Vice President Kamala Harris responded on Wednesday to former President Donald Trump’s accusation that she “became a black person” for political purposes, telling members of a historically black sorority that it was the “same old show.”
Addressing Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.’s 60th International Biennial Boulé in Houston, Harris said Trump’s remarks earlier that day served as a reminder of “what those four years [of Trump’s presidency] were like.”
“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,” she said. “And let me just say, the American people deserve better.”
“The American people 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,” the 59-year-old veep added.
Trump, 78, tore into his likely November opponent at the National Association for Black Journalists convention earlier on Wednesday, claiming that he “didn’t know” Harris was “black” until recently.
“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,” the Republican nominee for president said.
“And now she wants to be known as black, so I don’t know is she Indian or is she black … but you know what, I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t.”
Trump added: “She became a black person and I think somebody should look into that.”
The vice president’s father is black and from Jamaica and her mother was born in India.
Harris graduated from the historically black Howard University in 1986 and was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha – one of the “Divine Nine” black sororities and fraternities of which Sigma Gamma Rho is also a part of.
“As the first woman vice president of the United States, I’m here to thank you for your longstanding service to our nation and to declare in this moment that our nation needs your leadership once again,” Harris told attendees at the gala.
“In this moment, we face a choice between two very different visions for our nation: One focused on the future, the other focused on the past. And we in this room are fighting for the future,” she added.
Harris charged that Trump intended for his three “handpicked” Supreme Court appointees to overturn Roe. V. Wade, claiming that “now he intends to pass a nationwide abortion ban.”
“I will not let that happen,” the vice president vowed. “I promise you, when I am president of the United States and when Congress passes a law to restore reproductive freedoms, I will sign it into law.”
Harris’ speech followed a campaign fundraiser in Houston that raised $2.5 million for the Harris Victory Fund, according to multiple reports.
The fundraiser was organized by Texas lawyer and former Democratic congressional candidate Sima Ladjevardian, and attended by several Texas Democratic lawmakers and local officials.
Harris is expected to deliver a eulogy for the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) in Houston on Thursday.