The San Fransisco Bay Guardian has an easy to read voting slate that you can take to the polls when voting today! But as I looked through it, I did a double take. It looked like a slate of all white faces. But wait a second, is that Kamala Harris in the middle? The Kamala Harris running for Attorney General with a Jamaican father and Indian mother?
What is up with the white washing? She looks whiter than the other folks on the slate. Who actually are white. Do they really think people in San Francisco have that much of an implicit racial bias that they had to make her this washed out to get their vote? I’ve seen this Kamala photo used several times on the materials here and find it disturbing. This campaign photo reminds me of the campaign photos of Bobby Jindal and President Obama where their skin color was messed with.
After working a candidate campaign this election cycle and understanding how much of a person’s image is sieved before public exposure, I find it hard to believe these pictures were not touched up deliberately by a consultant or two. But…why? Don’t they know brown is beautiful? Don’t they know we have a black President??
See? Here’s a picture of Kamala Harris with the Obamas. A photo where she actually is brown! What was that? Who’s That? Brooown!
Today is Election Day. GO VOTE. Whether for a white guy named Brown or a brown girl washed white. Go to smartvoter.org for your polling location, you have the right to ask for a provisional ballot, you can contact 1-866-OUR-VOTE if you have polling issues and you can read my 2008 Election Day post if you need more voting rights info.
Do they really think people in San Francisco have that much of an implicit racial bias that they had to make her this washed out to get their vote
from what i recall the implicit bias tests show that liberals are racist, and that all races are racist, etc. conservatives are somewhat more racist than liberals though. i don’t understand why you would think that liberals in SF would be immune to that. additionally, as south asians the whole color issue should be a sad commentary on human superficiality, but totally unsurprising. finally, all things equal i assume that politicians will pick the lighter photos if they’re colored, but my own experience as a brown person is that depending on the nature of the light, camera settings, etc., the magnitude of my brownitude varies a lot in photographs. sometimes the lighting makes me look washed out and pale when i’m not making any effort. i’ve seen a wide range of kamala harris photos in many of them she looks to be a very light skinned african american to me.
have there been experiments that show that implicit bias translates to corresponding explicit effects?
they probably just used the pic her mom uploaded on shaadi.com
Now that is incredibly witty.
grin
LOL
Verrry funny
“from what i recall the implicit bias tests show that liberals are racist, and that all races are racist, etc. conservatives are somewhat more racist than liberals though”
Depends on what you mean by racist; showing an implicit bias on the implicit association task doesn’t necessarily mean you would act on the bias. Have you come across studies that say otherwise?
And I agree with you completely on how different brown skin can appear in photographs depending on lighting conditions. However, Harris’ lips look very pale in the voting slate which really does smell like photoshop.
well, i am skeptical of these tests because it doesn’t say what bearing they have on actions. humans have a variety of subconscious impulses they modulate all the time. unless the connection is made, the tests are not much more than curiosity.
Either way she is surprisingly fair given her ancestral mix.
I would have thought that she was a very light skinned African American even before the white-washing (which makes her look like a Jackson relative).
if jerry brown married desi arnaz and desi took jerry’s name…
That’s a terrible pic to use of her. She looks ashen and undead. She looks pretty in the Obama pic.
I am not sure if the picture is whitewashed. There are many African-Americans who have an almost ruddy complexion, Gen Powell or Terence Howard for instance.
Useless comment: I don’t know anything about her, but the title of this entry reminded me of Charlie Brown’s verse on ATCQ’s scenario:
[i]”Inside outside come around… (who’s that??) Browwwwwwwwn”[/i]
To me it doesn’t look like the picture was whitewashed, it looks like a combination of the crappy ashy makeup we brown people end up with, combined with a bad use of flash. I have a lot of pictures with a similarly ashen cast, and I’m significantly darker than I recall Harris being from my one in-person sighting. There are certain shades of foundation that look okay in person but don’t photograph well. I’ve definitely noticed that she photographs very inconsistently. American photographers are hypersensitive and tuned to optimizing for white people and are often clueless around any other shade. It’s not necessarily intentional.
That’d be reasonable if this was a regular person off the street and a facebook picture. But Kamala is running a statewide campaign, in California. With really well paid consultants, media folks, and strategists that are paid to make her look good. There’s nothing accidental about how her photo was chosen, touched up or make up was ashed up. Everything image related in campaigns are deliberate.
If her paid media consultants chose that picture because of bad makeup and bad flash? Well then, Kamala! I’m looking for a job after Nov 2nd! Give me a holler cuz your money is going to waste with your media consultant.
