Trump attacks Kamala Harris’ racial identity at Black journalism convention

For more on the 2024 election, head to the NPR Network's live updates page.

Former President Donald Trump made inflammatory remarks about Vice President Harris at the National Association of Black Journalists convention Wednesday, questioning her biracial background.

Harris is Black and Indian American. When asked if he agreed with comments from some Republicans who claim Harris has political power because of “diversity, equity and inclusion,” Trump falsely suggested Harris has changed how she discussed her racial identity.

“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said. “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?"

Harris is a member of a historically Black sorority, attended Howard University, one of the most prominent historically Black colleges in the country, and was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus when she was a U.S. senator from California.

Harris briefly responded to Trump’s remarks as she gave a Wednesday night speech to a conference of Sigma Gamma Rho, a historically Black sorority, in Houston.

“It was the same old show — the divisiveness and the disrespect. And let me just say, the American people deserve better,” Harris said.

She said Trump’s comments to the NABJ were “yet another reminder” of what his presidency was like.

Trump, who has in the past promoted racist "birther" conspiracy theories targeting Harris and former President Barack Obama, sparred with one of the three moderators in particular, ABC News’ Rachel Scott.

Scott opened up the conversation by listing derogatory statements Trump has made about Black journalists and Black elected officials and asked why Black voters should trust him.

“Well, first of all, I don't think I've ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner," Trump began.

He defended his record and said he was the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln. Trump blamed President Biden and Harris for inflation and record levels of migration at the U.S. southern border.

He repeated a common campaign theme that migrants crossing over the U.S.-Mexico border were taking “Black jobs,” though he added that all Americans’ jobs are being taken.

He called the criminal cases against him politically motivated and reiterated his plans to issue pardons for rioters convicted for their conduct at the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Following the 35-minute interview, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "The questions were Rude and Nasty, often in the form of a statement, but we CRUSHED IT!"

Before Biden dropped out of the presidential race and Harris became the likely Democratic nominee, polls showed a potential boost in Black support for Trump this election, compared with his previous contests, driven in part by low-propensity voters and so-called “double haters” who expressed displeasure with both major candidates.

Trump and the GOP have courted Black voters over the last decade with a number of efforts, but have largely failed to chip away at Democratic dominance with the voting bloc.

Trump’s appearance at the NABJ event was met with controversy from inside and outside the affinity organization, with some questioning why the former president was given a prominent platform given some of his past statements attacking Black journalists in particular.

“I can certainly understand why some of my fellow members would have an issue with somebody like him being at our convention,” Errin Haines, editor at large of the nonprofit news outlet The 19th, told Morning Edition Wednesday. “While, at the same time, understanding that this is a convention of journalists who should be able to interrogate him around his agenda, but also some of his previous statements, particularly as they relate to the Black community.”

With reporting by NPR's Deepa Shivaram.