In a tweet that has since been deleted, Vice President Kamala Harris’ niece, Meena Harris, erroneously assumed the race of the suspected mass shooter that killed 10 people including a police officer in Boulder, Colorado.
After it was revealed that the man was of Syrian descent Meena guessed he was white in part because he was alive when taken into custody.
Meena tweeted, “The Atlanta shooting was not even a week ago. Violent white men are the greatest terrorist threat to our country.”
She soon began to receive some harsh criticism from people accusing her of racial profiling.
Meena deleted her original Tweet and tried to explain her reasoning with a half-hearted apology tweet but the public was not having it.
https://twitter.com/meenaharris/status/1374390208074895364?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1374390208074895364%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fmedia%2Fboulder-colorado-shooter-meena-harris-kamala-niece-tweet
Feel like we have a word for rushing to make assumptions about someone accused of a crime based on racial trends in crime? https://t.co/HEl99DzZn1
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/JJHunt10/status/1374396787583184903?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1374396787583184903%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fmedia%2Fboulder-colorado-shooter-meena-harris-kamala-niece-tweet
This is WILD from Kamala Harris's niece. https://t.co/D3mx1XBozP
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) March 23, 2021
Apology maybe worse than the original tweet? https://t.co/IDLnaz5oKD
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) March 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/beyondreasdoubt/status/1374394791824293902?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1374394791824293902%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fmedia%2Fboulder-colorado-shooter-meena-harris-kamala-niece-tweet
But Meena wasn’t the only one to assume the Boulder suspect’s race.
Julie DiCaro, an editor for Deadspin, said she was “extremely tired of people’s live depending on whether a white man with an AR-15 is having a good day or not.”
Race and inclusion editor for USA Today responded, “It’s always an angry white man. Always.”
The suspected gunman in the Boulder, Colorado mass shooting is a white guy. Seven reported dead!
Cue “mental issues,” “bad day,” “parking dispute,” or anything else other than what he most likely is – a white domestic terrorist. pic.twitter.com/v0ukqWtIVN
— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) March 22, 2021
The shooter is was taken into custody.
In other words it was almost certainly a white man (again). If he were Black or Brown he would be dead.
— Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈 (@Amy_Siskind) March 23, 2021
Meena is a children’s book author and was a prominent surrogate for her aunt during the 2020 presidential campaign. In the past she has received favorable attention from the media including a glowing New York Times profile for her “empire” of “statement T-shirts,” as well as a Washington Post op-ed praising the cancelation of Dr. Seuss books.
Alissa was born in Syria but moved to the United States where he has lived most of his life. He was injured during the shooting in which he killed 10 people including police Officer Eric Talley.
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