIRACY | 8.11.2020 7:29 PM

Kamala Harris, Joe Biden's pick to be the Democratic Party's vice-presidential nominee, is the daughter of an Indian immigrant mother and a Jamaican immigrant father. Her father, as I understand it, has ancestors of both European and African origin. [Welcome new Volokh readers. FYI, I've been working on a book on the American Law of Race, with this forthcoming article the first relevant output. My own opinion is that Ms. Harris should be deemed American, period, but there is no such box on government forms, and if you decline to state your race, someone will decide for you...]

First things first. There is no multiracial or mixed-race category in American law in any jurisdiction. Nor is there an Indian category. So Harris cannot be legally Indian, nor can she be legally "both."

Indians once had their own census category and at other times were considered legally white. These day, however, they are now firmly in the Asian category. African American or black is defined as anyone with origins in the black races of Africa, so she qualifies as African American as well, even if her father is mostly European genetically, and even though he is an immigrant, not a descendant of American slaves.


Under federal contracting law, which gives preferences to minority-owned companies, Harris could claim Asian American or African American status based on her partial Asian and African ancestry, but she would need to affirm that she holds herself out as a member of the relevant group. Harris asserts a black identity, so legally speaking in the contracting context she would be black/African American and not Asian. (She could also, I should note, properly check the "white" box if she identified as such.)

In some contexts, it would not matter if Harris had any African descent. A Massachusetts court has held that for affirmative action purposes, at least, one can lawfully claim African-American status if one holds oneself out to be African American and others identify you as such. Malone v. Haley, 2 Mass. Civil Service Rep. 1014 (1990).

For federal statistical purposes, however, cultural identification is not required. A person qualifies as "Black" regardless of cultural identification so long as he has origins in a "black racial group of Africa." So, for example, if Sen. Harris filled out a mortgage application and declined to list her race, leaving the mortgage lender with the legal responsibility of checking the right box, the lender would check "African American" if she "looks black," i.e., looks like she has any black African ancestry.

But let's say that Harris herself fills out a government-mandated form, and checks both Asian and Black/African American. Here things get a bit complicated. In the late 1970s, the government mandated that "the category which most closely reflects the individual's recognition in his community should be used for purposes of reporting on persons who are of mixed racial and/or ethnic origins."

In 2000, OMB provided guidance for civil rights monitoring enforcement regarding individuals who check off more than one racial category as follows:

. Responses that combine one minority race and white are allocated to the minority race.
. Responses that include two or more minority races are allocated as follows:
. If the enforcement action is in response to a complaint, allocate to the race that the complainant alleges the discrimination was based on.
. If the enforcement action requires assessing disparate impact or discriminatory patterns, analyze the patterns based on alternative allocations to each of the minority groups.

I've misplaced the citation, but I recall that other federal guidelines state that if a person checks black/African American and another box, she is deemed African American for statistical purposes.

In short, under American law, no one could deny Harris's right to assert that she is half-Indian and less-than-half of African ancestry, but so long as she considers herself, and is considered by others, to be African American, for legal purposes she is black. The major exception would be if she filed a discrimination complaint based on her Asian ancestry. In that case, she would be considered considered legally Asian for purposes of resolving the complain. What, at least at this point, she cannot be is legally Indian, legally mixed-race, or legally no race at all.

UPDATE: I suppose I should have expected that in the partisan thick of a presidential campaign, people would interpret this post as making some political point about Harris. Given that it's supposed to be a partisan "right-wing" site (even though almost none of the Conspirators voted for Trump in 2016), one might expect people to interpret this as an attack on her. It's not. My academic article on the subject, linked above, starts with a discussion of several people of mixed or ambiguous race/ethnicity whose racial or status has been publicly discussed, including George Zimmerman, Tiger Woods, and Rachel Dolezal, and discusses what their status would be under the law. I anticipated there would be similar discussion of Harris. While there was no political point here (other than the implicitly absurdity of having official race categories), I note that several commentators, mostly but not solely on he right, have attacked Harris as not "really" black/African American and is therefore some sort of fraud. Feel free to use this post in her defense. Under the law, which broadly if not precisely reflects (and indeed to a large extent creates) societal expectations and standards, Harris clearly qualifies as black/African American.

