If I had to guess, it's probably because she presents herself as an african american woman when she's actually a woman of jamaican and indian descent.
"Jamaican" isn't a race, it's a nationality. The vast majority of Jamaica's population are decended from slaves brought over from the sub-sahara regions of Africa.
Do people really not know that? Or are they just looking for a reason to criticize her in some way? Because there are plenty of legitimate reasons to criticize her than which racial group of her ancestors she identifies with.
It's really no different than US citizens who choose to identify themselves with a specific nationality, rather than all of them. Imagine criticizing someone who wears a "Kiss Me, I'm Irish!" t-shirt when their ancestors are from Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.
If Harris grew up in a community/family where black people were the majority of the demographics and it was their culture she was immersed in, then there is no reason she shouldn't be able to say she's "African-American" (though I think "African-American" should mean American citizens who are originally from Africa. I'm hoping people will just go back to classifying them as "black").
And it's perfectly OK for someone to identify with more than one culture. Like how I can wear both "Kiss me, I'm Irish!" and "Kiss me, I'm Italian!", depending on my mood and/or who I was hanging out with at the time.
Just to be clear, I'm not defending Harris. I just think its a big reach to criticize someone like this. First off, it's just ignorant to think "Jamaican" is a race. Second, it's ignorant to think that people from the big ethnic melting pot are allowed just one group of ancestors to belong to. And last, there are plenty of things that Harris has done to actually damage the US to be critical of. Whatever her race is and which group of ancestors she feels she has the most in common with doesn't hurt anyone.
"Jamaican" isn't a race, it's a nationality. The vast majority of Jamaica's population are decended from slaves brought over from the sub-sahara regions of Africa.
Do people really not know that? Or are they just looking for a reason to criticize her in some way? Because there are plenty of legitimate reasons to criticize her than which racial group of her ancestors she identifies with.
It's really no different than US citizens who choose to identify themselves with a specific nationality, rather than all of them. Imagine criticizing someone who wears a "Kiss Me, I'm Irish!" t-shirt when their ancestors are from Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.
If Harris grew up in a community/family where black people were the majority of the demographics and it was their culture she was immersed in, then there is no reason she shouldn't be able to say she's "African-American" (though I think "African-American" should mean American citizens who are originally from Africa. I'm hoping people will just go back to classifying them as "black").
And it's perfectly OK for someone to identify with more than one culture. Like how I can wear both "Kiss me, I'm Irish!" and "Kiss me, I'm Italian!", depending on my mood and/or who I was hanging out with at the time.
Just to be clear, I'm not defending Harris. I just think its a big reach to criticize someone like this. First off, it's just ignorant to think "Jamaican" is a race. Second, it's ignorant to think that people from the big ethnic melting pot are allowed just one group of ancestors to belong to. And last, there are plenty of things that Harris has done to actually damage the US to be critical of. Whatever her race is and which group of ancestors she feels she has the most in common with doesn't hurt anyone.