This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said at an annual gathering of Black journalists on Wednesday that his Democratic rival Kamala Harris had downplayed her Black heritage in the past. The narrative, which quickly spread on social media, is false.
He continued, “But you know what, I respect either one, 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.”
Contrary to Trump statements, however, Harris has long publicly identified as both Black and South Asian American.
Kamala Harris was born to an Indian mother and a Black Jamaican father, both immigrants to the United States. The U.S. Census includes people of Jamaican heritage among racial groups considered to be Black.
Her White House biography, opens new tab says she is “the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American” to be elected Vice President.
Harris graduated from Howard University, opens new tab, one of the country’s most esteemed HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), in 1986, opens new tab.
In the video, Harris responds, “yes, yes,” when Kaling says she is Indian. When Kaling says the two women are south Indian, Harris responds by saying, “You look like the entire one half of my family.”
A representative for Harris shared a video, opens new tab where Harris responded to Trump’s appearance at the NABJ by saying, “It was the same old show. The divisiveness and the disrespect.”
VERDICT
False. Kamala Harris is of Indian and Jamaican heritage and has long self-identified as both Black and South Asian American.
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Source: Black Enterprise
