Who is African-American?

George Stephanopoulos grilled Byron Donalds (R-Florida) about Trump's questioning of Kamala Harris' racial identity.  Snopes confirms that the Associate Press (AP) listed her Indian heritage in the headline when she became a Senator in 2016 but her Black heritage when she became the VP candidate in 2020.  By merely pointing out this change in reporting, Stephanopoulos accused Donalds (who is black) of a slur.  Really?  Generally, this should be irrelevant.  However, it brings up the race card, which Democrats - like Stephanopoulos - love to play.

On CNN, there was a clip of black men in a barbershop questioning Kamala's heritage.  At best, they are ambivalent on the topic.  Why is that?  Let's talk about who is African-American?

Elon Musk grew up in South Africa and emigrated to the United States.  He has since become a naturalized citizen.  Ergo, he is African by birth and American by citizenship.  However, no one would seriously call him African-American.  So, what is African-American?  The term was popularized by Jesse Jackson in the 1980s and became an alternative for black.  What did it denote?  An African-American was both black and the descendant of slaves in the United States.  With that as a definition, Elon Musk meets neither requirement.  Vice President Kamala Harris qualifies on one factor but not the other.  Her father was born and raised in Jamaica and her mother in India.  Harris cannot trace her ancestry back to slaves in the United States.  This is why her racial identity is questioned.

This same issue applied to President Obama.  His father was Kenyan, and thus had no ties to the black community in America.  His mother was Caucasian from Kansas.  He grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia, giving him none of the 'black' experience in America.

The reason why the United States adopted affirmative action was to redress the years of slavery and Jim Crow.  Why would anyone who migrated to the United States after the repeal of Jim Crow be included in the affirmative action?  Neither Obama nor Harris' ancestors suffered from these and that sets them apart from most African-Americans.