The primary rivals of Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., came to her defense over the weekend, pushing back against a claimed fueled by Donald Trump Jr. that she isn’t an “American black.”

During the Thursday night presidential debate, Harris pointedly challenged former Vice President Joe Biden’s record on race. At one point, she noted that she was the beneficiary of a busing program as a child in Berkeley, Calif.

“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public school, and she bused to school every day,” Harris said. “And that little girl was me. So I will tell you that on this subject, it cannot be an intellectual debate among Democrats. We have to take it seriously. We have to act swiftly.”

On Twitter, Trump Jr. promoted a post questioning the racial identity of Harris, the Oakland-born biracial child of a Jamaican father and Indian mother.

RELATED: Sen. Kamala Harris

15 PHOTOSSen. Kamala HarrisSee GallerySen. Kamala HarrisUNITED STATES – MAY 22: Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., makes her way to the Senate Policy luncheons in the Capitol on May 22, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) arrives for a town hall meeting in Sacramento, California, U.S., April 5, 2018.REUTERS/Bob StrongWASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 14:Senate Judiciary Committee members Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) (L) and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) talk during a hearing about the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill March 14, 2018 in Washington, DC. Federal Bureau of Investigation Acting Deputy Director David Bowdich testified that the FBI could have and should have done more to stop the school shooter Nikolas Cruz after it receieved several tips about him.(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) holds a town hall meeting in Sacramento, California, U.S., April 5, 2018.REUTERS/Bob StrongSenator Kamala Harris (D-CA) speaks about the Senate Intelligence Committee findings and recommendations on threats to election infrastructure on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua RobertsCalifornia gubernatorial candidate, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom arrives with Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) at a campaign rally in Burbank, California, U.S. May 30, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonWASHINGTON, DC – MAY 23:U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) (2nd L) shares a moment with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) (R) as Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) (L) looks on during a news conference on immigration in front of the U.S. Capitol May 23, 2018 in Washington, DC. Sen. Harris, joined by other female Democratic congressional members, held a news conference ‘to show support for immigration and refugee policies that protect the rights and safety of women and children.’ (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 23:U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) (C) speaks during a news conference on immigration in front of the U.S. Capitol May 23, 2018 in Washington, DC. Sen. Harris, joined by other female Democratic congressional members, held a news conference ‘to show support for immigration and refugee policies that protect the rights and safety of women and children.'(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)US Senator Kamala Harris attends the United State of Women Summit at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, on May 5, 2018. (Photo by CHRIS DELMAS / AFP)(Photo credit should read CHRIS DELMAS/AFP/Getty Images)WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 14:Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) questions witnesses during a hearing about the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill March 14, 2018 in Washington, DC. Federal Bureau of Investigation Acting Deputy Director David Bowdich testified that the FBI could have and should have done more to stop the school shooter Nikolas Cruz after it receieved several tips about him.(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 25:Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) speaks during a news conference with fellow Democrats, ‘Dreamers’ and university presidents and chancellors to call for passage of the Dream Act at the U.S. Capitol October 25, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump said he will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) and has asked Congress to find a solution for the status of the beneficiaries of the program, called ‘Dreamers.'(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 18:Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) walks to the Senate chamber for a series of 6 roll call votes regarding the Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Resolution on Capitol Hill, on October 18, 2017 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 13:Senate Intelligence Committee members Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) (C) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) (R) arrive for a closed-door committee meeting in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill July 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. Some members of the committee have demanded that Donald Trump, Jr. testify before the intelligence committee after it was revealed that he and Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort met with a Russian lawyer in hopes of getting opposition information on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 27: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)(L) walks with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) (C), to a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence closed door meeting at the U.S. Capitol, on April 27, 2017 in Washington, DC.The committee is investigation possible Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 16:Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) heads for her party’s weekly policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol May 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. Many Republican and Democratic senators expressed frustration and concern about how President Donald Trump may have shared classified intelligence with the Russian foreign minister last week at the White House.(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Up Next

See Gallery

“Kamala Harris is *not* an American black. She is half Indian and half Jamaican,” the tweet shared by Trump Jr. said.

“Is this true? Wow,” Trump Jr. added before deleting his tweet.

His spokesman labeled it a misunderstanding, saying that “once he saw that folks were misconstruing the intent of his tweet, he quickly deleted it,” according to the New York Times.

All of Harris’s major primary rivals united in her defense.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., was perhaps the bluntest.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, independent-Vt., called out Trump Jr. by name and connected his debate tweet to President Trump, who spent years promoting the “birther” conspiracy theory that former President Obama was not born in the U.S.

Biden, who had sparred with Harris during the debate, did the same without naming Trump Jr.

“There’s a long history of black Americans being told they don’t belong—and millions are kept down and shut out to this day,” said former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg further condemned “birther-style” attacks.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called the attacks “racist and ugly.”

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee labeled them “racist and vile.”

While Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., blasted such “vile behavior.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., directly said: “This is racism.”

Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, similarly weighed in, as well as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock.

Read more from Yahoo News:

• For several of the Democratic underdogs, the first debate gave a much-needed boost

• Dear debaters: You don’t need a ‘breakout moment’ to break through

• Democrats unite at debate in endorsing health care to undocumented immigrants

• NBC hot mic mars a moment

• Health care question divides the field

Source: Read Full Article