Politico seems outraged.
POLITICO
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In 2001, for example, Nikki Haley reportedly listed her race as “white” on her voter registration card, and never publicly explained why.
She's also shown a willingness to embrace some of the dog whistles deployed by the current Republican Party.
Nikki Haley’s complicated racial dance
4:41 PM · Feb 14, 2023
But, for what it's worth, Karmella Harris' mother, a Tamil Indian, self-identified as Caucasian on her daughter's birth certificate.
Zaid Jilani
@ZaidJilani
For West Asians, people from either subcontinent or further West into Middle East these Census categories have always been evolving. Many used to identify as white/Caucasian because that was trend. More recently, less identification with those categories. It's social not personal.
American racial categories have always been a bit of a mess, they don't match well with evolving notions of ethnicity and culture. It's not a 4Dimensional political plot by Haley, it's just the way Indians have self-ID'ed over time has changed.
Also it is weird to suggest Haley tried to pass as non-Indian, if you go back to both national and SC press in the 00s it was constantly mentioned that she was of Indian heritage, there was no hiding it. Some political opponents tried to use it against her.
The national press misses the dynamics in the South. Both parties elect people from ethnic minorities regularly, it's not a particularly big barrier these days. The bigger barrier is probably religion although we are seeing more religious minorities elected.
It's a more interesting question to ask whether Haley would've faced more barriers as a Sikh rather than a Christian convert but it's also not the obsession of national media. ...
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