After her breakout debate performance in this week’s Democratic Presidential debate, questions have started to swirl over Kamala Harris’s “blackness.” Is the woman who calls herself the second African-American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate really “black?”

Kamala Harris was born to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California.

The Merriam- Webster dictionary defines black as: (1)”of or relating to any of various population groups having dark pigmentation of the skin” (2)  “of or relating to African American people or their culture.”

The same dictionary defines “African American” as: “an American of African and especially of black African descent.” Colloquially speaking, however, many people define “African American” as simply a black American.

Under definition #1, since Jamaicans are considered a population group having dark pigmentation of skin, Kamala Harris is black. Under definition #2, Kamala Harris may or may not technically be an African American. However, it should be noted most Jamaicans are of full or partial black African descent.

So let the controversy over Harris’s “blackness” begin! Some critics have gone so far as to claim, while she may be black, she is not dark enough to be a “black” role model!

Answer: Kamala Harris is black.

Photo | elle.com