Talk:Donald J. Harris

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Photos?

It seems surprising to me that Wikipedia doesn't have a photo of him, given the level of interest and his proximity to a major public figure:

I see nothing freely-available in https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris, but perhaps one of the following photos from news articles should be added under a WP:FU rationale?

Both parents of Kamala Harris, when young: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/13/us/kamala-harris-parents.html
Baby Kamala Harris with father: https://www.nytimes.com/article/kamala-harris-dad-don-harris.html
Adult Kamal Harris with father: https://nationalpost.com/news/as-kamala-harris-shatters-barriers-why-we-still-hear-little-about-her-jamaican-american-father

—Moxfyre (ǝɹʎℲxoɯ | contrib) 21:36, 26 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

One of those photos might be old enough to be in the public domain. Wiki Crazyman (talk) 21:37, 26 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah. Children raised by single mothers are naturally primarily influenced by them. Its not clear that she really has much of a relationship with her dad, though she has visited him on occasion. In other words, what is the encyclopedic value of having his picture, if there is not the requisite mention of him in the sources of (her biography) that constitutes due weight? Fowler&fowler «Talk» 23:49, 26 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry. I thought this was the Kamala Harris talk page. You could try the Stanford economics department. Fowler&fowler «Talk» 23:51, 26 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Here's that photo: https://economics.stanford.edu/people/donald-j-harris Mdmcginn (talk) 20:00, 1 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Mdmcginn: Thank you . I've posted here. Let's hope they can help us. Fingers crossed. Fowler&fowler «Talk» 02:23, 2 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There's an image of Harris in the January 25, 1974, issue of The Stanford Daily that's in the public domain due to publication without a copyright notice, but I don't know how to download it. prospectprospekt (talk) 18:08, 16 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, but I think we can't really use it. It too old (from 1974) when he was in his mid-30s. He's in his mid-80s now. Anything 50+ would be representative, I think. Fowler&fowler «Talk» 13:48, 19 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I think that at least having a picture is better than having no picture at all. We should include it in the infobox until a better free image is available; when that happens we can move it to the "career" section where it is relevant because that section talks about his tenure at Stanford.

Also, I figured out how to download the image after reading commons:Help:Zoomable images prospectprospekt (talk) 16:16, 20 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Which Jamaican prime ministers?

To which "successive prime ministers" was he an economic adviser? Alternating Jamaican prime ministers often followed radically different economic policies. Dajanes (talk) 15:20, 31 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know which with certainty but if pressed, I'd guess Manley (second term) followed by Patterson. It would take you from 1989 to 2006. Both were democratic socialist. Fowler&fowler «Talk» 02:36, 2 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Race

The article entry claims that he is of afro descent; however, that's NOT what the cites [8] and [9] actually say. D.Adams.Jr (talk) 16:55, 3 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Well, how do you interpret them? Fowler&fowler «Talk» 18:12, 3 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Cites [8] and [9] refer to Kamala, it is inaccurate. Those cites should be on Kamala's page, not her parents'. There needs to be a different citation for her father. 114.24.217.132 (talk) 14:54, 8 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I am a geanealogist. He is more than 50% Anglo/Euro descent. His Father, Donald Harris had a fully European father. (Source Washington Post) He is also of African descent. An enslaved Gggmother, "freed by the actual enslaver when he married her. Eww. Anyway the any other ancestors after that were mixed free people or whites. Which makes Kamala at most 32% black anyway you look at it. Informedpeace (talk) 10:27, 6 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

What date and link for the Washington Post? Fowler&fowler «Talk» 17:03, 6 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Fowler&fowler As far as I can tell, they're wildly speculating. In this edit, they cited this Washington Post article as a reference for the claim "Donald's father had at least 50% European ancestry.", specifically quoting the part that says Brown had children with Joseph Harris, a landowner of European ancestry who raised cattle and planted fields of pimento berries, also known as allspice.. That quote refers to Donald's great-grandmother, because the sentence immediately preceding it is Harris’s great-grandmother, Christiana Brown, is thought to be both a descendant of Brown and enslaved Jamaicans, according to Latoya Harris, 39, who is also a great-grandchild of Brown, a stern businesswoman everyone called Miss Chrishy. So not only is Informedpeace engaging in original research, but their percentages don't even make any sense (and look to be grossly exaggerated). Even if we accepted that Donald were more than 50% of European/Anglo ancestry, which he isn't, how would that make Kamala "at most 32% black", when her mother was originally from India and had no black ancestry? They're just pulling numbers out of thin air. Theknightwho (talk) 00:51, 7 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Theknightwho: Thanks for that WaPo article. It had some interesting things about the parents' marriage breaking up. I liked KH's comment, "I think for my mother it (the divorce) represented a kind of failure she had never considered."

