Trump 'couldn't care less' about Harris' race

Former President Donald Trump said he still did not know the race of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is of Black and South Asian heritage, but "that’s up to her."

Trump was asked by debate moderators Sept. 10 about statements he made questioning Harris’ race and falsely suggesting the vice president had not been honest about identity.

“I don't know. I mean all I can say is I read where she was not Black,” Trump said. “And then I read that she was Black and that's O.K. Either one was O.K. with me. That's up to her.”

In response to Trump's comments on her identity as a Black woman, Vice President Kamala Harris said "it's a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president who has consistently over the course of his career attempted to use race to divide the American people."

Harris then highlighted previous racial incidents involving Trump, such as refusing to rent property to Black families as a land owner, calling for the execution of the Central Park Five in a full page New York Times ad and spreading "birther lies about the first Black president of the United States."

She also expressed that the "vast majority" of Americans do not support dividing the country based on race and instead see one another as a "neighbor."

"We don't want a leader who is constantly trying to have Americans point their fingers at each other, "Harris said. "I meet with people all the time who tell me, 'Can we please just have discourse about how we're going to invest in the aspirations and the ambitions and the dreams of the American people?' Knowing that regardless of people's color or the language their grandmother speaks, we all have the same dreams and aspirations and want a president who invests in those not in hate and division."

Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters

PBS News podcasts

Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app

Find more from PBS News at

Subscribe to our YouTube channel