Former US President Donald Trump posted a photo of Vice President Kamala Harris and her family on his Truth social account. Trump recently said Harris had “gone black.” He said he was not aware of his biracial identity until a few years ago. Harris denounced it as “the same old display of division and disrespect.”
At an event for black journalists in Chicago, Trump questioned whether Harris was Indian or black.
Donald Trump’s comments about the Democratic presumptive presidential nominee were met with strong criticism, including from the White House, which described them as “disgusting and disgraceful.”
“Thank you Kamala for your beautiful photo sent many years ago! Your warmth, friendship and love for Indian heritage is so appreciated,” Donald Trump wrote alongside a post on Truth Social.
Focus on Harris’s ethnic identity
Kamala Harris’s ethnic identity has become a focal point in the ongoing US presidential election campaign and politics. Support for Vice President.
Indian-origin Republican Vivek Ramaswamy has also been criticised for using his Indian roots Selectively.
Speaking to a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago, Illinois, Trump said, “She’s always been Indian and she’s just promoting her Indian origin. I didn’t know she was black until many years ago when she happened to be black and now she wants to be known as black. So I don’t know if she’s Indian or black?” CNN quoted Trump as saying.
“I respect either of them, but obviously not her, because she was Indian to begin with and then all of a sudden she took a turn and became a black person. I think somebody should look at that as well,” Trump said.
Harris, a Democrat, launched her presidential campaign last month. President Joe Biden withdraws his bid for the White House. She has always identified as both Black and Asian. Harris is the first person who is both Black and Asian-American to serve as vice president.
Since launching her presidential campaign on July 21, Harris has faced numerous sexist and racist attacks online, with some right-wing accounts questioning her racial identity.
Harris’s response to Trump’s remarks
Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, condemned Trump’s response, calling it “the same old display of division and disrespect.”
In a statement released by the White House, Harris said, “All I want to say is that the American people deserve better than this. The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who does not react with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us. They are an essential source of our strength.”
Harris was born to two immigrant parents — a black father and an Indian mother. Her father Donald Harris was from Jamaica and her mother Shyamala Gopalan immigrated to the US from Chennai in 1958. However, she defines herself simply as ‘American.’