Support truly
independent journalism
The hashtag #WhenIturnedBlack is now trending on X as social media users troll Donald Trump over his unhinged comments claiming Kamala Harris “happened to turn Black.”
Former Comedy Central star Roy Wood Jr kicked off the viral trend on Wednesday, clapping back at the former president’s racially-charged remarks with a sarcastic social media post.
“We now know Kamala’s brave story. When did the rest of you “turn” black? How old were you? Where were you when the blackness finally took over your body? Share your stories. This is a safe space. #WhenITurnedBlack,” he posted, along with a video of Trump’s comments.
X users quickly joined Wood in poking fun at Trump, offering up fictional stories about when they “turned” Black.
Several recalled food-related scenarios, with one social media user writing: “I was 12. I learned how to make greens with smoked turkey and fried my first piece of catfish while I hummed spirituals. It was then I knew... #WhenITurnedBlack.”
“I was 10 years old and my mother picked me up from school as she always did. We were driving home when I spotted a McDonald’s and queried my mother if we could stop in for a meal. She responded, “do you have McDonald’s money?” and in fact, I did not. That’s #WhenITurnedBlack,” another person chimed in.
Another X user joked that she was a “late bloomer,” writing: “For me it happened when I learned how to play spades finally in my 32nd season of life. Truly unlocked my full potential in that moment #wheniturnedblack.”
“It was a warm spring day when I was 10. I looked down at the back of my palm and realized I was no longer a Pennsylvanian. Instead, I had turned Black. I became an openly Black DEI. Thank you for this safe space,” another person joked.
One social media user joked that “one thing Black people gonna do is take nonsense and turn into a creative comeback.”
The trend came after the former president appeared on stage for heated question-and-answer session at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) conference in Chicago on Wednesday, where he widly claimed that Harris “happened to turn Black” only recently.
“I didn’t know she was Black,” he said. “She happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black? ... I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way, and all of a sudden she made a turn and she became a Black person.”
Trump is now facing backlash over the comments, including from Harris, who described his appearance at the convention as “the same old show, the divisiveness and the disrespect.”
Wood elaborated on his thoughts on Trump’s comments further in a statement to The Daily Beast.
“All in all, I still believe that this is an election that is about Kamala’s ability to win voters (undecided and apatheic) than it is about Trump losing voters,” Wood said.
“Biden handed her a baton, and Kamala must now run like the wind because it doesn’t seem like anything will trip up Trump—not even honest questions from great NABJ journalists who gave push back when they could.”
Trump was also trolled for the comments onThe Daily Show on Wednesday night, with host Ronny Chieng playing a clip from the start of the interview where ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott confronted him about his prior false claims and inflammatory remarks.
“Why would Black voters trust you when you have used language like that?” she asked.
“I don’t think I’ve been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” Trump replied. “You don’t even say hello, how are you?”
“For most politicians, or anyone else on Earth, that would have been a low point of the interview,” said Chieng. “But because it’s Donald Trump, it somehow got worse.”
Chieng also pointed to Trump’s comment that “someone should look into” Harris’ heritage.
“I don’t know what’s worse, that he thinks she turned from Indian to Black, or that he thinks someone should ‘look into that,’” Chieng said.
“Who should look into that? Does he think the FBI is the Federal Black Investigators?”
