Kamala Harris over the last few years has become a household name, as she serves as the Vice President of the United States of America since 2000 to 2024. While many Californians were familiar with Harris, much of the rest of the country did not have Harris on their political radar until she entered the 2020 presidential elections. Although her personal campaign was not successful, she was selected to serve as the democratic vice-presidential running mate to Joe Biden, now President of the United States of America (2020-2024). Harris was the first woman and person of color of Indian and African (Jamaican) heritage, to serve as Vice President, and consequently faced numerous gendered and racist attacks. Now that Harris is the official Democratic nominee for president many have resorted to racist and sexist marketing strategies in an attempt to discredit and delegitimize Harris. 

Media has played a significant role in broadcasting these assaults and have failed to provide anti-racist regulations of news coverage and social media promotions. 

Erasure and Invisibility Politics: Why Pronouncing Kamala Harris Name Correctly Is Important

Since Kamala Harris entry into the political arena as a democratic candidate for national office, and as the Vice-Presidential running mate of Joe Biden, Donald Trump has intentionally weaponized her name by distorting the accurate pronunciation of Kamala. The purposefully mispronunciation of Kamala Harris name is rooted in systemic oppression and is part of a larger attempt to erase the identity of an individual or group. 

The removal of one’s name coupled with the forced placement of a new name and therefore identity was one of the calculated strategies of enslavers to shred African people of their identity, culture, language, and thus their humanity. The varied versions of Kamala by Trump, ignores the value of her culture, the fact that her parents chose to name her Kamala, and works to deny her entry into the public on her own terms. Not only does Trump attempt to strip Kamala Harris of her dignity, but his erroneous naming is also used to frame her as the other, not American, not white.

The othering of Kamala Harris is designed to incite fear in hearts of the American public by creating the illusion that Harris is somehow too different to be considered truly American. His campaign is predicated on the idea of his self-proclaimed promotion of being authentically American and fit for the task to “Make American Great Again.” This campaign slogan was revitalized from Ronald Reagan’s 1980s presidential campaign, which was also oppressive to marginalized groups. (Gammage, 2017) A signature of Trump campaigns is the attempt to claim ownership of Americanness. In this way, he employs a white supremacist ideology to undermine other candidates, and in this case Kamala Harris.
 

Racist Challenging of Harris’ Multi-Racial Identity

One of the mythic fears of African American integration with white society was the concern for Black and whites coupling and producing multi-racial children. Anti-miscegenation laws, prohibiting interracial marriage, were the legal tradition and social practice of many states until the 1967 United States Supreme Court ruling in Loving v. Virginia making these laws unconstitutional. However, many states lagged behind on eliminating these laws through the year 2000, as in the case of Alabama. 

Kamala Harris is of Indian and African (Jamaican) heritage and has openly affirmed her Black identity. Harris is also married to a white man, Douglas Emhoff (since 2014). Harris racial identity and interracial marriage is widely known by the American public as she is the current Vice-President of the United States. However, at the National Association of Black Journalists convention on July 31, 2024, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump questioned Harris’ multi-racial identity, suggesting that she leverages race for political capital and previously did not identify as Black. The interviewing journalists, all Black women, immediately contested Trump’s statements and provide a corrective account of Harris’ identity.  Yet, Trump’s comments have been broadcasted widely. Harris has also been forced to address Trump’s false statements about her race and ethnic identity.  

The illegitimate questing of Kamala Harris’ racial identity is yet another attempt by Trump to other Harris and position her as contradictory to the ‘ideal American family’ which would then make her unfit to serve as commander and chief for the nation. The truth is that convictions about what family models are the most authentically American is racist. The middle-class family with married mother and father, and two and a half kids and a dog, is based in assumptions about the white middle-class family model, and its promotion as the only legitimate family structure for Americans. Yet even when former President Barrack Obama and his family became the first-family for the United States, they were heavily criticized as unfit to serve as the model for America, largely because of their Blackness. (Gammage, 2015) Michelle Obama, former first-lady was even framed by the media as being Barrack Obama’s baby mama. (Gammage, 2015) False assumptions about Harris’ identity further isolates her and the media is being used as a tool to advance the othering of Kamala Harris.

Capitalist Womb-Shaming and the Damning of Kamala Harris

DuBois “Damnation of Women” (1920) chronicles the idiosyncrasies of society’s demand for women to birth and mother children but also be contributing members of the workforce. Women, he argues, must endure the burden of capitalist labor societies, while at the same time rearing healthy good children who will grow to also be productive contributors. Yet, women are despised for working, and at the same time despised for mothering. 

J.D. Vance, the republican vice-presidential running mate with Donald Trump (2024 campaign) was recorded criticizing women who do have children by choice or by circumstance. In an interview with NBC News (August 25, 2024), Vance was asked about his regret regarding his 2021 comments about women without children calling them “childless cat ladies.” He did not express regret for his comments, but instead attempted to justify his comments as a promotion for family-centeredness and the need to preserve the traditional American family model. Vance’s comments received heavy criticism from women and people across the nation and his statement was linked to Kamala Harris, who is the stepmother of two daughters and does not have biological children. Many public spectators adopted these sentiments and advanced insults against Harris.

