US Democrats rally to defend US senator from far-right attacks

US 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 socia l media users, some of them known for being fa r-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-ca lled “birt hers” claim Obama was born overseas and a llege his birt h certificate is a fa ke. The US constitution says t he countr y’s presidency is open to natura l-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 t he only black woman in the Democratic presidentia l field. She is a former prosecutor and onetime attorney genera l for California.

If elected, she would become the first woman – and first black woman – president of the US.