Identity, Kamala, and following stereotypes

[lyna_rochdi]

90 minutes is the short amount of time in which the world had an opportunity to watch the next potential leaders of the free world interact. So when watching the presidential debate I must admit I felt some annoyance at a question related to Harris’ racial identity. I’d hoped presidential candidates would be past attacking their appearance. However Vivek’s reading about Black people posing as “East Indian” did make me reflect longer on one of Trump’s previous comments “She happened to turn black”when referring to Harris.

Vivek explains that having a fluid identity allowed certain people to pass as something other than black. “Other” than black could only mean upward social mobility and therefore gave this group certain advantages.
Namely it allowed them to move more comfortably in white spaces and perhaps create less of the uncomfortable association Fanon makes with the black body. While the black body was seen as violent and feared, the Indian body, although still feared was cause for wonder and mystery.

This is similar to Said’s argument about Orientalism. The Orient is a European made concept (Said, 1). It holds value in the white person’s mind, or at least Said said it used to because it was associated with romance and exoticism. Black people putting on Turbans and “disguising” themselves were protesting themselves but also East Indian communities benefited from feeding into the stereotypes the collective white mind held about the Orient. Acting “stereotypically” therefore became a preservation tool and a way to maintain their (limited) advantages compared to African Americans.

The case of Kamala Harris is interesting because she is of Black and Indian descent. Trump is accusing her of only representing facets of her identity when it suits her. Not only is this incredible racist but it shows a backwards frame of my mind in which people of color were forced to be associated with only one facet of their identity. As a biracial person myself, I’ve long struggled with never fully belonging to one or the other.
I think this opens up an interesting conversation about claiming both identities. Whether they need to be equally claimed? Should you feel guilty about being more connected to one than the other, because they are both part of you.