To understand why Kamala Harris is fully eligible to vice president (or president), and to understand why objecting to that prompts accusations of racism, we should review a little history.
The “birthright citizenship” to which Harris is entitled is enshrined in the 14th amendment, ratified in 1868. The first sentence of the amendment reads, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Harris’ parents are both foreigh-born, but came to the US to pursue doctoral degrees. They married and their first child, Kamala, was born in Oakland, CA, in 1964.
That seems pretty clear, but some people have focused on the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” to argue that, because Harris’ parents were not permanent residents, they were not subject to the jurisdiction of the US, and therefore Harris does not meet the requirements for citizenship. This is an incorrect reading of the amendment. The original intent was explicitly affirmed in a Supreme Court decision in 1898, in which Justice Horace Gray wrote:
“The Fourteenth Amendment affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and under the protection of the country, including all children here born of resident aliens, with the exceptions or qualifications (as old as the rule itself) of children of foreign sovereigns or their ministers, or born on foreign public ships, or of enemies within and during a hostile occupation of part of our territory, and with the single additional exception of children of members of the Indian tribes owing direct allegiance to their several tribes.”
So objections to Harris’ citizenship are wrong. But why are they perceived as also racist? It’s not just that Harris is black. It’s because the 14th amendment was a direct repudiation of the Supreme Court’s earlier Dred Scott decision. In that case, from 1857, the court opined that black people “are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.” The 14th looms large in our culture as granting the rights of citizenship to the children of slaves. Denying its affirmation of birthright citizenship is a direct affront to the rights of black people in this country.
Of course, the most prominent objector is President Trump himself, who is on his second round of trying to deny a black person’s eligibility for the executive office. In 2018, he said, “We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years, with all of those benefits…It’s ridiculous. And it has to end.” The “only country in the world” section of that statement is completely untrue, by the way. And the idea that citizenship stems from the “right of soil” (jus soli) rather than from the “right of blood” (jus sanguinis) is an integral part of our culture, and one of which we should be proud.
Drawing: me, ballpoint pen
Photo reference: Celeste Sloman