After Donald Trump told journalists on Wednesday that his presidential opponent Kamala Harris āturned Blackā for political gain, Trumpās comments have impacted the way many multirace voters are thinking about the two candidates.
āShe was only promoting Indian heritage,ā the former president said during an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists convention last week. āI didnāt know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black.ā
āIs she Indian or is she Black?ā he asked.
Sheās both.
Harris, whose mother was Indian and her father is Jamaican, would make history if she is elected president. She would be both the first female president and the first Asian American president.
Multiracial American voters say they have heard similar derogatory remarks about their identities their whole lives. Some identify with Harrisā politics more than others but, overall, they told NBC News that Trumpās comments will not go unnoticed.
Appreciate it. I donāt either. Maybe the way I said it came across as weird to that other person. Maybe theyāre having a bad day. Hell, there are so many racist dog whistles out there that itās possible Iāve stumbled upon one without realizing it, even though my intention was to find out more, not to āotherā him.
Wouldnāt be the first time that, without context, Iāve accidentally said something that came across as fucked up to someone.
Iām glad youāve got the freedom to say whatever you want and be like āoh dang sorry didnāt mean to offend youā (and act like a victim when you get called out on your language being offensive). For those of us who arenāt white we donāt get such luxuries. Aka your actions (whether you mean it or not doesnāt fucking matter) are RACIST
Edit cause Iāll actually engage instead of being pissed. You are saying very explicitly with that question that Asian folks donāt belong in the south, are alien to it, and are a curiosity. As a south Asian who lived in the south for a number of years the number of yokel ass motherfuckers who had the same attitude is too many to count (dwarfed only by the number of people who were just straight up explicitly racist). We arenāt here to satiate your curiosity and if you canāt grasp that I dunno what to tell you. Grand on you for being an enlightened centrist, asking a āforeignā person where they are really from (esp in a place with a strong history of systemic racism like the south) aināt cool, full stop.
Ok, I learned that youāre just a jackass. Cool. Now thereās no need to interact with you ever again. Go fuck yourself.
Edit: cool, Iām a racist. I promise never to interact or show any interest with anyone of another race again. Iāll let them know that you told me that showing interest in another personās unique story and finding commonalities between others and myself makes me a racist.
I dunno what to tell you man. Read the other comments from non white posters in this thread. 90% of them are agreeing with my lived experience, questions like that come across as thinly veiled racism. You donāt get to tell people of color what we should take as offensive or not. If you canāt understand that, itās on you. Try thinking about it rather than getting defensive.