Trump shares Kamala Harris’s Indian-heritage photo amid identity row

Former American President Donald Trump posted a photo showing Vice President Kamala Harris and her family on his Truth Social account. This comes after Trump recently said that Harris had “turned Black” and added he wasn’t aware of her bi-racial identity a few years ago. Harris had condemned it as “the same old show of divisiveness and disrespect”.

At a Black journalists’ event in Chicago, Trump questioned whether Harris is Indian or Black.

Donald Trump’s comments about the Democratic presumptive Presidential candidate received strong backlash, including from the White House, which described them as “repulsive and insulting”.

“Thank you Kamala for the nice picture you sent from many years ago! Your warmth, friendship, and love of your Indian Heritage are very much appreciated,” Donald Trump captioned the said post on Truth Social.

HARRIS’S ETHNIC IDENTITY IN FOCUS

Kamala Harris’s ethnic identity has become a focal point in the ongoing US presidential election campaign and in the support for the Vice-President.

Indian-origin Republican Vivek Ramaswamy has also criticised her for using her Indian roots selectively.

Speaking to a panel of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago, Illinois, Trump said, “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 was quoted as saying by CNN.

“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. I think somebody should look into that too,” Trump added.

Harris, a Democrat, started her presidential campaign last month after President Joe Biden withdrew his White House bid. She has always identified as both Black and Asian. Harris is the first person who is both Black and Asian-American to serve as Vice President.

Since starting her presidential campaign on July 21, Harris has faced numerous sexist and racist attacks online, with some far-right accounts questioning her racial identity.

HARRIS’S RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S REMARK

Trump’s response drew condemnation from Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican heritage, calling it “the same old show of divisiveness and disrespect”.

“Let me just say, the American people deserve better. The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us. They are an essential source of our strength,” Harris said in a statement released by the White House.

Harris was born to two immigrant parents — a Black father and an Indian mother. Her father, Donald Harris, was from Jamaica, and her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who immigrated to the US from Chennai in 1958. She, however, defines herself simply as ‘American’.