Pop music icon Janet Jackson is raising eyebrows with comments she made about the racial identity of presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.
Jackson, who is promoting the second leg of her Together Again tour in Europe, casts doubts on the racial background of the first female vice president.
Janet Jackson thinks Kamala Harris’s father is White
The 58-year-old Indiana native said in an interview with The Guardian that she heard that Harris’s father is White and that her mother was Indian.
In 1989, Jackson sang about using music “to break the color lines” in the song “Rhythm Nation” from the album Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814. The socially conscious lyrics turned her into a trailblazer in many circles.
The words from the track pushed the journalist to ask her about her views on Harris, the first woman of color to reach the highest echelon in American politics.
Janet Jackson doubts Kamala Harris’s Blackness
Jackson surprised many with her views about the upcoming election and the female politician with a 50 percent chance of succeeding President Joe Biden.
The mother of one reportedly said: “Well, you know what they supposedly said. She’s not black. That’s what I heard. That she’s Indian.”
She also stated: “[Harris’] father’s white. That’s what I was told. I mean, I haven’t watched the news in a few days. I was told that they discovered her father was white.”
The journalist revealed that they did correct the music legend by explaining that Harris is both Indian and Black.
Kamala Harris is not African American
Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, was Indian American and died in 2009. Her father, Donald Jasper Harris, is an 86-year-old Jamaican-American. While Kamala Harris is not African American, she is Black because of her father’s Caribbean roots.
People close to Harris and Jackson are not commenting on the issue. Harris’s Black identity has been a hot topic on the campaign trail this year.
Donald Trump also echoed concerns about Kamala Harris’s racial authenticity
Last month, former President Donald Trump accused Harris of “turning Black” for political reasons. During a sit-down at the National Association of Black Journalists 2024 Convention, Mr. Trump said: “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black.”
Harris, who does not want race to become a big conversation in the election, pushed back slightly at an event in Houston and during an interview on CNN with Dana Bash.
The Democratic nominee for president shared: “It was the same old show — the divisiveness and the disrespect. And let me just say the American people deserve better.”
Kamala Harris and the Black vote
However, during a September debate against the Republican candidate, she hit harder, reminding people of Trump’s role in birtherism during the presidency of Barack Obama.
The former California senator also hit Trump for going after the Central Park Five and getting in trouble with the Department of Justice in 1973 for not renting his apartments to Black tenants.
Harris went on offense at the debate because some polls show that Trump’s numbers are on the rise with young Black men. The group could play a pivotal role in the November election.
Janet Jackson predicts election chaos
Jackson thinks chaos will ensue no matter who wins the election. She explained, “I think either way it goes is going to be mayhem.”
Moreover, she believes that sex trafficking is a big problem in this country. Jackson claimed: “There’s all this child trafficking crap that’s going on and sex trafficking crap, you know what I mean, that wasn’t so prevalent then? It is really now out in the open because it’s like a billion-dollar business and all that crap.”
The diva is also getting ready for the Janet Jackson: Las Vegas concert residency later this year and in early 2025.
