Kamala Harris' Father: A Slaveowner's Descendant

Who is Kamala Harris' Father?

Kamala Harris' father, Donald Harris, is a Jamaican-American economist who is descended from plantation slaveowner Hamilton Brown. He is a professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University.

Kamala's Parents

Kamala's mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a cancer researcher and civil rights activist from India. Her parents met while studying at the University of California, Berkeley, and married in 1963. Kamala was born in Oakland, California, in 1964. Her parents divorced when she was five years old. Kamala's father has been criticized for his views on race and affirmative action. In a 2019 interview with The New York Times, he said that he believes affirmative action is "unfair." He also said that he believes that "the vast majority of crime in the black community is committed by young black males." Kamala has said that she does not share her father's views on these issues. She has said that she believes that affirmative action is a necessary tool to address the systemic racism that exists in the United States. She has also said that she believes that the overwhelming majority of black people are law-abiding citizens.