Last Updated on July 31, 2024
Former President Donald Trump said what everything was thinking at Wednesday’s National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention. Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t black but “happened to turn black.”
I’ve known her a long time indirectly. Not directly very much. .. 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. And now she wants to be known as black.
… Is she indian, or is she black?
ABC’s Rachel Scott opens her interview with President Trump at the NABJ conference by calling him a racist for criticizing black politicians and journalists.
Trump gives a masterful response while also mentioning how he showed up while Kamala Harris did not. pic.twitter.com/AeMGH0D87I
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 31, 2024
Rachel Scott, a perturbed correspondent for ABC News, told Trump, “[Kamala] has always identified as a black woman.” She then attempted to lay into Trump and other Republicans, accusing them of racism for referring to Harris as a “DEI hire.” She said the knock against the vice president was to show she was afforded a particular privilege for her race and gender.
Scott also claimed Trump met with a “white supremacist” at Mar-a-Lago, referring to paleoconservative commentator Nicholas J. Fuentes. Emotionally bound, she screeched that Trump’s rhetoric targeted minorities, citing the birtherism attacks against former President Barack Obama.
Trump largely ignored the attacks and said to Scott he couldn’t care less about Harris’ race or ethnic background and that he just thought it was odd that “she was Indian all the way, then all of a sudden she made a turn. And she became a black person.” He added, “I think somebody should look into that.”
According to The Hill, Harris is Indian American and African American, which is up for debate. Her mother is from India, and her father is from Jamaica, which wouldn’t exactly make her African but Caribbean. The University of the West Indies stated Indians are the third largest ethnic group in Jamaica, so the theory of Harris being Caribbean rather than African is more plausible.
I’m a lifetime member of NABJ.
But they sat up here and got COOKED by Trump today by trying to act like shills for the Democrats. If they would have been more objective, their grilling would not have backfired on them pic.twitter.com/SzQM2iWSvd
— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@tariqnasheed) July 31, 2024
So, Kamala Harris is indeed black but perhaps not viewed as “black enough” since she is not African — certainly not to the Foundational Black Americans, who would simply refer to her as a “tether.”
Democrats wanting to maintain Harris’ “blackness” slammed Trump for his remarks. Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who’s notorious for his sermon on “whiteness,” said, “This is who Donald Trump is. This is the politics of insult, of revenge and resentment and retribution.”
The White House press secretary, holding the cards of all available protected classes — Haitain and lesbian — said the former president’s comments were “repulsive” and “insulting,” reported NBC News. Then, she ranted about defining one’s “identity.”
As a person of color — as a black woman who is in this position that is standing before you at this podium, behind this lectern — what he just said, what you just read out to me is repulsive. It’s insulting. And you know, no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify. That is no one’s right.
The NABJ conference held in Chicago on Wednesday with Trump was moderated by Fox News’ Harris Faulker, Semafor’s Kadia Goba and ABC’s Rachel Scott. According to several outlets, hosting Trump triggered numerous black journalists, although the organizers noted he was the leading presidential candidate, making it necessary to host him.
Trump called Scott’s criticism a “rude introduction” and asked if she worked for the “fake news.” He then referenced “black jobs” being taken by immigrants, to which she took offense. Ultimately, Trump wasn’t happy with the barrage of attacks and accusations. And really not much was accomplished in this visit.
I was invited here and I was told my opponent, whether it was Biden or Kamala, I was told my opponent was going to be here. It turned out my opponent isn’t here. You invited me under false pretense.
Related: Kamala Harris Compared ICE Agents to KKK, Border Patrol to Slave Owners
The organizers told Trump they were working to arrange either an in-person or virtual meeting with Harris in September.