Sure, her skin color looks lighter than theirs. But it’s pretty clear by looking at her that she’s not “white” (of european descent, caucasian, whatever you wanna call it). It’s not like the minority-hating white supremacists out there are going to be fooled into thinking she’s “white”, even if her skin was photoshopped to be as light as possible. She would just look like a freakishly pale african-american. So at the end of the day, most people are going to vote for whomever represents their political party, and a couple of racists are going to vote based on race. Photoshopping the picture isn’t going to make any real difference. So what would be the point? I have heard of studies that say light-skinned African Americans tend to make more money than dark-skinned ones. I’m ignorant about any studies based on skin tone/voting though. I think she would simply be labeled “African American” or “Black” to most American voters, based on looks and the name Harris.
I thought you’d be working for the City of Oakland after Nov. 2!
For some reason I am more faithful in people’s general incompetence and ineptitude than in their careful intentions, but, eh, you’re probably right. She’s probably going to need new staffers anyway.
I think she would simply be labeled “African American” or “Black” to most American voters, based on looks and the name Harris.
i have a friend from memphis who claims that harold ford in 2006 was assumed to be much more marketable among the broader electorate because he is very light-skinned, as is the ford clan as a whole. i found out about this because my friend read about a controversy in a local black newspaper, darker-skinned black politicos were getting pissed off at the ford clan’s dismissive attitude toward them (the assumption being that only the fords, who are not as threateningly dark, could break out of the black politico ghetto, and the black politicians had to always back them to the full tilt and not ask too many questions as to the strategies that they pursued).
Taz you KNOW what’s up with the white washing. come on now!
Are you seriously wondering why she or her handlers would want her to appear white? What’s the benefit? Seriously!?
Politics is a brutal and unyielding bloodsport where the bodies of the good and righteous are tossed aside. Every little pantone shade counts. Come one folks grow up. Don’t act like 7 year olds who just found out there is no santa claus.
I’m not seriously wondering why she or handler would want her to appear white. Look at the Bobby Jindal link – it links to a post Abhi did on the mathamatics and science behind skin tone coloring in voting preference. I’m “wondering” about it by writing it on a brown focused blog because this is where things like that need to be said.
Taz I responded to what you wrote..
“What is up with the white washing? She looks whiter than the other folks on the slate. Who actually are white. Do they really think people in San Francisco have that much of an implicit racial bias that they had to make her this washed out to get their vote.”
To be blunt, yes they obviously feel the people of San Francisco like a ‘lighter’ candidate. Sadly they are probably right…along with the rest of United States, the western world, and of course India (Fair and Lovely being the #1 selling cosmetic) everyone seems to prefer white.
It’s quite sad but as razib said not suprising.
It seems like the writer and most Americans have bought the idea of Black President. Obama is half white, was raised by white mother. I just fail to understand how does that make him black?
Even if Obama were black, it does not mean the bias does not exists against colored people in US society. because if that was true, Pakistan, India, Sri-lanka, had women presidents/Prime Minister, would be the place to live for women. Utopian dream that there is no bias. It is and would continue to exist. And people would do their best to try to fit in at individual level to do well in personal and professional life.
In America, our culture goes by what often referred to as the “one drop rule”: Obama is half black and half white, so that makes him African-American, or black. It’s what he seems to identify as. If a white American has black ancestry, they typically are considered African-American by society. What they identify as personally is taken into consideration too, but no one would consider Obama “white”, they would consider him biracial or black. I think many (most?) African-Americans aren’t even fully black, many have white or native american ancestry. Race is really a societal construct if you think about it. For example in a country like Brazil where they have the opposite of our “one drop rule” (having white ancestry there makes you “white”) Obama might not be black?
“In America, our culture goes by what often referred to as the “one drop rule””
The one-drop rule was/is a racist concept. Why would you – a liberal, I assume – agree to it and cite it to justify your position? That doesn’t make any sense at all. Next, will you also cite some other arcane racist laws/rules to justify some other illiberal position of yours?
I don’t see anything racist about it all. Race is a made up societal construct to an extent. Little boxes for us to check off on a form. No one is 100% “pure” anything, if we were to have our genomes sequenced and compared. “African American” is a term made up to describe Americans of African ancestry. Under this made-up term, Obama and Harris both qualify as African-American. They both qualify as biracial too – they can check off a multitude of boxes, so to speak.
