Who is “Black” anyway?

Much has been disputed lately about whether Kamala Harris is in fact Black. She has shared that she has an Indian mother and a Jamaican father. Harris’s description of her own heritage did not stop Donald Trump from questioning when Harris “became” Black during an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists. Recently, Janet Jackson was quoted as saying she was told Harris was Indian and her father was white. In the same interview, Jackson later said she simply did not know if Harris was Black. The way Harris defines herself is inextricable from the way race is defined in America. And let’s be clear, America has a unique way of defining race. It was developed over time, and it is not a universally accepted definition. Other countries define race differently — which ought to further indicate the arbitrary nature of these definitions. What is “Black” anyway? The original racial categorization of people in America was not related to their personal identity or cultural pride. People used to be defined by their geographic origin or their kinship group. Racial classification in the U.S. was introduced to uphold the societal hierarchy that was the foundation of this country with an...