Talk:Kamala Harris

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Frequently asked questions

Q1: Why does Wikipedia say that Kamala Harris is African American/Asian American/South Asian American?

A1: Wikipedia content is based on reliable sources (see Wikipedia:Verifiability, Wikipedia:Reliable sources). Many reliable sources, over a long period, refer to Harris as African American and Asian American, so Wikipedia reflects that in this article. Moreover, Harris's Senate and campaign websites state that she is African American and Asian American.

Social media posts have inaccurately suggested that Harris cannot be African American because she has an Indian mother and Jamaican father. As PolitiFact notes, (see A look at Kamala Harris' multi-ethnic background and racial identity in the US, PolitiFact (August 14, 2020)), "this is a poor understanding of history, and ... the implication that Jamaicans aren't African or connected to Africa is wrong on its face." While not all Jamaican-Americans identify as "African American," Harris and many others do.

When Wikipedia describes someone as the "first" to do something, we default to the larger category. Therefore, while Harris is the first Tamil-American, Indian-American, or South Asian-American to be Vice President of the US, we describe her, as reliable sources do, as the first Asian American to be Vice President of the US.

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This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

This article has been viewed enough times in a single year to make it into the Top 50 Report annual list. This happened in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2024.

This article has been viewed enough times in a single week to appear in the Top 25 Report 27 times. The weeks in which this happened:

This article has been mentioned by multiple media organizations:

Aída Chávez (2 July 2020). "There's a War Going on Over Kamala Harris's Wikipedia Page, With Unflattering Elements Vanishing". The Intercept. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
Eric Ting (4 July 2020). "Someone is working very hard to dress up Kamala Harris' Wikipedia page, report finds". SFGate. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
Tyler Olson (6 July 2020). "Kamala Harris' Wikipedia page scrubbed of information amid veepstakes, igniting online fight". Fox News. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
Emily Jacobs (7 July 2020). "Kamala Harris' Wikipedia page has been edited over 500 times amid VP rumors". New York Post. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
Zachary Petrizzo (11 August 2020). "Trolls Are Currently Trying to Deface Kamala Harris' Wikipedia Page With Slurs and Other False Info". Mediaite. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
Joshua Benton (13 August 2020). "The Wikipedia War Over Kamala Harris's Race". The Atlantic. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
Bradley Cortright (24 January 2024). "Harris Complains About How Tall Wikipedia Says She Is". Independent Journal Review. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
Johnathan Jones (24 January 2024). "Kamala Harris Bothered by How Tall Wikipedia Says She Is: 'That Is Absolutely Incorrect'". The Western Journal. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
Reagan Reese (24 January 2024). "Kamala Harris Is Very Concerned About Wikipedia Trolls Making Her Look Short". The Daily Caller. Retrieved 26 January 2024.

Section sizes

Section size for Kamala Harris (40 sections)
Section name	Byte count	Section total
(Top)	7,674	7,674
Early life and career	230	34,271
Early life and education	16,038	16,038
Early career	2,989	2,989
San Francisco district attorney (2002–2011)	15,014	15,014
Attorney general of California (2011–2017)	15,205	15,205
U.S. senator (2017–2021)	33	51,191
Election	8,574	8,574
Tenure and political positions	2,313	39,455
2017	8,707	8,707
2018	8,877	8,877
2019	14,373	14,373
2020	3,982	3,982
2021	1,203	1,203
Committee assignments	2,409	2,409
Caucus memberships	720	720
2020 presidential election	33	21,243
Presidential campaign	13,492	13,492
Vice presidential campaign	7,718	7,718
Vice presidency (2021–2025)	5,106	33,574
Senate presidency	8,341	8,341
Immigration	13,885	13,885
Foreign policy	6,242	6,242
2024 presidential election	891	19,866
Presidential campaign	18,975	18,975
Post-vice presidency (2025–present)	3,617	3,617
Political positions	5,476	20,710
Abortion	4,287	4,287
LGBT rights	5,889	5,889
Criminal justice	5,058	5,058
Personal life	9,161	9,161
Public image	9,395	9,395
Publications	810	810
See also	634	634
Notes	26	26
References	1,269	1,269
Further reading	353	353
External links	201	7,534
Official	298	298
Other	7,035	7,035
Total	236,533	236,533

A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the On this day section on October 20, 2021 and October 20, 2022.