The reason the “one drop rule” was made up in the first place is because black and white Americans have been having sexual relationships (maybe not voluntarily in the case of slavery) for centuries. If you think any black American with white ancestry should be called “biracial” then almost ALL of them would be biracial. Then the only “African Americans” would be those who immigrated here voluntarily from Africa recently.
The other thing is: we take into account what people identify as too. Obama was raised by a White mother and grandmother, but he repeatedly refers to himself as “African American”, because that’s what he identifies as. Maybe for political purposes, maybe for personal reasons, who knows. But he certainly doesn’t identify as “caucasian”.
I really doubt Ash failed to understand why he’s black, I think she was just playing devil’s advocate. Also don’t make any assumptions about my political leanings, please. I have plenty of “illiberal” ideas for what it’s worth.
the one-drop rule seems mostly to apply to blacks in the USA. i was watching a documentary about obama a year back, and one of his friends from chicago’s south side talked about the pro-obama coalition there was multiracial, they had no problem with non-blacks. for example, she stated “obama’s sister is white, and we don’t have any problem with her.” of course, his sister is half-indonesian, but she was “coded” as white.
Alina-M wrote: “The other thing is: we take into account what people identify as too. Obama was raised by a White mother and grandmother, but he repeatedly refers to himself as “African American”, because that’s what he identifies as. Maybe for political purposes, maybe for personal reasons, who knows. But he certainly doesn’t identify as “caucasian”. “
Alina-M,
Seems to me that you had an issue with identifying Obama as biracial, and that’s why you mentioned the one-drop rule. And your comment regarding letting people self-identify runs contrary to the one-drop rule. Besides, I’m not arguing that he be identified as a caucasian.
You might want to read this, if you haven’t already:
Full article here: http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/76658-black-like-him/?page=1#TOPCONTENT
To clarify, I was trying to explain to Ash how the general American culture classifies people racially (why Obama is black) – not what my personal opinion is on the matter. I think of Obama as bi-racial and definitely consider Kamala Harris to be just as South Asian as she is Jamaican. But I completely understand why Obama is considered our first “African American” president. The one drop rule, racist or not, has been part of the dominant culture for centuries and it’s not going to go away overnight, not even with a black/white guy in the Oval office.
As for Obama personally – keep in mind he’s a politician first and pretty speeches littered with phrases like “diversity of heritage” are part of what got into elected in the first place. He needs to appeal to a variety of people, he needs to appeal to the African American community while making sure the rest of America, especially white Democrats and Independents, don’t feel left out.
@Razib: I think it’s interesting how the one-drop rule seems limited to Blacks in America. If someone is White/Asian, they are biracial. If someone is Desi/White, they are biracial. It gets trickier with Hispanics, since they’re not really a race, just a culture (What is Jessica Alba?), but half Black/White always seems to translate into African America. Alicia Keyes is considered an African American singer. Halley Berry is an African-American actress. Obama is our first African America president, etc…
i don’t get the point about arguing obama’s heritage. as a factual matter he’s very atypical for a “black american” in his background and upbringing. i think saying he’s a black american is really deceptive in terms of predicting his views for example (he was raised agnostic, and despite his christian profession he has very weak beliefs about core aspects of christianity as agreed by more protestants). but, he has repeatedly identified himself as black in the american context, and he “looks” black to people. there’s no one right answer, but it depends on context.
I think it’s interesting how the one-drop rule seems limited to Blacks in America. If someone is White/Asian, they are biracial. If someone is Desi/White, they are biracial. It gets trickier with Hispanics, since they’re not really a race, just a culture (What is Jessica Alba?), but half Black/White always seems to translate into African America. Alicia Keyes is considered an African American singer. Halley Berry is an African-American actress. Obama is our first African America president, etc…
as i’ve noted before, people who are half-asian or “half-latino” can play white film characters. keanu reeves, dean caine and mark-paul gosselaar are about 1/4 asian ancestrally, but they play whites. the tilly sisters play whites and they’re half-chinese (original surname chan). norah jones (geethali shankar) has played white women. that shows you the difference. to play white characters actresses of african descent have to look very non-black. rashida jones for example. her father is quincy jones, but he’s mixed black, white, and native american.
p.s. jessica alba is less than 13% indigenous in ancestry and 87% european. she’s been tested.
nora/geethali is funny…one side of her face is distinctly desi the other side less so…she mostly photographs with the less so side. .
“It gets trickier with Hispanics, since they’re not really a race, just a culture (What is Jessica Alba?)”
I think that meme is a bit of a malign on Hispanics, because it’s true and untrue about every population. Hispanics are functionally a race in America in terms of coordination. They may have a stronger racial claim by that measure than Whites or even south asians.
