'It was the same old show': Kamala Harris responds to Trump's attacks on her racial identity

Source: The Guardian

Thu 1 Aug 2024 01.15 EDT


Kamala Harris has shrugged off Donald Trump’s questioning of her racial identity, saying that it was “the same old show” and that “America deserves better”, at a rally in Texas. On Wednesday, in an appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), Trump antagonised senior Black journalists and questioned Harris’s race, saying, “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.”

His interview, which was meant to last an hour, according to Axios, was cut short after 34 minutes. In Houston, Harris appeared unruffled and kept her remarks on Trump’s comments brief. “This afternoon,” she said, pausing for boos from the crowd. “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. And let me just say, the American people deserve better. The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth. A leader who does not respond 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.”

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was speaking at the Sigma Gamma Rho’s 60th International Biennial Boulé, the Black sorority’s gathering of its entire membership in Houston, Texas. Harris said she was there “as a proud member of the Divine Nine” – a group of Black fraternities and sororities in the US. Harris is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. The Harris campaign said in a statement: “The Donald Trump America saw at NABJ is the one Black voters have known for years.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/01/kamala-harris-texas-rally-donald-trump-racial-identity