One topic that was expected to be hotly debated in Tuesday night’s debate was race.
Host David Muir asked Donald Trump about his controversial comments at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in July, in which he said about Vice President Kamala Harris, “I didn’t know she was black until she was black a few years ago. So I don’t know if she’s Indian or black.”
The remarks sparked outrage at the time, and after hearing Muir repeat the comments, Trump said, “I don’t care who she is. I don’t care who she wants to be.” But Trump brought up the issue again, saying he read that she was black, after first reading that she wasn’t.
Harris, who is Black and Indian American, said Trump had “consistently used racial issues to divide the American people throughout his career.”
She cited several examples of Trump’s controversial actions on racial issues, including the “birthplace allegation” lie questioning Barack Obama’s birthplace, his alleged racial discrimination in his housing developments, and his support of the death penalty for the 1989 “Central Park Five” defendants (who were later acquitted).
The vice president said the American people do not want an approach that “constantly seeks to divide us.”
“We see each other as friends and neighbors,” Harris said, adding that she meets regularly with people who want the national debate to focus on “the American dream” rather than race.
Trump responded by defending his stance on the Central Park Five and turning the conversation to the economy, saying, “I’ve built one of the greatest economies in the history of the world.”
