Trump Tells Journalists Harris 'Became' Black

GOP nominee says somebody should look into his opponent's racial identity
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 31, 2024 4:56 PM CDT
Harris 'Happened to Turn Black,' Trump Says
Donald Trump, left, moderated by from left, ABC's Rachel Scott, Semafor's Nadia Goba and FOX News' Harris Faulkner, speaks at the National Association of Black Journalists, NABJ, convention, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Chicago.   (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Donald Trump answered the first question put to him Wednesday by berating the reporter who asked it, setting the tone for his contentious appearance at a convention of Black journalists in which he questioned Vice President Kamala Harris' racial identity. Shortly after that, one of the three journalists onstage with Trump at the Chicago event asked him whether it's acceptable for some of his supporters to mock Harris as "a DEI hire," CBS News reports. The former president said he hadn't always understood his apparent election opponent to be Black. "She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage," he 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," Trump said. "So I don't know, is she Indian, or is she Black?" Claiming that Harris "became a Black person," Trump added that "somebody should look into that." In fact, Harris is of Jamaican and Indian heritage, per the New York Times. Not only that, the White House press secretary later pointed out, "She is the vice president of the United States." Trump again mispronounced Harris' first name, which many people have called disrespectful. His campaign had said Trump would address "the most pressing issues facing the Black community" at the National Association of Black Journalists convention. Other tension involved:

  • "Black jobs": When Trump said "millions and millions of people" are coming across the southern border into the US and "taking Black jobs," ABC's Rachel Scott asked him what a Black job is. "A Black job is anybody that has a job, that's what it is," Trump said, drawing laughs from the audience.
  • A "very rude introduction": Scott opened the session by noting Trump's past insults of Black prosecutors, false claims that America's first Black president was born in Africa, and suggestion that four congresswomen who are racial minorities "go back" where they came from. Given that, Scott asked why Black voters should trust Trump. "I don't think I've ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner," he said. Trump ripped her network as fake news and said he'd been invited to the convention under a "false pretense" because he thought Harris would be there. He also criticized the organizers because the event started late, per the Washington Post, before saying he had been "the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln."

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  • An early end: The Q&A session was scheduled to last an hour but ended well short of that, just as Fox News' Harris Faulkner was asking Trump about Project 2025. "I think we have to end it there, by the Trump team," Scott said. The audio in the room apparently wasn't working well, and Trump had complained he couldn't always hear the reporters. He thanked the crowd but appeared irritated by the questioning as he left the stage, per the Times, shaking his head and gesturing.
Harris' campaign criticized the Republican nominee afterward. "Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us," a statement said. Communications director Michael Tyler said: "The hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president." (More Donald Trump 2024 stories.)

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