For Mixed People, The Kamala Harris Conversation Is Already Getting Tiring
The reaction to the VP nominee shows how the world still cannot fathom identities that cross borders.
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I am not American. Yet when I read the news of Kamala Harris’ VP nomination, I couldn’t help but feel an inkling of pride. Whilst she has a questionable record during her time as attorney general, Harris is a person of mixed Asian origin like me. This makes her not only the first Black VP nominee but also the first Asian-American to take on this honour.
Being raised in the UK, I’ve often looked to America to find the representation that would acknowledge my identity. Due to its history of being a colonial power, the UK is a diverse place yet this has not quite seeped into our political or cultural representation. The UK has never had a person of colour let alone a mixed person of colour in the running for Prime Minister. In a media culture where immigration of people of colour is seen as a threat, I also cannot see this ever happening.
Whilst the US definitely has its problems in regards to deeply entrenched structural racism, I’ve often looked across the pond with envious eyes. Despite being portrayed as solely Black in a lot of conventional media, Obama was also mixed.
In his memoir Dreams of My Father Obama deals with the dichotomy that his identity offers whilst dating a white woman. Whilst visiting her stately home and looking at photos of her family, he realises that their worlds are far apart yet simultaneously close due to his mixed heritage. Despite this, the push-pull of his identity means that out of the two of them he knows he’ll always be the one who “knows how to live as an outsider”.
It’s an experience that mixed people are very familiar with. Occupying two identities, in my case British and Japanese, that are often in conflict with each other often makes us feel like an outsider in both communities. Having these thoughts voiced by the President of the United States was immensely powerful for me growing up as a confused kid caught between the identities that the world conceived me as.
What is happening to Harris in the press is equivalent to what happens to mixed people on a daily basis.
I felt a similar feeling initially when Harris was announced as Joe Biden’s running mate. In the beginning stages, she was proclaimed as a beacon of hope with her nomination being representative of the many ways in which identities are increasingly becoming intersectional. I was happy that she was finally being recognised as not only being both Black and Asian but also American.
Yet with this recognition and this media-appointed representation, came an aftermath that I’ve started to find extremely frustrating and triggering. The Indian press started debating as to whether she was Indian enough. In a similar way, her blackness and whether she is truly African American has been interrogated by the right wing press. For example, Fox radio show host Mark Levin opened his show by questioning her identity and her status as an African American.
Whilst I do not occupy the same intersecting identities Harris does, I am familiar with the experience. In Japan, whenever I visit an institution such as a bank or a city hall, I feel my Japaneseness being interrogated through my ability to speak Japanese, my mannerisms and my facial features. Should we give him the forms for the foreigner or is he Japanese enough to deserve a similar treatment like any other native of the land of the rising sun?
It’s the same with friends or aquantainces. As soon as I explain that I’m mixed (or hafu in Japanese), I get the same treatment. My facial appearance, eye shape and even my hair is interrogated.
“Oh you don’t look Japanese” they remark. “Except your eyes / hair/ nose /other random feature”
All of this has culminated in me thinking I am not Japanese enough to participate in society as a Nihonjin (Japanese person). My whiteness here overrides the Asian part of me here in Japan despite having partly grown up here.
Yet in Europe, I find myself in the opposite conundrum. I’m continually reminded that I am not White enough to be treated like everyone else. I’ve been stopped at the border with immigration officers needlessly pointing out that I’m Japanese, not British despite identifying as both.
Recalling a particularly painful secondary school moment, I remember white friends of mine comparing their summer tans after the summer holidays. Everyone commented that they were similarly bronzed but when the conversation topic landed on me, someone insensitively commented that I was “just yellow”. Taken aback at the time, I was unsure how to react. With this usage of a false racial trope about the yellow quality of East Asian people’s skin, I was reminded that I was not white enough here in Europe as much as I was not Japanese enough in Tokyo.
What is happening to Harris in the press is equivalent to what happens to mixed people on a daily basis. Through their queries into how Indian, Black or even African-American she is, it’s revealed how the media doesn’t know how to talk about mixed people. This discourse surrounding multiracialism is a perfect example of how the world sees race as binary and static. Yet for mixed individuals this is just not the reality — depending on the situation we may feel like both, one or the other.
As the election picks up speed, the lens on Harris’ multiracial identity will likely get more critical and interrogative. If the early coverage is anything to go by, this election will be a hard one to watch for mixed people not only in America but all over the world. Whether the Biden-Harris ticket succeeds may be seen as proof of whether mixed women, particularly of Asian and Black descent, can be seen as leaders in the western world. The ramifications of this are immense.
But despite this, I’ll watch. As the only Vice President nominee that has been explicitly represented as mixed race, conversations surrounding Harris could set the precedent for how the general public refer to mixed people for years to come.
In the Western world, the US and what happens there often sets the agenda for how we talk about race. We can see that most recently with the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. For this reason, Harris is inadvertently a representative for us now whether we like it or not. And that feels equally parts inspiring as it terrifies me.
