Harris in 1974 Born Donald Jasper Harris August 23, 1938 (age 86) Brown's Town, Colony of Jamaica Citizenship JamaicaUnited States Spouse Shyamala Gopalan
(m. 1963; div. 1971) Children KamalaMaya Relatives Harris family Academic background Education University of London (BA) University of California, Berkeley (PhD) Thesis Inflation, Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth : A Theoretical and Numerical Analysis (1966) Doctoral advisor Daniel McFadden Academic work Discipline Economics Sub-discipline Post-Keynesian development economics Institutions University of Illinois Northwestern University University of Wisconsin Stanford University Doctoral students Robert A. BleckerWarren Whatley Website Stanford Department of Economics page Donald Jasper Harris, OM (born August 23, 1938) is a Jamaican-American economist and emeritus professor at Stanford University, known for applying post-Keynesian ideas to development economics.[1] He was the first Black scholar granted tenure in the Stanford Department of Economics, and he is the father of Kamala Harris, the incumbent Vice President of the United States and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, and of Maya Harris, a lawyer, advocate and writer.
Harris was raised in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, attending the University College of the West Indies before earning a Bachelor's degree from the University of London and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He held professorships at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University, and University of Wisconsin-Madison before joining Stanford University as professor of economics.
Harris's 1978 book Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution critiques mainstream economic theories, using mathematical modeling to propose an alternative model for thinking about the effects of capital accumulation on income inequality, economic growth, instability, and other phenomena. He has worked extensively on analysis and policy regarding the economy of Jamaica.[2] He served in Jamaica, at various times, as economic policy consultant to the government and as economic adviser to successive prime ministers.[3][4][5] In 2021, he was awarded Jamaica's Order of Merit, the country's third-highest national honor, for his "contribution to national development".[3][6]
Early life Donald Jasper Harris was born in Brown's Town, St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, the son of Oscar Joseph Harris and Beryl Christie Harris (née Finegan),[7][8] who were Afro-Jamaicans.[9][10] As a child, Harris learned the catechism, was baptized and confirmed in the Anglican Church, and served as an acolyte.
Harris's paternal grandmother, born Christiana Brown, told Harris that she was descended from Irish-born plantation owner Hamilton Brown (1776–1843), who founded the local Anglican Church where she is buried.[11] Hamilton Brown owned at least 1,120 slaves, most of them on sugar plantations in Saint Ann Parish, and was "instrumental in the importing of several hundred labourers and their families from Ireland to Jamaica between 1835 and 1840".[12]
Harris grew up in the Orange Hill area of Saint Ann Parish, near Brown's Town[13][14] and graduated from Titchfield High School in Port Antonio.[15] He studied at the University College of the West Indies, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of London in 1960, and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966.[3][16] His doctoral dissertation, Inflation, Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth: A Theoretical and Numerical Analysis, was supervised by econometrician Daniel McFadden.[17]
Career Harris was an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1966 to 1967 and at Northwestern University from 1967 to 1968. He moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison as an associate professor in 1968. In 1972, he joined the faculty of Stanford University as a professor of economics, and became the first black scholar to be granted tenure in Stanford's Department of Economics.[3][18] At various times, he was a visiting fellow in Cambridge University and Delhi School of Economics; and visiting professor at Yale University.[16] He served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Economic Literature and the journal Social and Economic Studies.[19][20] He is a longtime member of the American Economic Association.[21]
Harris directed the Consortium Graduate School of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies in 1986–1987, and he was a Fulbright Scholar in Brazil in 1990 and 1991, and in Mexico in 1992. In 1998, he retired from Stanford, becoming a professor emeritus.[16]
At Stanford, Harris's doctoral students have included Steven Fazzari, a professor of economics at Washington University in St. Louis,[17] and Robert A. Blecker, a professor of economics at American University in Washington, D.C.[18] Harris helped to develop the new program in Alternative Approaches to Economic Analysis as a field of graduate study.[16] For many years, he also
I couldn't copy and paste the picture, but he is clearly black or black ancestory. You can see it in the link.
Why is it that a certain group makes statements such as "we were told," or "everyone says," and never divulge who the teller was?
If you say the DNC lies, what do you think about the leader of the Republican party. No one in history has accumulated the number of lies he has stated, many of which have caused really serious problems. The big lie led to an insurrection with deadly outcome me, the recent has caused real harm to two small towns, one in Colorado and one in Ohio.
@DogMan There need not to be direct collusion between Trump and Russia. He has however borrowed much money from Russian banking when no American banks would lend him anymore. Also, in 2016 and again now various and sundry Russian troll farms and fake outlets have been pushing a lot of information into our popular media that is supporting him. My big question is? Why does Putin want Trump to be president? Perhaps it’s because he couldn’t run across the rest of the old Soviet empire trying to rebuild it like some modern day stallin Mr. Putin frightens me more than any American politician
@SatyrService Hmm, so are you saying Trump borrowed money illegally from a Russian bank? Rich people borrow money all around the world, that doesn't mean they are involved with the leader of the country.
Why does Iran want Kamala so badly? You probably do not know what they are doing to help her, and hurt Trump.
@DogMan sure and other business men go bankrupt a lot, have failed charities, failed business plans and sell each ches for $100k, but how many run for POTUS? I like successful businessmen.
