Kamala Harris Slammed By Jamaican Father Over Marijuana Smoking Joke

Earlier this month, Sen. Kamala Harris admitted to having used marijuana in her youth and jokingly said, “Half my family is from Jamaica, are you kidding me?” Her father has taken offense at the statement and slammed the 2020 Democratic candidate for stereotyping Jamaicans for smoking marijuana.

Kamala appeared on a nationally syndicated radio show called “The Breakfast Club” during which she said she supported the federal legalization of marijuana. Kamala also acknowledged smoking pot in her youth.

“I have. And I inhaled. I did inhale,” she said, adding, “Look, I joke about it, I have joked about it. Half my family is from Jamaica, are you kidding me?”

Her Jamaican father, Donald J. Harris, wasn’t amused with the joke and sent a statement to Jamaica Global Online on Saturday wishing to “categorically dissociate” himself from his daughter’s remarks on the show.

Donald, a professor of economics at Stanford University, California, wrote, “My dear departed grandmothers (whose extraordinary legacy I described in a recent essay on this website), as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics.”

“Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty,” he added.

In January, David wrote extensively about Kamala’s Jamaican heritage. In the article titled “Reflections of a Jamaican Father,” he wrote about how he raised his two daughters.

“As a child growing up in Jamaica, I often heard it said by my parents and family friends ‘member whe you come fram’ (remember from where you came). To this day I continue to retain the deep social awareness and strong sense of identity which that grassroots Jamaican philosophy fed in me. As a father, I naturally sought to develop the same sensibility in my two daughters,” he wrote.

“My message to them was that the sky is the limit on what one can achieve with effort and determination and that in the process, it is important not to lose sight of those who get left behind by social neglect or abuse and lack of access to resources or ‘privilege’,” he added.

During the radio interview, Kamala defended the recreational use of marijuana. She said, “It gives a lot of people joy. And we need more joy in the world.”

Kamala initially did not support legalizing cannabis for recreational use. In 2010, when Kamala was San Francisco’s district attorney, she opposed a ballot measure to legalize marijuana and called it “flawed public policy.”