Free Republic

In a warm, encyclopedic tribute to her family Wednesday night, as she formally accepted the vice-presidential nomination, Sen. Kamala Harris skimmed past any discussion of her father, Donald Harris, a Jamaican-born professor of economics at Stanford University. The reason is common to many of Harris’ generation: She is a child of divorce, raised by a single mother who became her most profound influence. As Harris has stepped into the national spotlight, Donald Harris, now 81 and long retired from teaching, has remained mostly silent. His only recent comments about her, published on a Jamaican website run by an acquaintance, express...

The father of Kamala Harris is Donald Harris, an immigrant from Jamaica, who taught economics at Stanford University. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from London University in 1960. Six years later he received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of California- Berkeley. He retired from Stanford as a professor emeritus of economics in 1982. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1972 and his focus according to the University was "exploring the analytical conception of the process of capital accumulation and its implications for a theory of growth of the economy, with the aim of providing thereby...

“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. Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty.”

Dated but relevant. The father of Kamala Harris detailed how their ancestors owned slaves, an inconvenient part of her history as she has spent much of her campaign focusing on race politics. The Democrats have been up in arms about an NBC News report that detailed how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s great-great-grandfathers owned slaves in Alabama in the 1800s. Donald Harris, a Stanford University economics professor and father of 2020 Democrat candidate, wrote about how they are descendant of an Irishman who owned a slave plantation in Jamaica in a piece titled “Reflections of a Jamaican Father.” “My roots...

The father of Kamala Harris detailed how their ancestors owned slaves, an inconvenient part of her history as she has spent much of her campaign focusing on race politics. The Democrats have been up in arms about an NBC News report that detailed how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s great-great-grandfathers owned slaves in Alabama in the 1800s.Donald Harris, a Stanford University economics professor and father of 2020 Democrat candidate, wrote about how they are descendant of an Irishman who owned a slave plantation in Jamaica in a piece titled “Reflections of a Jamaican Father.” “My roots go back, within my...