Have you seen a lot of references online to coconuts since Sunday? There’s a very good reason for that, believe it or not. And it all has to do with Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive nominee to become president on the Democratic ticket this November.
Democrats have embraced coconut and palm tree emojis as a symbol of support for Harris, who secured enough votes on Monday to become the nominee for president. And it can all be traced back to an old speech that probably would’ve been overlooked under normal circumstances.
Harris gave a speech on May 10, 2023, at the White House to discuss the Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics.
The vice president explained in the speech how her mother would talk about being aware of the wider community and where we all fit within that sphere. “She would say to us: ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?’”
It was a line delivered with a very hearty laugh, and was endearing, if a little awkward. Then she finished with another line that’s become well known as a Harris-ism: “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” And with that, those lines would all have a much longer shelf life than anyone could have imagined.
RNC Research shared a clip from the speech on X, attempting to mock the vice president. And right-wing users on X did have a good time poking fun at the moment. It probably would’ve been ignored by most people, as so many VP speeches are, if it hadn’t been picked up by the troll account RNC Research, managed by the Republican National Committee.
Kamala Harris: "My mother used to give us a hard time sometimes and she would say to us, 'I don't know what's wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?' Ha ha ha ha." pic.twitter.com/aGMFCGgKt6
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 10, 2023
Soon, it would become infamous as an example of Harris acting cringe. But that all changed in recent weeks when chatter started about Biden dropping out of the race for Harris. What was once cringe became a symbol of support. And much like Biden turned the Let’s Go Brandon slogan into Dark Brandon, fully flipping the joke on its head into something positive, so too have Democrats turned coconuts into a symbol of hope.
It’s not just coconuts, of course. Harris is turning into a genuine sensation online, injecting a youthful vigor into a fight against a neo-fascist who seeks to dismantle U.S. democracy. There are plenty of fan cams on TikTok that have nothing to do with coconuts and have cropped up in the past 48 hours, often showing Harris joyfully laughing and dancing. And then there are the people hawking merch already, complete with coconut tree emojis and lines like “existing in the context.”
It should be noted that some people are not happy with coconuts becoming a meme associated with Harris. The word can be used as a slur against South Asian people, with the accusation that a “coconut” is someone who is brown on the outside and white on the inside. The UK recently charged a protester who held a sign featuring then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman with images of coconuts. But there’s no evidence that the vast majority of Americans who are participating in the meme recognize it as a slur. And while Harris has never officially commented on how she feels about the coconut tree associations, her campaign has already embraced other elements of her online persona, like the Charlie XCX “Brat” color and aesthetic now used in her rapid response X account.
Harris has a challenging road ahead to defeat Donald Trump, who is currently leading in the very early polls. But Harris literally just launched her campaign on Monday. And it will take a few weeks for most of America to even realize she’s going to be the nominee. She now has three and a half months to build momentum and ensure that Trump, a continued threat to the future of American democracy, is never again allowed to set foot in the White House.
