Fact check: Is Trump's claim about Kamala Harris adopting a Black identity 'all of a sudden' valid?

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: At the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago on Wednesday, July 31, former president Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, made comments that caused a stir.

Trump claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee, had abruptly adopted a Black identity.

Claim

At the event, Trump stated, “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. So I don’t know, is she Indian, or is she Black?”

When a journalist attempted to correct Trump, explaining that Harris had consistently identified as Black and attended a historically Black college, Trump continued his view.

He remarked, “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.”

Fact check: False

Various news outlets quickly fact-checked Donald Trump’s comments regarding Kamala Harris' identity. CNN, in particular, highlighted the inaccuracies in Trump’s claims. They stressed that Harris has long identified as both Black and South Asian.

Education and early activism

Kamala Harris has openly discussed her Black identity for decades. She graduated in 1986 from Howard University, a historically Black institution, where she was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a historically Black sorority.

Later, during her time at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, she was elected president of the association of Black law students in her second year. Harris also actively participated in campus demonstrations against anti-Black racism.

Public statements and writings

Throughout her career, Harris has been vocal about her dual heritage. In a 2003 profile in AsianWeek, she referred to her father as “a Black man” and acknowledged both her South Asian and Black backgrounds.

“I grew up with a strong Indian culture, and I was raised in a Black community. All my friends were Black and we got together and cooked Indian food and painted henna on our hands, and I never felt uncomfortable with my cultural background," she stated.

Her 2019 memoir 'The Truths We Hold: An American Journey' details her upbringing, where her mother instilled pride in their South Asian roots, while also understanding that society would see her daughters as Black.

Harris wrote, “My mother understood very well that she was raising two Black daughters. She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as Black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud Black women."

District Attorney and Attorney General

In her official roles, Harris's Black identity was always acknowledged. Her biography as San Francisco district attorney in 2005 noted her as “the first African American woman in California to hold the office” and highlighted her education at “America’s oldest Black university.” 

In a 2009 book, Harris wrote of her childhood trips to both India and Jamaica, “My father and uncles would talk to us about the complicated struggles of the people of Jamaica - the history of slavery, colonialism, and immigration.”

As California attorney general, she was described as “the first African American woman and South Asian American woman in California to hold the office.”

US Senator and beyond

When she became a US senator in 2017, Harris stated she was “the second Black woman elected to the United States Senate.” Her speeches and writings consistently reflect her dual heritage.

For example, in a 2017 speech, she noted, “Look at my own life, where a daughter of a South Asian mother and a Jamaican father concluded her own interfaith wedding with her husband breaking a glass and everyone yelling, ‘Mazel tov.’”