claim: an image of u.s. sen. kamala harris' birth certificate shows that the document identified her race as "caucasian."
question: does kamala harris’ birth certificate identify her as ‘caucasian’?
origin: on aug. 12, 2020, the twitter account of joseph blakeney brown jr. — the american lawyer and television personality best known for the reality court show “judge joe brown” — tweeted a purported image of the birth certificate of u.s. democratic vice presidential candidate sen. kamala harris, along with text claiming harris’ parents had identified her as “caucasian” on that certificate:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  whatever the provenance of the document pictured here, it doesn’t demonstrate anything about how she was racially identified at the time of her birth. the circled field above is clearly part of the section labeled “mother of child” and designates the “color or race of mother,” so it identifies harris’ mother (who was herself born in india) — not harris herself — as “caucasian”:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  the corresponding fields for harris’ father identify his birthplace as jamaica and list his “color or race” as “jamaican.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  as was common at the time (in california, at least), the birth certificate does not contain any field stating or identifying the race of the child.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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comment: anything is possible if you ignore the obvious.
summary: joseph blakeney brown jr. tweeted a purported image of the birth certificate of sen. kamala harris. he claimed harris’ parents had identified her as “caucasian” on that certificate. but the certificate does not contain any field stating or identifying the race of a child. it also doesn't demonstrate anything about how she was racially identified at the time of her birth.