The damning of Kamala Harris, and women in general without biological children, is symptomatic of America’s marginalization of women and in particular working women. On one end, Black women, whether they have received or not received state-supported family assistance such as welfare, have been demonized for needing temporarily assistance to support the wellbeing of their children. This need, and subsequent approval of aid, is an indicator that the family’s income is insufficient even if they are working. Yet, on the other hand, women who work and for a multitude of reasons do not have children are criticized for failing to fulfill an imposed requirement of womanhood. 

Capitalist womb-shaming damns women by placing an enormous weight on them to both successfully birth and mother children, while also contributing to the economic advancement of the country. Women, especially women of color, are ushered onto a balance scale and stacked with demands that make balance impossible. It is what Dubois calls the “damnation of women.” (1920) Being without children does not make one anti-family or less American. However, the fact that Kamala Harris does not have biological children is used against her, her role as stepmother is ignored, and she is damningly framed as unfit to serve as president. The meme of the ‘childless cat lady’ continues to populate social media and news stories. Although the Harris campaign has engaged in the broadcasting of Vance’s statements, it has primarily been in defense of women and families without children. Harris campaign has attempted to present a counter narrative to womb-shaming of women, yet even these actions have been criticized. Black women have historically been burdened with the dual expectation of working and birthing children, as it was tied to their value during enslavement. At the same time, they were devalued for their intellect and strength as leaders. This duality and damning continue to play out in the media and has shaped the public framing of Kamala Harris.

Problematizing Media’s Framing of VP Kamala Harris’ Debate Performance as Tricks and Traps

On Tuesday, September 10, 2024, the American news station ABC (The American Broadcasting Company) hosted the 2024 Presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Within seconds of the end of the debate, commentors weighed in on who was the victor. Out of these discussions, and the appointment of Harris as the winner of the debate, came an onslaught of racist tropes framing Kamala Harris as trickster who baited and trapped Trump, resulting, for some, in her unfair victory.

Many media outlets quickly endorsed the sapphire framing of Harris stating:

Historically, media has been used to characterize Black people as untrustworthy, tricky, and deceptive. Films such as “Birth of a Nation” (1915) advanced anti-Blackness, presenting Black citizens as criminal tricksters who could not be trusted in the election process. Jointly, the sapphire stereotype promoted degrading messages of Black women in the workforce. The sapphire was considered to use tricks and traps to deceive white men for her own personal advancement. 

These media labels caricaturize Vice President Kamala Harris as a sassy sapphire who cannot be trusted. Concerns for Harris morality continues to grow as the campaign season nears completion. On September 29th the Associated Press, along many other news stations, reported on Trump’s continued promotion of Harris being criminal and “mentally impaired” thereby calling for her impeachment. Although these trending stories may be considered newsworthy, what Trump is doing is using the power of the media to market racist and sexist ideas about Kamala Harris.  Millions of Americans do not actively follow Trump’s campaigns and speeches; however, the rebroadcasting of such statements widens the outreach exposing millions more to falsified assessments about Harris. 

Media Racism works to distort perceptions of reality and negatively frames the public thinking about Black political candidates. Trump has once again employed media racism to market distrust in Harris and concern for the nation state if Harris is elected over him. Media entities have failed to provide anti-racism censoring of Trumps anti-Black campaigning, which has been employed when other populations who have experienced systemic oppression are discussed in the media. The countless number of times news station have allowed commentators to mispronounce Kamala Harris’ name is just one example. When profane language is used against women, there are attempts by news outlets to bleep out those statement even on live television. Yet, in the case of Harris, few reporters, often Black reporters, call out and correct the pronunciation of her name. When will news stations bleep out and or correct the mispronunciation of Kamala Harris’s name? Must she be president to garner this level of respect? I guess the title of Vice President isn’t enough. Stations also continue to broadcast factually inaccurate statements made by Trump. While some correct those narratives, the promotion is still damaging. 

The totality of media racism wheeled at Kamala Harris is unquestionably racist and is challenging her campaign for president. There is limited focus on her policies and political track record. Instead, much attention has been devoted to othering her and criminalizing her audacity to run for president as a Black and Indian woman. Th more aggressive Trump’s anti-Black white male supremist campaign tactics become, the harder it will be for Harris to secure the White House.

References

Gammage, M. (2017). Newschaser: The Rhetoric of Trump in Essays and Commentaries, Daryl Taiwo Harris (Ed.). Universal Write Publications, LLC, 37-54.

Gammage, M. M. (2015). Representations of black women in the media: The damnation of black womanhood. Routledge.

Long, C. & Gomez Licon, A. (Septemebr 29, 2024) “Trump escalates attacks on Harris’ mental fitness and suggest she should be prosecuted.” Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/trump-kamala-harris-white-house-election-a38195f876767332c48d12226a6aea2f

Loving v. Virginia. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/388/1/

Vance says he regrets that people took childless cat lady comments ‘the wrong way.’ NBC News. (August 25, 2024). https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/jd-vance-says-he-regrets-that-people-took-childless-cat-lady-comments-the-wrong-way-217942085577