WaPo Columnist Asks Why Kamala Doesn’t Talk About Her Dad — But The Answer Is Clear

A Washington Post columnist wondered in a Sunday op-ed why Kamala Harris didn’t talk about her father more, but Dr. Donald Harris explained it all in 2019.

WaPo writer Matt Bai noted that, outside of her Democratic National Convention (DNC) speech, Harris has hardly spoken about her father, economics professor Dr. Donald Harris.

The reason is likely twofold.

First, as Dr. Harris wrote in a screed about his family’s Jamaican heritage, the pair are essentially estranged. The “early phase of interaction with my children came to an abrupt halt in 1972,” he wrote in a 2019 editorial for JamaicaGlobal.com, citing “a hard-fought custody battle in the family court of Oakland, California.”

The second, and perhaps more significant reason is that Dr. Harris, Kamala’s only living parent, is none too proud of the way Kamala has spoken about the family’s Jamaican heritage.

In a 2019 interview with “The Breakfast Club” Harris laughed off the idea that she opposed legalizing marijuana as a California politician.

“That’s not true,” she told host Charlamagne Tha God. “Look, I joke about it, half joking. Half my family’s from Jamaica; are you kidding me?” she laughed.

She also admitted that she smoked weed in college while listening to Snoop Dogg (a dubious claim considering Harris graduated from Howard University in 1986 and Snoop Dogg’s first mixtape “The Very First Demo Tape” came out in 1989).

Jamaicans, most notably her father, took exception to her characterization of her people. (RELATED: Peel Back The Lies, And It’s Clear Kamala Harris Is A Pretty Bad Person)

“My dear departed grandmothers (whose extraordinary legacy I described in a recent essay on this website,) as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave 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,” Dr. Harris told JamaicanGlobal.com in a statement for a now-deleted article. “Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty.”

The website continued to cite other Jamaicans who felt her statements denigrated their heritage and placed them in the crosshairs for racial stereotypes.

“Soon my job will be singling me out to drug test me since I am from Jamaica,” one internet commenter the website quoted wrote.

The website also points out the irony of Harris’ comments, noting the prominence of marijuana in Jamaican culture actually comes from the other half of Harris’ family tree.

“The practice of cultivating, smoking and otherwise consuming the herb (marijuana) is believed to have been popularized by Indian indentured immigrants who began to arrive from 1845. The local name ‘ganja’ is Indian. The concept of ganja as a holy herb is a Hindu one,” the website writes, quoting Oliver Senior’s “Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage.”

Harris’ mother, who she often credits with influencing her whilst wholly ignoring her father’s role in her upbringing, was a Tamil Indian born in British India, according to the LA Times.

While serving as the District Attorney in San Francisco, Harris’ prosecutors convicted over 1,900 people on marijuana-related offenses, according to The Associated Press (AP).

She also opposed the legalization of the substance for recreational use multiple times while running for California Attorney General, the AP reported.

She has since inverted positions, telling late night host Seth Meyers that “Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed,” in a 2022 interview.