I agree that percentages of European ancestry etc are ill-defined categories, and inaccurate. Fowler&fowler «Talk» 11:43, 7 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Not original research. Facts found online. The books referenced as proof Kamala's Dad was primarily Afro Jamaican are not his words. There is no proof you can link to that reflect he is Afro-Jamaican. Whichare Jamaicans of predominantly African descent. He is descended from multiple generation of mixed and euro people which the Washington post article demonstrates. Donald's Grandfather was European and his wife, Donald's Grandmother, had a white Father from Ireland. So Donald's Father Oscar Joseph Brown Harris was at least 50% European ancestry. From Donald's first ancestors in Jamaica, all were either mixed black and white or white. (finnegan and brown from Ireland directly) Informedpeace (talk) 11:24, 8 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You have nothing to dispute that Donald has proven and extensive white ancestry. In significant amounts. You clearly haven't spent time in Jamaica. Rich landowner mixed and white folk continued to better their lots by marrying the sons or daughters of the same types. Anyway Kamala's Mother contributed 50% of her DNA. Indian. And Kamala's Dad contributed 50% of his. Which would be approx 32% Euro Jamaican and 18% Afro Jamaican.

But even though Donald is alive, it appears very hard to reach him for exact numbers after his falling out with Kamala It's well know that he and his daughter had a falling out after Kamala expressed that yes, she smoked pot and made a joke about it in poor taste about the old cliche of Jamaicans doing a lot of pot. "Kamala Harris' father said she disgraced her Jamaican family by using a 'fraudulent stereotype' to joke about smoking weed." -Business Insider.

Sen. Kamala Harris' father criticized a joke she made referring to her Jamaican heritage in response to a question about marijuana, according to the news website Jamaica Global Online.
When Harris was asked on a radio show last week whether she had smoked marijuana, she said jokingly, "Half my family's from Jamaica — are you kidding me?"
Donald Harris, a professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University, said in a statement to Jamaica Global Online that the senator's grandparents "must be turning in their graves."

Informedpeace (talk) 11:35, 8 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Informedpeace: I will be reverting your deletion of sourced content. The sentence you have removed is cited to a scholarly book published by NYU Press, and edited by some leading scholars in African-American studies. Please read the talk page guidelines. Per WP:BRD and WP:ONUS please attempt to find consensus for your edits here before you delete sentences from the article. Fowler&fowler «Talk» 12:34, 8 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Informedpeace That Washington Post article supports the claim that Donald had a great-grandfather "of European ancestry", and that Hamilton Brown is his ancestor. It does not support anything else you're claiming. Theknightwho (talk) 14:47, 8 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The book has a random statement from Kamala that doesn't reflect proven statements by Donald Harris, and documented historical records from Irish and Jamaican registers. This is gettign absurd. My. Harris would not fall under category of Afro-Jamaicans are Jamaicans of predominantly African descent. This bullying is very disturbing. Kamala Harris is less than 30% Afro Jamaican..Do noo appreciate Wikipedia making this political. Informedpeace (talk) 01:13, 12 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The source I added was published by NYU Press and its editors are among the leading lights of African American studies. I suggest that you not edit war. Instead, try to attempt some kind of consensus here. This has evaded you thus far. Best, Fowler&fowler «Talk» 02:50, 12 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Reading over what's going on, this looks a lot more of POV pushing from you rather than @Informedpeace engaging in an edit war.

I would second the request that you backup your claims with proper citations, as the ones you cited don't seem to support your conclusions.

Also it would be nice if we could not make the ethnicity of figures into a political issue, thats an extremely ugly thing to do and reflects very poorly on anyone doing so. The Gentle Sleep (talk) 03:08, 23 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Additionally, if users can't agree to a consensus on his specific ethnic makeup, perhaps it should be omitted. That seems like the most reasonable compromise when uncertain.