Kamala Harris identifies as African American and is often referred to as such because her father, Donald Harris, is of Jamaican descent, and her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, is Indian. It's important to clarify that "Jamaican" doesn't necessarily equate to African ancestry exclusively; Jamaican heritage can encompass a range of ethnic backgrounds, including African, European, and Asian ancestries due to the country's complex colonial history. However, Kamala Harris's father has stated that his ancestors include people of African descent who were brought to Jamaica as part of the transatlantic slave trade.
There is some evidence that Donald Harris's ancestry also includes Irish lineage, as many people in the Caribbean have mixed heritage, including European roots due to colonization and slavery. Whether or not Kamala Harris has Irish ancestry or connections to Irish slaveholders doesn't change her broader identity or how she chooses to identify herself.
As for how someone identifies ethnically or racially, it's often based on personal experience, family heritage, and cultural background. The issue with Elizabeth Warren identifying as Native American, which you mentioned, arose from a complicated history regarding claims of ancestry and her use of those claims in her professional life. That situation was different from Harris's identification with African American and South Asian communities, as both her parents' backgrounds play a role in her public identity.
Ultimately, identity is a personal matter and can be influenced by multiple factors, including cultural upbringing, family history, and societal recognition. Kamala Harris has been embraced by the African American community and other communities of color, and she identifies as both Black and Indian.
Kamala's parents—her father, Donald Harris, is a renowned Marxist economist from Jamaica who taught at Stanford University. It has been said that she is both African and Indian. Though Ms. Harris has repeatedly stated that she supports capitalism, her father, Donald J. Harris, a renowned economist who has been a fleeting figure in her life, has been described as a “Marxist scholar.” - New York Times
Dr. Harris was the first Black scholar to receive tenure in Stanford’s economics department and a prominent critic of mainstream economic theory from the left. The Stanford Daily, the university’s student newspaper, reporting in 1976, said that there was some opposition to granting him tenure because he was “too charismatic, a pied piper leading students astray from neo-Classical economics.”
@DogMan You can always spot Jim Crow KKK racists because they will always attack successful Black people and smear their character and accomplisments. That's probably due to their being educated in segregated Jim Crow schools.
Harris is bi-racial, like about 30,000,000 other people in America. But she is not an African American because her ancestors were not American slaves. Jesse Jackson coined that term.
@Spoiledbrat disappointed yes, mad, no. it is hard to believe that you would use that argument against her. we may have disagreed before, but i have you the benefit of the doubt.
@Spoiledbrat that is the way I interpreted it. In view of the far right attacking her for claiming both Asian-Indian and African ancestry, your wording suggested that you were doing the same.
Some of her father's family is from Irish descent. There is no rumours it's a fact and not hidden at all. It's verifiable. Her father was black with some Irish as some Jamaican's are.
@NoGamesTolerated I guess what ever works best for her asperations. What would happen if a republican identified as a different race? Would he/she be tolerated by the left? We both know the answer to that. 🤣
I’ve really enjoyed reading this thread. The election is now over. Trump won. I don’t believe Trump is racist. Business people in New York don’t rise to the top being racist. Kamala Harris clearly is multi-racial (indeed as many people are.) The reason she focused on her black ancestry in her recent political efforts, is due to her desire to pick up as many black votes as possible, and to garner support from the press. In the end it backfired, especially after she began to say Trump was racist and fascist. Most Americans, including blacks, do not believe that, as the election results show. As Americans we understand politicians use language and narratives to garner support. Elections are a long argument. In the end the people make their decision. I wish Kamala Harris well. She ran a courageous race under historically unique and challenging circumstances. In the end Americans wanted to change directions, primarily with the economy and immigration. Trump gave them the best hope of doing that.
When she became a senator she made a little speech about being the first woman of Indian descent to become a US senator. It's on film, that's where I saw it.
Here is a photo of Kamala's parents when they were young:
Donald Harris, Kamala's Dad, is Jamaican. Here is a photo of him today.
"Donald J. Harris (b. August 23, 1938) was born in Brown's Town, Jamaica, to Oscar Joseph Harris and Beryl Christie Finegan, Afro-Jamaicans. Oscar's parents were, Joseph Alexander Harris and Christiana Brown. Christiana, who went by Chrisy, was reportedly the descendant of Hamilton Brown, a plantation and slave owner and founder of Brown's Town, Jamaica."
24% The average African-American genome, for example, is 73.2% African, 24% European, and 0.8% Native American, the team reports online today in The American Journal of Human Genetics. Latinos, meanwhile, carry an average of 18% Native American ancestry, 65.1% European ancestry (mostly from the Iberian Peninsula), and 6.2% African ancestry. Genetic study reveals surprising ancestry of many Americans
What we in the US call "Black" is NOT about ancestry, it's about how a person was treated by society while growing up. These little girls were treated as black and excluded from white groups. Therefore, they associated with black culture.
Kamala secretly likes the idea of being someone's slave she should personally know about that and enjoy it after all look at her former career. And how she probably slept her way to the top. I think she might even still have her dog collar
Picture she's shown of her dad if he is Irish born he's a Black Irish born. You know a few hundred years ago the people who were in control separated a certain group of people who looked a certain way from the rest of the world - heck most still do
