Who are Donald Harris and Shyamala Gopalan, Kamala Harris' parents of Jamaican and Indian origin?

Donald Trump recently questioned the racial identity of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate in the election race.

The 45th President, without evidence, claimed that Harris has altered her identity, suggesting she transitioned from identifying as Indian to Black.

“She was always of Indian ancestry, and she was just promoting her Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a few years ago, when she suddenly became Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know— is she Indian or Black?” the former president remarked at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention.

Election race: who’s in the lead in the battleground states

In response, Harris commented, “It’s the same old show: division and disrespect. Let me just say, the American people deserve better.”

Following Trump’s remarks, many are curious about Harris’s family background. Here is an overview of her heritage:

Kamala Harris’s father, Donald Harris, was born in Jamaica, while her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was born in South India. Both came to the United States for graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where they met. Kamala Harris was born in Oakland, California.

Donald Harris, now 85, is an economist, while Gopalan was a renowned breast cancer researcher until her passing from cancer in 2009 at the age of 70.

In addition to their academic pursuits, the Harris-Gopalan family was deeply involved in civil rights and social justice causes. In her memoir, Vice President Harris recounts that her parents often took her to civil rights marches in a stroller.

Harris’s parents married in 1963 and had two daughters: Kamala, born in 1964, and Maya, born in 1967. However, when Kamala was five years old, her parents separated and later divorced.