Kamala Harris grew up in a mostly white world. Then she went to a black university in a black city.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

As Harris campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination, Howard is central to the 54-year-old senator's personal narrative and her political identity. To those who see her white husband, question her time in California as a prosecutor in a criminal justice system that disproportionately punishes people of color and wonder about her empathy for black men, Howard is her rejoinder. It's her knowing nod to black voters, her character witness for anyone who would say that her personal heritage is disconnected from the story of African Americans and this country's lineage of slavery.

"When people challenge her blackness, I always say, 'If she went to Howard, it means she's one of us,' " says Howard grad and Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Jenice Armstrong. "She comes from there. No one should challenge her blackness."

The question in the oppression olympics.