Trump says Harris ‘happened to turn Black’ after years of identifying as Indian
Former US president’s appearance at National Association for Black Journalists conference is part of a wider effort to court Black voters; White House blasts ‘repulsive’ remark
Former United States president Donald Trump questioned Wednesday whether his Democratic rival in the upcoming election, US Vice President Kamala Harris, is actually Black, suggesting she was using her race as a political convenience.
“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black,” Trump told a panel of interviewers at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago.
“And now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” he said of Harris.
“I respect either one but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way and then all of a sudden she made a turn, and she became a Black person.”
Harris, whose parents left India and Jamaica for graduate studies at the University of California, has long self-identified as both Black and Asian, and attended Howard University, a historically Black college. She is the first Black person and Asian American person to serve as US vice president.
Hours after Trump’s comments, Harris told members of the historically Black sorority Sigma Gamma Rho gathered in Houston that his remarks were “yet another reminder” of what the four years under the former president looked like.
“It was the same old show of divisiveness and disrespect,” Harris said. “The American people deserve better.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the first black woman to hold the position, was asked about Trump’s comments Wednesday in real-time.
“No one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify,” she told reporters, calling Trump’s remark “repulsive.”
At a rally in Pennsylvania later on Wednesday, Trump did not mention his comments about Harris’s racial identity, but the arena’s screens showed old news articles highlighting her Indian-American background, and not her Black heritage, before he took the stage.
The invitation to Trump to attend the National Association of Black Journalists conference triggered a backlash among some members of the NABJ and prompted a co-chair of the convention to step down in protest this week.
The interview started on a tense note, when ABC News reporter Rachel Scott — one of three Black women moderators — listed a series of racist comments Trump had made and asked why Black voters should support him.
In response, Trump called the question “horrible,” “hostile” and a “disgrace” and described ABC as a “fake” network.
“I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln,” he boasted, drawing groans from the audience.
The session, originally scheduled for an hour, ended abruptly after about 35 minutes when the Trump campaign said he was out of time, according to the moderators.
Trump’s appearance was part of a broader effort to court Black voters, including campaign events in cities with large Black populations such as Atlanta, where he will rally on Saturday.
His campaign was encouraged by polls showing weakened support among Black men for US President Joe Biden, his former opponent. Black voters are traditionally the most loyal Democratic voting bloc and supported Biden 92%-8% over Trump in 2020, according to Pew Research.
But Biden’s decision to step down in favor of Harris has shaken up the race, with public opinion polls showing newfound enthusiasm for her candidacy among voters of color and younger voters.
Since launching her White House campaign, Harris has faced a barrage of sexist and racist attacks online, with some far-right accounts questioning her racial identity. Trump has also accused Harris — whose husband and stepchildren are Jewish — of being antisemitic.
Republican Party leaders have urged lawmakers to refrain from personal attacks on Harris and focus on her policy positions.
A national Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed Harris leading Trump 43%-42%, within the poll’s margin of error.
The Times of Israel Community.