Birtherism 2.0: VP Erroneously Called Ineligible Due to Parents
Harris called “anchor baby” in racist attack that echoes smears on Barack Obama
Here we go again.
As talk swirls around the potential for Vice President Kamala Harris to replace her boss at the head of this year’s Democratic ticket, some on the political right are launching false — and racist — attacks on her ability to legally serve in office.
President Biden has been under intense scrutiny since his abysmal performance against Donald Trump during the June 27 presidential debate, with some Democrats calling for Biden to step aside as the Democratic nominee this year in favor of Harris or other Democrat.
Harris has stuck with Biden in the race.
But, with echoes of the racist “birtherism” of more than a decade ago when many on the right questioned President Barack Obama’s status as a natural-born US citizen in an attempt to cast doubt on his legitimacy to serve as president, right-wing figures on social media are trying the same sort of attack against Harris.
Like Obama, Harris is not white. She is Black and South Asian.
A right-wing user on the social media site formerly known as Twitter, who goes by “RoamingRN,” posted Harris’s birth certificate from her hometown of Oakland, Calif.
“At the time of Kamala’s birth, her parents were not U.S. citizens, but foreign students. As the daughter of non-citizens; she is an anchor baby. She is NOT eligible to hold the office of President of the United States,” RoamingRN claimed.
“Anchor baby” is a racist term used to describe children of non-citizens who are born on US soil and therefore are citizens themselves.
But more than that, the claim simply is a falsehood.
It’s true that the vice president’s parents were born outside of the United States. But that is simply not relevant to her constitutional eligibility to serve.
The US Constitution lists only three qualifications for the presidency: the president must be at least 35 years of age, be a natural born citizen, and must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.
Parentage is not an issue, and Harris clearly was born in California, as her birth certificate indicates. That makes her a natural-born citizen.
Sen Ted Cruz of Texas ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016 and his father was born in Cuba.
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