The "Choice" to Be Black
with John McWhorter
One of the interesting things about Kamala Harris’s sudden elevation is the conversation around her race. Her mother is South Asian and her father is Jamaican. Harris has, throughout her life, made various choices that affiliate her with the black side of her heritage: her choice to attend Howard University, her emphasis of her own blackness, and even the way she speaks and carries herself. The issue is not whether she “is” black but the manner in which she “chooses” to be black. In this clip from our most recent Substack subscriber-only Q&A session, John and I discuss this element of choice, which an under-analyzed aspect of contemporary racial identity.
This is a clip from the episode that went out to paying subscribers on Monday. To get access to the full episode, as well as an ad-free podcast feed, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.
Is the modern "choice" to be black not unlike a luxury belief? Several writers have noted that the sphere of DEI is dominated by agents with multi-racial heritage who already move comfortably in the "white" world, but leverage their color to wield power.
Didn’t she spend her teen years in a well to do suburb of Montreal?
Regardless, let’s focus on her (and Walz’s!) radical policies and pronouncements.