When she was sworn in as Vice President, Kamala Devi Harris became the first Black and first South Asian woman to be sworn in as the country’s second in command.
"It is my honor to be here, to stand on the shoulders of those who came before, to speak tonight as your Vice President," Harris said in her remarks on Jan. 20, 2021.
Now, as the presumptive Democratic nominee for the presidency, Harris' presumptive November opponent has called her racial identity into question, saying that she "became Black" when it benefitted her.
"She was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t 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. So I don’t know. Is she Indian, or is she Black?" Republican candidate Donald Trump wondered aloud before an audience of audibly astonished Black media professionals.
That moment was perhaps the most incendiary of Trump’s belligerent interview with three Black journalists on Wednesday — one that has been replayed and repeated frequently in the days since, particularly as the Trump campaign seeks to spin it into an example of her as a "fake."
Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., told Spectrum News taken aback by Trump’s comments, and the immediacy he squared up with defensive, combative responses.
Strickland, like Harris, is a woman of mixed heritage, the child of a Black Army veteran from the Deep South, Willie Strickland, and a Korean mother, Inmin Kim Strickland. Like Harris, Strickland broke barriers in her election, becoming the first Black person to represent Washington at the federal level, and is in a small club of Korean American women to have served in Congress.
And when she heard Trump's remarks this week, she sighed.
"I thought to myself, Oh, here we go questioning her blackness. And, you know, as someone who is Black and Asian, I have always told folks, I'm black, I'm Korean, and I embrace all of my culture, all of it," Strickland said. "And I think sometimes, we're put in a position where people think you have to pick and choose — or you're one or the other, or you're not enough of one or the other."
Strickland, when she was sworn in to Congress in 2021, opted to wear a hanbok — a traditional Korean garment she chose both to honor her mother and "as a larger testament to the crucial importance of diversity in our nation, state, and the People’s House," she said in a 2021 statement.
Trump’s comments actually highlighted an aspect of the Vice President’s background that is, at times, overlooked: her Indian American heritage.
"There's a lot of media attention on her Black heritage and and so that way it makes it hard for voters to then try to parse through a lot of other information you'd have to really dig through,” Natalie Masuoka, an Associate Professor of Political Science and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Spectrum News.
Harris’ father Donald immigrated to America from Jamaica, while her mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, emigrated from India. Profiles focus on Harris's background as a graduate of Howard University, a historically Black institution, her membership in historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha and her status as the first Black woman to hold one of the country’s top two executive offices.
Interviews and photos (again, ironically shared by Trump) have shown Harris demonstrating her Indian background. Masuoka said Harris has “always been very open about her biracial background," speaking quite often about her mother’s South Asian heritage.
Democratic campaigns have long targeted Black voters, particularly Black women, a crucial and energized portion of the party's base.
Masuoka said that, while Asian Americans are a smaller voting bloc, they’re worth paying attention to: Demographically, Asian Americans are the fastest-growing electorate, with the fastest growing voter turnout rates in the country, she added.
A 2021 analysis by the Pew Research Center found that Asian Americans were the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States between 2000 and 2019, growing by 81% over those 20 years, outpacing growth by Hispanics (70% growth).
“While they're a small group, they're actually a demographic that's really interested in politics and really interested in voting,” she explained. “Once that understanding is more predominant, we then know that candidates and campaigns really want to connect with high-propensity voters.” (Pew also found that the eligible voter population of Asian Americans grew by 15% between 2020 and 2024, again outpacing Hispanic and Black populations).
Trump’s comments, Strickland said, were an attempt to drive a wedge, splitting a voter base that’s been excited about Harris’s candidacy.
"You think about race in America, and it is always a very emotional, highly charged conversation," Strickland said. "It’s one of those things that this country continues to grapple with. And at the same time, children who are mixed race represent one of the fastest growing parts of our population, more children every year are being born mixed-race."
Strickland’s path to politics began in local government, on the Tacoma City Council. But before she ran, she asked her mother if it was a good idea.
"She said, think about Daddy, and everything that he went through and fought for this country, didn't get treated well when he came back, all the things that we've experienced," Strickland recalled. Her Korean immigrant mother, she said, was talking about the Black experience, and the responsibility she had to represent her family and other families like theirs.
"When I hear former President Trump, trying to weaponize Blackness trying to divide, asking, is she really Black? Well, she's actually really Indian instead, it's just you know, I think to myself, it is the year of our Lord 2024, is he really doing this? He must be desperate and he must be afraid of her," Strickland said.
At some point, she said, people are going to have to understand that the mixed-race, mixed-heritage experience is the American experience.
"We shouldn't have to choose between the beautiful culture and history and race that we bring to our personalities and our ability to lead and govern," Strickland said.