An Instagram post claimed that Kamala Harris was raised in Canada, is not African-American, and held Black prisoners past their release dates for slave labor. These claims were found to be partly false. While Harris did spend some of her teen years in Canada, she was born in the U.S. and primarily raised there. She identifies as Black, and the federal government recognizes Jamaican ancestry as Black or African-American. The claim about prisoners mischaracterized an argument made by attorneys for her office regarding the need for nonviolent offenders to help fight wildfires.
The post received over 1,000 likes in less than a day and was widely shared on Facebook. However, the claims were debunked by fact-checkers. The Washington Post reported that Harris was born in Oakland, California, and moved to Quebec at age 12. She later attended Howard University and the University of California for law school.
Furthermore, the Office of Management and Budget defines “Black” or “African American” to include people with origins in African racial groups, which includes those of Jamaican descent. The claim about holding prisoners past their release dates for labor was a misrepresentation of a legal argument made by attorneys representing California inmates. While working as California’s Attorney General in 2014, Harris was not aware of this argument and directed her department not to make it again. The claim that 2,000 Black prisoners were affected by this issue remains unclear.
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