Former President Donald Trump stated he does not concern himself with how Vice-President Kamala Harris identifies racially. Harris’ mother was from India and her father was from Jamaica, and she identifies as both black and Indian American. “I don’t, and I don’t care,” Trump said during the presidential debate, referring to an earlier statement. “I don’t care what she is. I don’t care if you make a big deal out of something. I couldn’t care less. Whatever she wants to be is okay with me.”
When moderators reminded him of his previous comments, Trump responded, “So I don’t know. I don’t know. I mean, all I can say is, I read where she was not black that she put out, and I’ll say that. And then I read that she was black, and that’s okay. Either one was okay with me. That’s up to her.”
In July, Trump remarked at a black journalists’ conference, “I didn’t know she was black until a number of 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?”
Harris, responding to Trump’s comments, said, “I think it’s a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be President who has consistently, over the course of his career, attempted to use race to divide the American people. I believe that the vast majority of us know we have much more in common than what separates us, and we don’t want this kind of approach that constantly tries to divide us, especially by race.”
Harris added, “Let’s remember how Donald Trump started. He owned land, he owned buildings, and he was investigated because he refused to rent property to black families. Let’s remember this is the same individual who took out a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the execution of five young black and Latino boys who were innocent, the Central Park Five.”
“This is the same individual who spread lies about the first black President of the United States. I think the American people want better than that. They want better than this. They want someone who understands as I do. I travel across our country, and we see in each other a friend, a neighbor. We don’t want a leader who is constantly trying to have Americans point fingers at each other,” she stated.
In response, Trump said, “This is the most divisive President in the history of our country. There’s never been anything like it. They’re destroying our country, and they come up with things like what she just said, going back many years when a lot of people, including Mayor Bloomberg, agreed with me on the Central Park Five. They admitted, they said they pleaded guilty. And I said, well, if they plead guilty, they badly hurt a person, killed a person, ultimately. And if they plead guilty, then they plead we’re not guilty …I built one of the greatest economies in the history of the world, and I’m going to build it again.”
