Defenders of Vice President Kamala Harris argue that people who claim she was a "DEI hire" — or chosen to be President Joe Biden's 2020 running mate because she is a black woman — are racist.

"This is a right-wing campaign that's going to be racist [and] misogynistic against the vice president," Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said Tuesday on CNN.

'There was broad agreement among his advisers that Mr. Biden should choose a woman of color, though Mr. Biden remained drawn to both Ms. Whitmer and Ms. Warren.'

"These are just racist dog whistles," he added. "Whenever you hear 'DEI,' I want you to think about the N-word. I want you to think about racial slurs. That's what they actually mean."

But is it racist? Or is there truth to the claim that Harris was selected to be Biden's running mate because she is a black woman?

If you ask the late Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) — who spent decades in Democratic Party leadership — Harris' skin color was essential to the Biden campaign's ultimate decision to choose her over other potential running mates.

"I think he came to the conclusion that he should pick a black woman," Reid told the New York Times in 2020.

Indeed, the final short list of potential Biden running mates contained only women because Biden pledged in March 2020 that he would only choose a woman, thus excluding all male Democrats from consideration.

That list of women included Harris, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), now-former Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and even Susan Rice and Stacey Abrams.

Importantly, the New York Times revealed that Biden himself preferred someone other than Harris — but his "team" wanted him to select a black woman.

The Times reported in August 2020:

By July, Mr. Biden and his team were converging on a theory of his decision, if not yet an actual vice-presidential pick.There was broad agreement among his advisers that Mr. Biden should choose a woman of color, though Mr. Biden remained drawn to both Ms. Whitmer and Ms. Warren.

Despite Biden's reported personal preference, Harris became a front-runner for the spot only after racial riots and unrest erupted across the country in the wake of George Floyd's murder in June 2020.

It was that national event that began a pressure campaign from Democrats to force Biden to select a black woman as his running mate.

Here is how the media told the story at the time:

• NPR: "Pressure Grows On Joe Biden To Pick A Black Woman As His Running Mate"
• New York Times: "A Black Running Mate for Biden? More Democrats Are Making the Case"
• CNN: "Black women mount public and private campaign for Biden to pick a Black woman running mate"
• Politico: "Klobuchar shuts down VP speculation, urges Biden to pick woman of color"
• Boston Globe: "Joe Biden already was under pressure to pick a Black woman running mate. The outrage over George Floyd’s death adds to it."
• Los Angeles Times: "Biden faces pressure to pick a Black woman as his running mate. Who should it be?"
• New York Post: "Joe Biden will choose ‘woman of color’ as running mate by August"
• Wall Street Journal: "More Democratic Women Urge Joe Biden to Pick a Black Woman Running Mate"
• Associated Press: "‘Why not a Black woman?’ Consensus grows around Biden’s VP"
• Axios: "Black Lives Matter co-founder says Biden should pick a Black woman as VP"

In fact, Harris herself highlighted the diverse nature of Biden's choice after she was selected.

"Joe Biden had the audacity to choose a Black woman to be his running mate. How incredible is that? And what a statement that is about Joe Biden," she said in August 2020. "That he decided he was going to do that thing that was about breaking one of the most substantial barriers that has existed in our country — and he made that decision with whatever risk that brings."

Whether highlighting these facts is a good political strategy remains up in the air. Republican Party leaders certainly don't think so.

But it is simply untrue to assert that the same considerations behind diversity, equity, and inclusion were not paramount to Biden's decision to choose Harris as his running mate.

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