A resurfaced tweet from 2019 went viral again. In the tweet, now-Vice President Kamala Harris’ father publicly criticized her for a remark she made that seemed to stereotype Jamaicans.
Harris, who was running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, admitted in a February 2019 interview that she smoked pot and supported marijuana legalization because “half my family’s from Jamaica.” This led her father, retired Stanford professor Donald Harris, to publicly rebuke her, saying she fraudulently stereotyped Jamaicans as “pot-smoking joy seekers” and accused her of pursuing “identity politics.”
Donald Harris refuted his daughter’s linking of her Jamaican heritage to pot smoking during her appearance on “The Breakfast Club” morning radio program.
“My dear departed grandmothers…as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their graves right now to see their family’s name, reputation, and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not, with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics,” he said in a statement to Jamaica Global Online before his Breakfast Club appearance.
“Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty,” Donald Harris added.
During an interview in 2019 Kamala Harris was asked if she smoked pot growing up.
She answered: “Half my family’s from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?”
After the interview her father issued this statement.😂
“We wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty.” http://pic.twitter.com/8KyOdNfy9s
— MAZE (@mazemoore ) July 31, 2024
Kamala Harris appeared on the nationally syndicated morning show to discuss her 2020 presidential campaign, criminal justice reform, and the legalization of marijuana in the U.S. During the 44-minute interview, she addressed rumors that she is opposed to legalizing pot in America.
“That’s not true,” Harris said. “And look, I joke about it— half joking—half my family is from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?”
Later, host Charlamagne Tha God asked Harris whether she had personally smoked the drug. “I have. And I inhaled. I did inhale. It was a joint,” Harris said, noting that she smoked while in college.
“So if it was legalized all throughout the country, and medicinal, would you again?” Charlamagne asked.
“Listen,” Harris responded, “I think that it gives a lot of people joy, and we need more joy.”
She added: “Not all drugs are the same. We have incarcerated so many, particularly young men—and young men of color—in a way that we have not, for the same level of use, other young men. And we’ve got to deal with that.”
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
