Harris campaign denounces far-right conspiracy theories about her race

A spokeswoman for Sen. Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign denounced a far-right conspiracy theory about the California Democrat’s race after it was boosted by bots and right-wing personalities this week. 

Trump-world personality Ali Alexander tweeted during Thursday night’s Democratic debate, “Kamala Harris is *not* an American Black. She is half Indian and half Jamaican. I’m so sick of people robbing American Blacks (like myself) of our history. It’s disgusting. Now using it for debate time at #DemDebate2? These are my people not her people. Freaking disgusting.” 

The online attack was retweeted by Donald Trump Jr., although he later removed it. {mosads}

Harris’s campaign communications director Lily Adams told CNN that people including President Trump similarly questioned former President Barack Obama’s place of birth. He was born in Hawaii. 

“This is the same type of racist attack his father used to attack Barack Obama,” she said. “It didn’t work then and it won’t work now.”

A spokesman for Trump Jr. told The New York Times that his post was a misunderstanding. 

“Don’s tweet was simply him asking if it was true that Kamala Harris was half-Indian because it’s not something he had ever heard before,” said spokesman Andy Surabian, “And once he saw that folks were misconstruing the intent of his tweet, he quickly deleted it.”

According to multiple news outlet, the president’s son shared the tweet with the remark “Is this true? Wow.”

Alexander’s tweet was also copied verbatim by a network of bots that had previously been identified by researcher Josh Russell. 

A number of Harris’s fellow 2020 candidates condemned the conspiracy. 

Obama had faced similar conspiracy theories, which were widely seen as racist, while serving as president.