As for Obama, I think the more accurate thing to say is he’s not black american, but he has enough traits and social intelligence to be accepted as black by black americans.
I think these distinctions are important for the sepia mutiny cohort to keep in mind, because I’d like to see desi technocratic competence elites follow the Obama model and become macroresource manager pageant representatives for the large black and hispanic populations in the U.S., like new england wasps and jews do for whites.
Less talented, more authentic blacks don’t successfully revolt against Obama representing them in the political pageantry. Think of Jesse Jackson’s failure in agressive posture towards Obama. I think desis can enter that Obama lane and we’ll all be better off as a result (because the most talented desis are probably much more talented than the most talented biracial 1/2 immigrant africans). Fluency in black american and hispanic american culture is a prerequisite.
Rather than go in the direction of push-narratives to atomize hispanics, I’d like to see desis go in the direction of push-narratives to unify blacks and hispanics under their (technocratic) leadership. I think sepia mutiny goes in that direction.
well we do lump them together in America, but they’re not really a race in the sense that most are mestizo (not sure if this is the word or how to spell it) but plenty are black or white or some mix of black/white/native so not really a “race” I guess.
I think part of the reason hispanic became a race in American is because most of them seem to come from Mexico and be mestizo in their heritage, so it’s easier to lump them based on that. If we had an racially diverse hispanic population from all over latin america coming in, I bet it would be different. Lots of white hispanic Americans seem to identify as white in America, in my (really limited) experience. But you still hear actresses like Jessica Alba and Alexis Bledel (danish descent, parents from mexico and argentina) touting their hispanic roots so idk.
I think part of the reason hispanic became a race in American is because most of them seem to come from Mexico and be mestizo in their heritage
hispanic was created in 1970 for the purposes of gov. administration by nixon. just the term ‘asian america’ (which includes south asians) it has take a life of its own.
white and black hispanics experience life a lot differently than mestizo hispanics. the blacks experience the same racism that blacks experience. the white hispanics have “white privilege” in everyday situations if they want it.
the person who stated that “They may have a stronger racial claim by that measure than Whites or even south asians” sounds like a m*ron.
“the person who stated that “They may have a stronger racial claim by that measure than Whites or even south asians” sounds like a m*ron.”
I meant in political and cultural coordination in the USA, rather than genetic ancestry.
I’m a fan of your use of nuance on your discover magazine blog and gene expression.
On this general topic, I’m not that passionate. I’d like to see the smartest desis managing a lot more of the USA’s resources, but there are more routes than being the technocratic representatives of brown and black mass populations in a mirror of the role jews and wasps frequently play with white americans.
Alina, You note here: “I don’t see anything racist about it all. Race is a made up societal construct to an extent. Little boxes for us to check off on a form. No one is 100% “pure” anything,”
and here: “well we do lump them together in America, but they’re not really a race in the sense that most are mestizo (not sure if this is the word or how to spell it) but plenty are black or white or some mix of black/white/native so not really a “race” I guess. I think part of the reason hispanic became a race in American is because most of them seem to come from Mexico and be mestizo in their heritage, so it’s easier to lump them based on that. If we had an racially diverse hispanic population from all over latin america coming in, I bet it would be different.”
“Race is real, and hispanics aren’t a race” (my scare quotes) seems to me to be a bit weaponized against hispanics and any attempt by them to become a power bloc, and arbitrarily so (it doesn’t seem to me to be a symmetric response to anti-desi social agression by hispanics). But, who cares? I don’t have a stake in this further than excreting this commentary, so I’m done.
I think mixed race people have a right to self identify the way they see themselves. For instance, Tiger Woods doesn’t call himself black he says he’s mixed race. However, Halle Berry and Barack Obama call themselves black because that’s how they self identify. I do think Kamala Harris photo has been white washed. I heard in the USA the lighter a person’s skin colour the more acceptable the person is. Perhaps this is all just politics anyway.
“I heard in the USA the lighter a person’s skin colour the more acceptable the person is. Perhaps this is all just politics anyway.”
In Canada as well, generally speaking. It explains why, all things being equal, the East Asians are generally more accepted by the broader Canadian society than East Indians. Ethnic Indians are accepted when they are familiar, cool, speak, act and dress well, or when they are exceptionally bright or wealthy. That’s not what I’m referring to. It’s how Joe Blow or Sally Sixpack views, and behaves when there are strange Indians vis-a-vis strange Chinese, Japanese or Koreans. Look at the body language. Ethno-racial is the main factor. There are many exceptions of course.