00:00She was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage.
00:05I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black
00:10and now she wants to be known as black.
00:12So I don't know.
00:13Is she Indian or is she black?
00:14In the US, the racial identity of Kamala Harris is suddenly a talking point in the race to
00:20succeed Joe Biden.
00:22Harris made history in January 2021 as the first woman, black person and person of South
00:29Asian descent to serve as US Vice President.
00:32She is now the Democratic presidential nominee.
00:36And Donald Trump, the former president, who is taking one more shot at the presidency,
00:41is behind the disinformation.
00:44Harris was born in Oakland, California in 1964.
00:49She embodies a multiculturalism and grew up amassed in African American culture.
00:55Her father, Donald J. Harris, was born in Jamaica and her mother, Shamala Gopalan, was
01:00born in India.
01:02They met at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1960s and are naturalized
01:07US citizens.
01:09Both Harris and her father identify as black.
01:12On the Caribbean island where he grew up, Afro-Jamaicans represent the largest ethnic
01:17group.
01:18Many Jamaicans are descendants of enslaved Africans.
01:22Africa has been part of Harris' personal and professional life.
01:26As a child, she spent time in Zambia with her maternal grandfather, P.V.
01:31Gopalan.
01:32He had been seconded there by India to do relief work for refugees during the War of
01:37Independence in neighboring Zimbabwe.
01:40Harris has said the grandfather had a big influence in her life.
01:44Zambia was part of her itinerary in the three-nation Africa trip as Vice President in March 2023.
01:51Last year, she returned and toured the Lusaka area where her grandfather's home once stood.
01:57Harris has championed Africa-US relations under the Biden administration.
02:02In Zambia, Ghana, and Tanzania, she was greeted with the words, welcome home, and feel at
02:09home and homecoming.
02:11It was not unlike the reception afforded to Barack Obama, the first black US president,
02:16and the son of a Kenyan father.
02:19Donald Trump never made it to Africa as president, and Joe Biden only promised to visit.
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