Re. Harris speaking Tamil

Slatersteven, regarding this sentence:

In addition to English, Harris speaks Tamil.^[1]

References

^ "Kamala Harris and I very briefly spoke in Tamil: Tel K Ganesan". The Times of India. 2020-08-18. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved 2024-11-06.

There is a source cited; however, by my reading, it does not verify the statement that Harris speaks Tamil - only that Tel K Ganesan said that [they] very briefly spoke in Tamil together (the full sentence from the source being “We very briefly spoke in Tamil – vanakkam and nandri. We did talk about sambar,” [Ganesan] grins.).

Without sourcing to directly support the statement of Harris speaking Tamil, therefore, I'd support it being removed from the article as unverifiable – as far as I can see, the current source would only support the fact that someone else said they spoke briefly in Tamil with Harris. I apologise if I should have explained more in my edit summary. All the best, ‍—‍a smart kitten_[meow] 15:04, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Mmm, well if a witness says they both spoke in Tamil I am unsure we really need anything better (if you speak in Tamil, by inference you can speak it, so it seems a reasonable paraphrasing). But by all means change it to "spoke a few words of Tamil with Ganesan", if this really is a problem Slatersteven (talk) 15:12, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'll leave this article for a bit before doing anything else in order to get some more input from people watching this page, but my understanding is that a source quoting a witness isn't enough for us to repeat what the witness said as a fact in wikivoice (in addition to potential issues with speaks Tamil being ambiguous about the level of language knowledge). I'm also not sure that it'd be particularly worth including something along the lines of In 2020, Tel Ganesan stated that he "very briefly spoke in Tamil" with Harris in the article (as, at that point, it seems like it may not be particularly worth mentioning); but I'll step out of the discussion for now to allow other editors to opine :) All the best, ‍—‍a smart kitten_[meow] 15:31, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ah now wp:undue is a better objection, and on those grounds, I can see an issue with this content, but not with the idea it fails wp:v.SO to the user who added this, why is this relevant? Slatersteven (talk) 15:34, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

OK give it another 24 hours, if there is no justification go ahead and remove it as undue. Slatersteven (talk) 11:31, 25 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Re-removed ‍—‍a smart kitten_[meow] 11:27, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That article on the list of donors

What happened to that? The last time I saw it, it was one of the largest on Wikipedia? Tavantius (talk) 00:03, 26 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It got divided up. See this discussion for details. --Super Goku V (talk) 10:53, 26 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Post vice presidency

According to this article, former VP Harris is starting her first day out of office by going back to her home city to visit an LA fire department and assisting in providing food to impacted victims. According to the article by Politico:

"Former Vice President Kamala Harris is headed back home to Los Angeles on Monday, and will immediately visit a local fire station to thank firefighters for their work battling the deadly blazes. Harris, who lives with her husband in Brentwood, an area that had evacuations, had told aides she wanted to visit even sooner, but a trip in her last days in office never materialized. Harris also will distribute food to impacted community members with World Central Kitchen."

I would like that to be added on the "post vice presidency". Nate12346 (talk) 20:39, 20 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Done in part; I added a mention of the Palisades Fire, but won't add anything about Harris' volunteer work because it's not mentioned in the article about the Palisades Fire, and is WP:RECENTISM and lacks WP:DUE (due weight). The Palisades Fire itself is notable. JohnAdams1800 (talk) 23:31, 26 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I don't understand why you would mention the Palisades Fire without any context for what it has to do with Harris. It wasn't hard for me to find a source about her helping distribute food. – Muboshgu (talk) 23:47, 26 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

And it's actually in the same source: Harris heading home to Los Angeles to help fire victims
Harris’ return comes as she’s weighing a run for California governor in 2026.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is headed back home to Los Angeles on Monday, and will immediately visit a local fire station to thank firefighters for their work battling the deadly blazes.
Harris, who lives with her husband in Brentwood, an area that had evacuations, had told aides she wanted to visit even sooner, but a trip in her last days in office never materialized. Harris also will distribute food to impacted community members with World Central Kitchen. – Muboshgu (talk) 23:49, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

[1] "Kamala Harris and I very briefly spoke in Tamil: Tel K Ganesan". The Times of India. 2020-08-18. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved 2024-11-06.

[1]