The debate was still going on when the Trumps sprang into action:
During Thursday's Democratic presidential debate, Donald Trump Jr. retweeted to his millions of followers a Harris critic who took issue with her identity.
"Kamala Harris is *not* an American Black. She is half Indian and half Jamaican," the critic, who identified as African American
, wrote. "I'm so sick of people robbing American Blacks (like myself) of our history. It's disgusting. Now using it for debate time at #DemDebate2? These are my people not her people. Freaking disgusting."
(Junior later deleted the tweet, claiming he simply was asking if it was true.)
The CNN story, 'It won't work:' Kamala Harris' campaign slams online attacks on her race , lists a number of Harris’s competitors for the nomination who have already come to her defense:
- Warren
- Inslee
- O’Rourke
- Buttigieg
- Booker
- AND Biden
Biden was particularly forceful:
"The same forces of hatred rooted in 'birtherism' that questioned @BarackObama's American citizenship, even his racial identity, are now being used against Senator @KamalaHarris," Biden said. "It's disgusting and we have to call it out when we see it."
Booker was short and pithy: ".@KamalaHarris doesn't have sh** to prove.”
WaPo has a front page story up (must be recent as I didn’t see it a few hours ago): 2020 Democrats defend Kamala Harris after Donald Trump Jr. tweet about her race. That article adds other contenders to the list defending Harris:
(I expect — and certainly hope — that the rest of the 20+ are doing so, and the press hasn’t gotten up to date with them yet.)
Let’s get a couple of facts straight: Harris’s parents are from India and Jamaica, both immigrants. Her mother, the Indian side, was very attracted to the Black culture and who took her daughters to Black churches when they were growing up. Harris also felt the same discrimination that others with skin color felt — the whole point she was making when she challenged Biden.
If the son of a Kenyan is an African-American, the daughter of a Jamaican is. But let’s not get into the ugly weeds of racial definitions. Harris herself said it best:
‘I am who I am’: Kamala Harris, daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, defines herself simply as ‘American’
PS: Thought experiment: Imagine any of today’s GOP politicians (not just Trump) reacting this way to a racist attack on their primary or general opponent. The last one to do so was John McCain — and even then people thought it was remarkable he would do so.