Ethnicity of figures, especially academic figures, is far less interesting than the content of their character. The Gentle Sleep (talk) 03:15, 23 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@The Gentle Sleep I find your response baffling: Informedpeace's claims are totally unsupported by the one source they've actually produced, and their claims are contradictory and incoherent: e.g. they've said it "makes Kamala at most 32% black", and also that Kamala (or her dad - it's not clear) is "approx 32% Euro Jamaican and 18% Afro Jamaican". Either way, these two things cannot both be true at the same time, even aside from the fact it's completely unsupported by any evidence. I see no justification for treating Donald's ethnicity as something that's genuinely uncertain. Theknightwho (talk) 15:24, 30 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Informedpeace Please provide some kind of evidence. The Washington Post article you provided does not support what you are claiming. Theknightwho (talk) 05:25, 12 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hamilton brown

Hamilton Brown was not Irish he was scotch Irish or Ulster Brittish Irish. 217.180.196.65 (talk) 03:23, 6 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

He was of Ulter Scots/ English extraction. Informedpeace (talk) 10:23, 6 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Marxist economist

@Paul Erik Hi Paul Erik, how about we add "Marx economist" to the lead and then add the sentence I added to the lead originally to the body? NamelessLameless (talk) 03:09, 13 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Harris was influenced by and makes use of a variety of people. Rather than awkwardly search for ways to elevate his connection to Marx above everything else (now that he's found himself brought into the culture wars), try to actually summarize the body of literature about him? That would mean searching for sources about Donald Harris and summarizing them proportionately, rather than searching for "Donald Harris Marxist" and CTRL-F to find a way to say "He's a Marxist" contrary to WP:WEIGHT. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 14:34, 14 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

How is it WP:WEIGHT to call a Marxist a Marxist??? It is just the best term to describe him.--Afus199620 (talk) 12:06, 21 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Anyone who lived on that side of the Mississippi, Tom Sawyer, for example, is not a westerner. Similarly, anyone who lives on this side, William Faulkner, for example, is not an easterner. Let us not go the way of American popular culture which loves to simplify. Fowler&fowler «Talk» 21:25, 23 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

In case you are wondering about the tenses employed, Tom Sawyer, to the extent he was the boy Mark Twain, left Hannibal, MO to go to Elmira, NY and Hartford, CT; but Faulkner is a living presence in Oxford, MS. Fowler&fowler «Talk» 21:45, 23 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There's a side discussion on my talk page here about this. Only linking because I feel like I'd just be repeating myself if I replied again, so linking and leaving it to others. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 13:21, 21 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Shouldn’t the lede paragraph include the daughters?

I just moved the paragraph at the very end of the long introductory section identifying his daughters to the end of the lede paragraph, which people see when they pick up their phones. I am hoping this does not ignite a firestorm of stress; it feels to me like a logical and simple solution to the question I found myself asking when I first looked him up this morning: “So is this the dad? It looks like it should be the dad. But why doesn’t it say so right away?” (I should have added “see Talk” to my Edit Summary; I apologize for failing to do that.) Thanks for all the good work that’s been done on this article by so many editors! Left Central (talk) 16:50, 23 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You should first ask why Hannibal, MO does not mention her native son in her lead. He's more famous than most American presidents. Fowler&fowler «Talk» 22:08, 23 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

please edit

In this paragraph, please change the word "He" (in brackets here) to "Harris" -- the referent is unclear and could be Robert A. Blecker.

At Stanford, Harris's doctoral students have included Steven Fazzari, a professor of economics at Washington University in St. Louis, and Robert A. Blecker, a professor of economics at American University in Washington, D.C. [He] helped to develop the new program in Alternative Approaches to Economic Analysis as a field of graduate study. 108.41.167.2 (talk) 02:24, 24 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Done.--Jack Upland (talk) 04:38, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 30 August 2024

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Donald J Harris is Irish/Indian 173.225.241.99 (talk) 16:25, 30 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. ⸺(Random)staplers 17:34, 30 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

why is this quote from him being squashed

'My dear departed grandmothers… as well as my deceased parents must be turning in their grave right now to see their family's name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics,' he wrote.

'Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty.' 2601:483:5700:6AC0:E979:F1A1:4AE4:B55F (talk) 13:40, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]