Fact check: Kamala Harris is “a cop whose family owned slaves in Jamaica” claim is missing context

 https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-kamalaharris-cop/fact-check-kamala-harris-is-a-cop-whose-family-owned-slaves-in-jamaica-claim-is-missing-context-idUSKBN25L1L8

 The New York Times wrote about the shift in her stance from her career in California to the summer of 2020, when Black Lives Matter protests spread across the United States and outlined her position on various high profile cases and her criminal justice work in California during career (here).  

The Atlantic argued in an op-ed that she doesn’t say enough when pressed about criticisms about her track record, “like that she fought hard to keep innocents in prison and failed to fight hard against corrupt cops.” (here) 

While it is true that Kamala Harris’ father claimed to be a descendant of a slave owner, Harris and her family’s relationship to Hamilton Brown remains unclear. 

 These in-depth Fact Checks by Snopes and Politifact (here) have determined that while there is no clear evidence to prove Kamala Harris is a descendant of slave owners, it is likely that she is a descendant of both slaves and slave owners. 

As explained by the Atlantic (here), “the overwhelming majority of African Americans have white male ancestors, largely because of white male slave owners who raped Black female slaves.” 

This dark historical fact undermines the point this claim tries to make - that having a white slave-owner in her ancestry makes Harris or any African American less Black.