Harris skewers Trump's history of racism
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Vice President Kamala Harris during the presidential debate on Sept. 10 in Philadelphia. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Vice President Kamala Harris shot back at former President Trump for his history of racism during Tuesday night's debate.
Why it matters: Harris' comments mark her first substantive, direct response on race and racism during the 2024 campaign — throughout which her opponent has questioned her racial identity.
- It comes weeks after Trump falsely claimed that Harris, the nation's first Black and Asian American vice president, "became ... Black."
Driving the news: Asked by ABC moderator David Muir why he believes it's appropriate to weigh in on the racial identity of his opponent, Trump said, "I don't care what" Harris is.
- "All I can say is I read where she was not Black, that she put out, and I'll say that, and then I read that she was Black, and that's OK," he said. Either one was OK with me. That's up to her."
What she's saying: "Honestly, I think it's a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president who has consistently, over the course of his career, attempted to use race to divide the American people," Harris said.
- "You know, I do believe that the vast majority of us know that we have so much more in common than what separates us, and we don't want this kind of approach that is just constantly trying to divide us, and especially by race."
Zoom out: Harris noted during the debate that Trump has previously been investigated for refusing to rent to Black tenants.
- She also mentioned that Trump took out an ad in The New York Times "calling for the execution" of the "Central Park Five."
Of note: New York City Councilmember Yusef Salaam, one of the Exonerated Five, was in Harris' spin room to speak to media after the debate.
Flashback: Trump told a crowd at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in July that he doubted the blackness of the first Black woman to serve as vice president.
- "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," Trump said of Harris, who attended Howard University, an HBCU.
- "I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black?" he said.
- When Harris was asked about Trump questioning her racial identity in a CNN interview last month, she brushed it off, saying, "Same old tired playbook, next question please."
Go deeper: Harris attacks Trump as "confused" and dangerous in combative debate
