VP Harris Responds To Donald Trump’s ‘Now She Wants To Be Known As Black’ Remarks At NABJ Convention

VP Harris said Trump's remarks at the NABJ convention on her racial identity were divisive, disrespectful, and Americans "deserve better."

On July 31, after Donald Trump spoke at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Convention in Chicago, Vice President Kamala Harris took the podium in Houston, at Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.’s 60th International Biennial Boulé to revisit his false claims about her racial identity.

After sharing a few chuckles with attendees about Trump’s NABJ appearance that afternoon, Vice President Harris told the room of SGRHOs that his statements were divisive and disrespectful. “It was the same old show,” she said in a clip posted to MSNBC’s YouTube channel. “The American people deserve better,” she said, explaining that people deserve a leader “who tells the truth” and doesn’t “respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts.” She continued, “We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us. They are an essential source to our strengths.”

Trump prompted a response from Harris after he responded during NABJ’s Q&A session about the Vice President’s racial identity and being labeled by Republicans as a DEI hire. During a live streaming from The Associated Press, the former POTUS said he didn’t know Vice President Harris was Black and claimed she only promoted her Indian heritage. “She happened to turn Black” a number of years ago, “and now she wants to be known as Black,” Trump said. He further questioned if Harris was Indian or Black and said although he respects both, he accused her of not respecting either. “She was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn…and she became a Black person.”

BLACK ENTERPRISE CEO Earl “Butch” Graves Jr. released a statement explaining his decision to withdraw from the NABJ session and disagreement with the association to host a panel at the convention featuring Trump. “…This decision was, indeed, one of folly and cowardice and not in keeping with the historic tradition of NABJ and Black media as a whole,” Graves Jr. wrote.

Joy Reid of MSNBC’s The ReidOut called Trump’s appearance at the NABJ convention “the visual depiction of a dumpster fire.” She checked Trump’s remarks with facts about Vice President Harris, stating that Vice President Harris “is Black” and “she’s always identified as Black,” noting her father is a Black man. She dropped her credentials, informing that the VP is an HBCU alum of Howard University and a member of the historically Black Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., credentials BE has also confirmed several times about the politician.

“Vice President Kamala Harris: Her Path to the White House,” a photographic biography written by Malaika Adero and published in 2021, takes readers on an in-depth look at Harris’ background and journey as the first Black and Asian American female vice president of the United States. The book revealed that the VP’s parents are from Jamaica and Chennai, India.