Thank you for this. I got into a comment war with another writer who pretty much claimed Kamala wasn’t black. When I pointed out the above things of being from Oakland, growing up attending a black church, attending Howard, it was pointed out that there exist white people who do the same things. I then asked if the author thought Kamala was white. It sickens me the amount of racism towards her. One person even said it was white supremcist to accept mixed race people, because it was deluding blackness. Funny I’ve heard white supremacist make the exact same argument. I’ve come to believe that racism against mixed race people is still racism, pure and simple.
I do believe the people who have told me lighter skinned African Americans are treated with more privilege, and yes, that is racism and it needs to be spoken about. I agree to that. And I do agree it’s not necessarily correct to assume a black politician will automatically have the best interests of all black people at heart. It’s okay to delve deeper and ask questions about that.
But it’s also another form of racism to just say the woman isn’t black, which I have heard people say, to just state she’s not black.
I’m white, people look at me and know that, and thus I automatically have white privilege. Kamala doesn’t deserve to have her accomplishment as the first black, woman VP taken away or challenged in some debate over her freaking identity.