Michigan's multiracial population grows

Former President Trump's false attack against Vice President Kamala Harris last week, questioning whether she can identify with more than one race, arrives at a time when the U.S. and Michigan's multiracial populations are surging.

Why it matters: Trump's comments illuminate how some Americans consistently misunderstand the complexities of people from multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds and how those identities shape their lives.

Zoom in: Michigan residents who identify as multiracial, or more than one race , accounted for 6.3% of the state's population in 2020, or nearly 640,000 people out of the state's population of more than 10 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau .

• Michiganders who selected two or more races jumped 176% from 2010 to 2020, according to census data .
• Our share of multiracial residents was higher than Ohio's (5.8%) but lower than that of Indiana (6.4%) and Illinois (8.9%).

Zoom out: The 2020 census found that the number of Americans who identify as multiracial grew from 9 million in 2010 to 33.8 million a decade later — a 276% jump.

• They accounted for 10.2% of the nationwide population in 2020.

The intrigue: As of 2010, Lansing had the highest share of residents who are Black and other races out of any city in the country with a population of 100,000-plus people, according to the Lansing State Journal .

The bottom line: People who identify as multiracial are among the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. population.

Go deeper: Trump attack on Harris comes as U.S. multiracial population exploding