Limits of racial politics

For Indian-American leaders, the policy points matter more than the race

Among the numerous Indian-American politicians I spoke to as the U.S. correspondent of this newspaper, including for example Washington State’s Pramila Jayapal and Maryland’s Kumar Barve, there is a distinct sensibility around race and politics — that the substance of policy, performance in office and vindication of vision matter more for a political career than the race card.

In this regard, it is odd that the ascension of Kamala Harris , Democratic Senator from California, to echelons of the vice-presidential nominee has thrown many even amongst liberal groups into a state of confusion over her biracial background. Is she African-American, or South Asian, or a leader who genuinely carries elements of both cultures? What does her record in office say about who she is?

Kamala Harris inspires in father’s Jamaica

It can sometimes be a complex business explaining — especially to the likes of Dinesh D’Souza, an Indian-American far-right author, who has hyperventilated on this point — that Ms. Harris is African-American despite not descending from the lineage of survivors of human trafficking from Africa to America. Her father was a Stanford economics professor who migrated to the U.S. from Jamaica for higher studies. One can equally pertinently then ask, was former President Barack Obama African-American, given that his father too was a Kenyan economics professor who moved to the U.S.?

Criminal justice reform

If association with an ethnic community is based on substance, then it matters more in the case of Ms. Harris that as a public servant — District Attorney and then Attorney General in California — she fought quietly but hard for criminal justice in areas such as domestic violence and youth sexual abuse, and then for reform in these fields as Senator. She has been outspoken on hate crimes and other forms of racism in recent years too, especially on police brutality resulting in the deaths of African-Americans.

Ironically, biracial U.S. politicians are shown no love from the other side either, as it is apparent in the case of Ms. Harris. Some Indian media outlets have already opined that Indian-Americans may be muted in welcoming her nomination because of what they allege is “Hinduphobia” — although of whom and to what effect, it is patently unclear.

In Ms. Harris’s case there is another potential source of friction: her views on many issues concerning India are in line with those of outspoken Democratic Indian-American leaders such as Ms. Jayapal and Kshama Sawant, who have questioned the policies of the Indian government, including on Kashmir and the Citizenship Amendment Act. For instance, Ms. Harris was unapologetic about criticising the decision of Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar to abruptly cancel a 2019 meeting with members of the U.S. Congress. Mr. Jaishankar had called for Ms. Jayapal to be barred from the proceedings. This sharp focus of Democrats of all hues on pluralism and religious tolerance could be a thorn in the foot of India’s ruling dispensation.

While the history of Indian-American politicians is a colourful tapestry of breaking barriers and incrementally building up the profile of an ambitious community, what they do when they are in power will always matter more than the colour of their skin or the cultural moorings of their antecedents.