Quick summary:
We examine the latest controversy surrounding former President Donald Trump's remarks at the National Association of Black Journalists conference about Vice President Kamala Harris' racial identity this week. This analysis features reporting from our partner, Capital B.
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Trump’s Attack on Kamala Harris’ Blackness is Racist
Hey fam,
At the recently held National Association of Black Journalists annual conference in Chicago, IL, the Republican nominee for the presidency, Donald Trump (who was controversially invited as an attendee) claimed during an interview on stage with ABC News' Rachel Scott that he “didn’t know” whether Vice President Kamala Harris is Black.
As URL Media partner Capital B reports, Trump went on to say, “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. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said July 31. “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.”It’s a repugnant line of attack that’s nevertheless become an emerging argument from the right, with Trump campaign stumpers declaring dog-whistle statements on stage like, “unlike you Kamala, I know where I come from.” But Harris has always been clear about who she is and where she comes from. She is an American. She is Black and South Asian. She is the daughter of immigrants, an Indian mother: Shyamala Gopala and a Jamaican father, Donald J. Harris. As a Black Jamaican woman myself, I find any suggestion that Blackness and Jamaicanness are somehow mutually exclusive extremely offensive and uninformed. Jamaica is an island in the Caribbean with a population that is nearly 80% of African descent. Jamaicans have always been a proud people, deeply engaged in their connection to their African heritage, through food, music, dance, and religious practices. Jamaicans are Black, full stop.
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