A noteworthy Podcast

After watching former President Donald Trump accuse Vice President Kamala Harris of wanting “to be known as Black” during a panel discussion at the conference of the National Association of Black Journalists, it got me thinking about racial identities.

I found Anita Rao’s podcast on National Public Radio’s website and it was enlightening. Rao speaks of her own identity struggles of being Indian and white. She also interviews two women about their own struggles.

One of the women, Claire Gallagher, grew up on the West Coast as a mixed Chinese and white person. Gallagher tells of how she has come to realize how racist jokes directed at her “felt more comfortable to people. Like … more acceptable because I also am white.”

Gallagher also admits she resented her sister a little bit for looking more Chinese than her, and feeling as if she was not seen as being part of her mom’s Chinese family.

Another interviewee, Adiah Siler, speaks of the anxiety around trying to center a dual-race identity.

“There can be a lot of shame around the idea of not leaning into the part of your identity that is marginalized,” Siler said.

The takeaway from the podcast is biracial people do grapple with their mixed identity and feel pressure from not fully embracing a single identity. Rao, Gallagher and Siler agree racial identity is fluid depending on maturation and situation.

So even if Harris did “happened to turn Black,” as Trump accuses, she can. That’s her choice. And probably with an internal struggle.

The former president also goes on to ask: “So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”

The answer is simply, ‘Yes.’

Submitted by Dave Link

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