Talk:Kamala Harris/FAQ

Below are answers to frequently asked questions about the corresponding page Kamala Harris. They address concerns, questions, and misconceptions which have repeatedly arisen on the talk page. Please feel free to change this material in light of new discussion.

Please read the following FAQs before posting.
They are meant to familiarize you with points that have been previously addressed,
though not to prevent further discussion of these issues.

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

A1: As an encyclopedia, Wikipedia content is based on reliable sources (see Wikipedia:Verifiability, Wikipedia:Reliable sources). Many reliable sources over a long period of time refer to Harris as African American and Asian American, so we reflect 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 Harris as the "first" to do something, we default to the larger category. Therefore, while she is the first Tamil-, Indian-, and South Asian-American to be elected Vice President of the US, we describe her, as reliable sources do, as the first Asian American.