Trump attack on Harris comes as U.S. multiracial population exploding
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Former President Trump's false new attack against Vice President Kamala Harris, questioning if she can identify with more than one race, arrives at a time when the number of people in the U.S. identifying as multiracial is surging.
By the numbers: More than 213,000 Arkansans are multiracial — or about 7% of the state's population. About 10% of Americans are multiracial.
Why it matters: Trump's comments illuminate how some Americans consistently misunderstand the complexities of people from multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds and how those identities shape their lives.
- In an exchange with reporters at the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention last week, Trump suggested falsely that Harris "became a Black person" after identifying primarily as Indian.
- "I don't know — is she Indian or is she Black?" he said.
Reality check: Harris regularly cites her background as the daughter of a South Asian immigrant mother and a Jamaican immigrant father.
- Harris graduated from Howard University (an HBCU), joined the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha and was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus as a U.S. senator.
State of play: People who identify as multiracial are among the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census.
- The 2020 Census found that those who identify as multiracial grew from 9 million in 2010 to 33.8 million a decade later — a 276% jump.
The intrigue: Those who identify as Asian plus another race (like Harris) jumped by 56% during the same period and are the fastest-growing multiracial group.
- The number of Americans who identify as Asian American Pacific Islander Latinos also has more than doubled over the last two decades, according to a study released in May.
Between the lines: The influence of multiracial Americans is everywhere — in art, sports, science, government, pop culture — even a former president, Barack Obama.
- Experts say multiracial Americans routinely have their racial identities questioned, ridiculed or dismissed, and Trump's line of false attacks opened painful wounds.