Trump questions whether Kamala Harris is Black in combative interview

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumpfalsely suggested to the country's largest annual gathering of Black journalists on Wednesday that his Democratic rival Kamala Harris had previously downplayed her Black heritage.

"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," Trump said, drawing a smattering of jeers from an audience of about 1,000 people.

"So I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black?" Trump continued. "But you know what, I respect either one, but sheobviously doesn't, because she was Indian all the way, and all of a sudden she made a turn and became a Black person."

Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican heritage, has long self-identified as both Black and South Asian. She is the first Black and South Asian American to serve as U.S. vice-president.

Hours after Trump's comments, Harris told members of the historically Black sorority Sigma Gamma Rho gathered in Houston that his remarks were "yet another reminder" of what the four years under the former U.S. president looked like.

"It was the same old show of divisiveness and disrespect," Harris said. "The American people deserve better."

Since launching her White House campaign earlier this month, Harris has faced a barrage of sexist and racist attacks online, with some far-right accounts questioning her racial identity.

Republican Party leaders have urged lawmakers to refrain from personal attacks and focus on her policy positions.

Prior insults from Trump

Trump himself has used personal insults against Harris and said he was going to ignore advice that he tone down his rhetoric in this campaign. "I'm not gonna be nice!" he told supporters at one campaign rally.

The interview at the U.S. National Association of Black Journalists' (NABJ)annual convention in Chicago started on a tense note, when ABC News reporter Rachel Scott one of three Black women moderators listed a series of racist comments Trump had made and asked why Black voters should support him.

In response, Trump called the question "horrible," "hostile" and a "disgrace" and described ABC as a "fake" network.

"I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln," he boasted, returning toa claim he has made in the pastand alsodrawing groans from the audience.

Trump repeated a line from the presidential debate in June, claiming that migrants crossing the U.S. southern border would take away "Black jobs," a term that drew criticism from some Black leaders.

"What exactly is a 'Black job,' sir?" Scott asked him.

"A Black job is anybody with a job," Trump replied.

Trump also declined to say on Wednesday whether Harris was a "DEI hire," as some Republicans have claimed, saying, "I don't know."

WATCH | White House press secretary on Trump's remarks:

Trump comments on Harris's racial identity 'insulting,' says White House

2 months ago

Duration 0:54

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says former president Donald Trump's 'went Black' comments about Vice-President Kamala Harris are not only insulting, but repulsive to her as a woman of colour.

DEI stands for "diversity, equity and inclusion" initiatives aimed at increasing representation of women and people of colour in the workforce to address longstanding inequities and discrimination. The term "DEI hire" is now used to suggest a person is not qualified and was chosen on the basis of race, gender or membership in other minority groups.

When asked about his position on granting police officers immunity following thedeath of Sonya Massey, a Black woman who was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy in Illinois, Trump acknowledged that he didn't know much about the case drawing some gasps from the crowd but added that "it didn't look good to me."

The interview began more than an hour late, which the Trump campaign said was due to problems with the event's audio equipment.Both Trump and the moderators were sometimes unable to hear each other during the interview.

The session, originally scheduled for an hour, ended abruptly after 30 minutes when the campaign said he was out of time, according to the moderators.

At a rally in Pennsylvanialater on Wednesday, Trump did not mention his comments about Harris's racial identity, but the arena's screens showed old news articles highlighting her Indian-American background, and not her Black heritage, before he took the stage.

'Sir, have you no shame?'

Trump's invitation had received a backlash from some members, prompting a co-chair of the convention to step down in protest.

During the interview, some of Trump's false statements were met with murmurs and laughter from the crowd.

At one point, someone yelled out, "Sir, have you no shame?" before others shushed him.

Leah Mallory, a 21-year-old studentat Fordham University, described the conversation as "unreal."

"I honestly feel like it wasn't as conducive as we hoped it would be," she said. "I feel like what we heard were several things that he said before, and there were questions that weren't fully answered."

Nana aba Duncan, an associate professor of journalism at Carleton University, said some NABJ members had concerns over the organization allowing itself to "platform this person," but others felt a duty to attend Trump's appearance and to witness what he did "in the name of journalism."

Duncan, a former CBC Radio host,questioned Trump's motivation for appearing at the event, which she attended on Wednesday.

"I'm not sure he was there to talk to the Black journalists," said Duncan, who is also the founder of the Mary Ann Shadd Cary Centre for Journalism and Belonging.

Trump has been actively courting Black voters and has held events in cities with large Black populations, including Atlanta, where he plans to have a rally on Saturday.

His campaign was encouraged by polls showing weakened support among Black men for U.S. President Joe Biden, his former Democratic opponent. Black voters aretraditionally the most loyal Democratic voting bloc. Biden won Black voters in 2020, according to Pew Research, with92 per cent supporting him.

But Biden's decision to step down in favour of Harris has shaken up the race, with public opinion polls showing newfound enthusiasm for her candidacy among voters of colour and younger voters.

A national Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed Harris leading Trump 43 per cent to 42 per cent, a result that was within the poll's margin of error.

Biden's exit from the presidential ticket has allowed Harris to be the centre of attention, said Bob Butler, a former NABJ president who saw Trump speak on Wednesday.

"She has commanded the news feed, she's commanded the conversation," Butler told CBC's Canada Tonight.

That reality has left Trump wanting to recapture the spotlight, he said.