Former U.S. President Donald Trump has questioned whether his Democratic rival Kamala Harris is “Indian or Black.” These comments came during Trump’s appearance at the annual convention for the National Association of Black Journalists, where he addressed Harris’ ethnicity.
During his speech, Trump stated that he had “indirectly” known the current Vice President for a long time, saying, “She has always been of Indian descent, and she promoted only Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a few years ago when she suddenly became Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or Black? I respect both, but she apparently doesn’t respect either.”
Kamala Harris, 59, has always identified as both Black and South Asian. She was born in Oakland, California, to an Indian-born mother and a Jamaican-born father and is the first Black and first Asian-American Vice President in U.S. history.
Since she launched her presidential campaign earlier this month, after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, Harris has faced a series of sexist and racist attacks online. Trump’s comments on Wednesday were quickly condemned. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called them “offensive” and “disgusting.”
In a social media post, Stacey Plaskett, who represents the U.S. Virgin Islands in the House of Representatives, summarized Trump’s speech as “Lies, Disrespect, Lies, Ranting Lies, Race Baiting, Misinformation, Bigotry, Lies, Ignorance, Meandering Lies.”
These exchanges occurred the day after several polls indicated that Harris had narrowed Trump’s lead in the presidential race, approaching him both nationally and in several key battleground states as the election date of November 5 nears. According to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll, Harris was ahead of Trump in four battleground states, while Trump led in two.
Harris, who has not yet been officially confirmed as the Democratic Party candidate for 2024 but is expected to receive the nomination next month, has sought to portray Trump as a threat to the American people. “The momentum in the campaign is changing, and Donald Trump feels it,” Harris said during a rally in Georgia on Tuesday evening, where a crowd of about 10,000 attendees celebrated and shouted her recently launched campaign slogan, “We are not going back.”
Harris’ team reported that they have raised $200 million and enrolled 170,000 new volunteers since the campaign launch. On Wednesday, she also received an endorsement from the influential United Auto Workers (UAW) union. “Her historic candidacy is based on the documented achievements of the Biden-Harris administration in standing with the UAW and delivering significant gains for the working class,” the union’s executive committee stated.