(NewsNation) — Vice President Kamala Harris, for the first time, responded to Donald Trump‘s comment about her racial identity, calling it a “tragedy” that the former president uses “race to divide the American people.”
In the first debate between the two presidential candidates, Trump said he doesn’t care about how Harris identifies, though he repeated claims that the vice president didn’t identify as Black before and does now.
In July, Trump falsely suggested Harris had misled voters about her race in an interview he did with the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago.
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“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 said while addressing the group’s annual convention.
Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both immigrants to the U.S. As an undergraduate, Harris attended Howard University, one of the nation’s most prominent historically Black colleges and universities, where she also pledged the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha.
“All I can say is I read where she was not Black and then I read that she was Black, and that’s OK,” Trump said during the debate. “Either one was OK with me. That’s up to her. That’s up to her.”
Harris spoke against attempts to divide Americans by race, talking about investigations into Trump for racial discrimination in his real estate businesses. She also referenced him taking out an ad calling for the execution of the falsely convicted Central Park Five.
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“This is the same individual who spread birther lies about the first Black president of the United States. And I think the American people want better than that,” Harris said.
She then turned to talking about the dreams and ambitions of Americans regardless of race and background instead of dividing the country.
Trump then said that the Biden administration was the most divisive in history and said Harris has to reach back for historical examples because there are no recent things she can attack on race.
He then said “she is Biden,” tying Harris to inflation under the Biden administration.
Harris said she is not Biden or Trump and said she offers a new generation of leadership for the country.
NewsNation’s Steph Whiteside contributed to this report.
