In her new role, Kamala Harris will break many barriers: she is the first woman, first Black person, and first person of South Asian descent to become the vice president of the United States.

For some people, that last part is news: Wait, Harris is Asian American? When she was nominated, there was much discussion about Harris’s identity. While some South Asian voters were upset that this part of her identity has long been downplayed, others were excited about the historic nature of her nomination and what it represents for South Asian American women and women of color. Meanwhile, some Black voters debated whether she is truly “Black enough,” and far-right critics pushed birther-style arguments, questioning whether Harris is a US citizen and her eligibility for vice president.

Vox’s Nisha Chittal walks us through Kamala Harris’s background and explains why Americans still struggle to talk about multiracial people.

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