A once reluctant Harris embraces her biracial identity in Africa

LUSAKA, Zambia — Crowds of locals packed onto balconies and cheered as Vice President Kamala Harris' motorcade pulled onto a manicured, palm-tree lined driveway, near where she had visited her grandfather in the late 1960s. But something wasn't quite right.

Harris was wrapping up a weeklong trip across Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia aimed at highlighting Africa's economic potential. Like any vice president facing a near-certain reelection campaign, though, she was also focused on her political future. As the No. 2 to America's oldest-ever chief executive, she wanted to show off her foreign policy bona fides and reassure voters that she's prepared to lead.

Last week's trip also offered Harris, who prefers projecting her strength and expertise to displaying the vulnerability that comes with talking about biography and family history, an opportunity to remind the public of her personal story, and to tie together its many threads. That's the sort of mission a visit to your Indian grandfather's house in Zambia is supposed to accomplish.

"You don't let people tell you who you are, you