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Democrats rally to defend US senator from ‘ugly’ far-right attacks
WASHINGTON, June 30, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Democrats vying to become the party’s
candidate in 2020 presidential elections have rallied behind US senator
Kamala Harris against social media claims she is not an “American Black”.
Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, drew national attention
after a rock-solid performance in Thursday’s Democratic Party debate that
shot her into the top tier of contenders.
The senator was attacked online by social media users, some of them known
for being far-right.
One Twitter account with 90,000 followers, under the name Ali Alexander,
sent a tweet on Thursday that read: “Kamala Harris is implying she is
descended from American Black Slaves. She’s not. She comes from Jamaican
Slave Owners. That’s fine. She’s not an American Black. Period.”
The US president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., retweeted the message, then
deleted it.
Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed the attack on Harris and said it
has parallels with the “birtherism” movement that has questioned the
citizenship of former US president Barack Obama.
“It’s disgusting and we have to call it out when we see it. Racism has no
place in America,” he added in a tweet.
So-called “birthers” claim Obama was born overseas and allege his birth
certificate is a fake. The US constitution says the country’s presidency is
open to natural-born citizens only.
Biden’s comments were supported by other Democrats running to become the
party’s presidential candidate.
Elizabeth Warren labelled the attacks on Harris “racist and ugly”, as
Bernie Sanders and Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, among others, also gave
support to the senator.
In Thursday’s debate, Harris boldly confronted Biden on race and identity
and called out his “hurtful” comments in praise of segregationist senators
with whom he worked but disagreed.
Harris, 54, is the only black woman in the Democratic presidential field.
She is a former prosecutor and one-time attorney general for California.
If elected, she would become the first woman — and first black woman —
president of the United States.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1515 hrs