Black or Indian? Trump questions Kamala Harris's racial identity

US REPUBLICAN presidential nominee Donald Trump has questioned Kamala Harris's racial identity, asking whether she is “Indian or black,” drawing criticism from his Democratic rival.

Trump, 78, falsely claimed that Harris had only recently emphasised her black heritage, saying, "she became a black person."

"I've known her a long time, indirectly, not directly very much, and 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 at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago on Wednesday. He added, "So I don't know - Is she Indian? Or is she black?"

Harris's mother is from India, and her father is from Jamaica. She attended Howard University, a historically black school, and was involved in several black organisations, including Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, the Black Law Students Association, and the Congressional Black Caucus.

When a journalist at the convention noted that Harris had always identified as black, Trump continued, "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. And I think somebody should look into that too."

Trump's comments received immediate backlash. Speaking at an event in Houston for the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Harris said, "This afternoon, Donald Trump spoke at the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists, and it was the same old show. The divisiveness and the disrespect, and let me just say, the American people deserve better."

Harris did not directly address Trump's words but said that Americans "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," she said.

Harris's campaign communications director Michael Tyler stated, "The hostility 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. Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency — while he failed black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in. Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called Trump's comments "insulting," saying, "As a person of colour, as a black woman, who is in this position that is standing before you at this podium, behind this lectern — what he just said, what you just read out to me is repulsive, it's insulting. No one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify. That is no one's right. It is someone's own decision. It is — I'll add this — only she can speak to her experience."

Trump has previously attacked opponents on the basis of race, including falsely claiming Barack Obama was not born in the US and asserting that Republican primary opponent Nikki Haley could not be president because her parents were not US citizens when she was born. Harris has faced criticism since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee, with Republicans saying she was chosen for her race. Republican Congressman Tim Burchett called her a "DEI vice-president," referring to diversity, equity, and inclusion programmes. Trump responded to questions about this by saying, "I really don't know, could be."

Harris has spoken about her Indian heritage and her upbringing immersed in black culture in Oakland, California. Trump also criticised her legal credentials, saying she failed her bar exam initially. Harris graduated from the University of California Hastings College of Law in 1989 and passed the bar on her second attempt.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff responded to Trump's comments, calling him “a worse version of an already horrible person” and stating, “The insults – it's horrible, it's terrible, it shows a lack of character – but it's a distraction. It's about what's at stake in this election.” Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, a potential running mate for Harris, said Trump's remarks were “the comments of a desperate, scared old man who is, over the last week especially, having his butt kicked by an experienced prosecutor.”

(With inputs from PTI)