Former US President Donald Trump has continued to raise questions regarding Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity for a second day on Thursday.
A day after saying that Harris had “all of a sudden” decided to become “a Black person”, Trump shared a picture on his social media site that features Harris dressed in a sari along with her family members. He mentioned that Kamala Harris’ love and warmth for Indian heritage is appreciated.
While sharing the picture on Truth Social, Trump stated, “Thank you Kamala for the nice picture you sent from many years ago! Your warmth, friendship, and love of your Indian Heritage are very much appreciated.”
Kamala Harris’s ethnic identity is becoming a key issue in the US presidential election campaign. It came under further scrutiny after Trump launched a strong personal attack on Harris by claiming that she, after being of “Indian heritage” for years, “turned black” a few years ago, CNN reported. He further claimed that Harris “all of a sudden, made a turn” in her identity and wants to be known as a woman of colour.
Trump made the comments at a gathering of journalists of colour in Chicago when an interviewer asked him why voters of colour should consider backing a candidate with his history of racist attacks on political rivals. He responded by questioning Harris’ heritage.
“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was black until some years ago when she happened to turn black, and now she wants to be known as black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she black?” CNN quoted him as saying.
“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 went – she became a Black person,” he said. “I think somebody should look into that too,” he added.
Kamala Harris’ mother was Indian and her father is Jamaican. Her parents had immigrated to the United States. She is the first woman of colour and the first Asian American vice president. If Harris wins the upcoming polls, she will become the first woman president of the US.
Following the former President’s remarks, Kamala Harris has hit back at Donald Trump over the latter’s remarks against her racial identity and said the American people “deserve better.”
She asserted that today the country faces a choice between two different visions, and alleged that Trump and his campaign aim to take the country “backwards.”
Harris was speaking at a Houston fundraiser on Wednesday (local time), hours after Trump claimed that Harris, after being of “Indian heritage” for years, “turned black” a few years ago.
“In this moment, we face a choice, between two very different visions for our nation. One focused on the future, and the other focused on the past. And we in this room, are fighting for the future,” she told the donors.
“As we work to move our nation forward…there are those who are trying to take us backwards. You might have seen their agenda, they call it Project 2025 and it is a 900-page agenda of extremism,” Harris added.
Attacking Trump further, the US Vice President said, “We are not going back. We all remember what those four years were like, and today we got yet another reminder. This afternoon, Donald Trump spoke at the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists, and it was the same old show, the divisiveness and the disrespect. Let me just say, the American people deserve better.”
She further said, “The American people deserve a leader who does tell the truth, who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. We deserve a leader who understands that differences don’t divide us, they are an essential source of our strength.”