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Dora Hates You

She is an American.

And she will be the VP of the United States.

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I was right.

Kamala Harris On Being African-American And Indian, She Describes Herself As A 'Proud American'
The presidential candidate was asked how she identifies.

NewsOne Staff
Written By NewsOne Staff
Posted January 22, 2019

Yesterday, on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Sen. Kamala Harris announcing she was running for president. She conducted her first press conference at Howard University and joined the Alpha Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Harris was asked a variety of questions, but asked about how she identifies, she simply said a "proud America."

A reporter asked, "You're an African-American woman, but you are also Indian American. How do you describe yourself?"

Harris succinctly responded with, "How do I describe myself? I describe myself as a proud American," she said.

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Dora Hates You

Edited: 08/13/2020 at 06:05 AM by dingpatch

well she ain't this

There is certainly going to be more about this in the coming weeks, , , ,

Her mother is, as far as I know, just as "Indian" as she could be. Her father is from "Jamaica" BUT, his genetic demographics are mostly European (white)!!

Nobody is going to be happy, no matter which "way" she goes from here.

Look at all the crap that Tiger Woods went through when he said he was Asian American.

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Dora Hates You

Who cares. She isn't fair skinned so she is going to face extra nonsense when in political office. It is par for the course in a country full of dotards.

She's a black woman. That is the only reason Dementia Joe chose her. She would never have been chosen otherwise given that she is a lightweight.

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I :heart; Q

"WOOOOWW...... HIS HAAAIRRR..... IT's ALMOST AS AMAZINGLY FAKE AS MINE"

Spoken like the racist dotard we all know you are.

Damn that is a lot of Karen in one place

Ah, you now realize that you have met your match, huh? I have noticed that all of the vanquished use "dotard" and their only argument is to call me a racist. That, obviously, has become a sign of surrender. I have jsut a few more to finish off.

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I :heart; Q

You are a racist. You repeatedly called Michelle Obama a gorilla.

You also call Kamala a whore.

Does your firm know about your online persona?



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I was right.

Edited: 08/13/2020 at 06:57 AM by Cole

I use dotard because you are willfully ignorant and your behavior warrants it. I call you a racist because of your race baiting, dog whistles, and comments in general. The statements are a sign that you are a failed human being, nothing more and nothing less.

Spot on. Dotards are like crabs in a bucket, trying to continually claw others down to their dotard level.


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QOP = Terrorists
FK = Gay

She is a descendant of a slave owner, yet supports reparations. Can't make this shit up. Almost as stupid as complaining about the racial inequalities within our justice system, yet supporting the guy who has a hand in it. But yeah...we're "dotards"...lol

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"Its easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled" - Mark Twain

Nobody cares dotard...


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QOP = Terrorists
FK = Gay

Its obvious you don't care....sheep

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"Its easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled" - Mark Twain

A dotard calling me a sheep. That's rich. Oh the irony...LMFAO


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QOP = Terrorists
FK = Gay

Blowbs staying stupid in the face of a wealth of information. If you dumba$$es want to know the truth, venture from the rotting corpse of a political party you wrap yourselves in.

The story of Kamala's parents.

Edited: 08/13/2020 at 08:04 AM by Greensleeves

Yeah, a mountain of irony. They literally lap up everything the president says as gospel. He lies or embellishes, repeats it a couple of times adding powerful/best/greatest/never seen before, and attacks and demonizes anyone calling him out on it by describing them as radicals/horrible people/fake news. FOX, OAN, Breitbart, and some of the right wing bot farms repeat it as fact all over the news and social media. Yet other people are sheep.... lmao.