Meena Harris deleted tweet after suspect revealed to be born in Syria
Vice President Kamala Harris' niece said Tuesday she assumed the suspected mass shooter in Colorado was a White man in part because he was taken into custody alive, leading to accusations she engaged in racial profiling.Meena Harrris was forced to delete a tweet erroneously assuming the race of the suspected killer of 10 people in a Boulder grocery store, after it was revealed he was of Syrian descent.
"The Atlanta shooting was not even a week ago. Violent white men are the greatest terrorist threat to our country," Meena Harris tweeted on Monday.
Now that 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa is in custody for the shooting, Harris admitted her assumption was based on him "being taken into custody alive and the fact that the majority of mass shootings in the U.S. are carried out by white men."
Alissa was born in Syria but has lived in the United States most of his life, according to reports. He was injured during the shooting before being arrested. One of the 10 killed in the massacre was a policeman, Officer Eric Talley.
LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 29: Meena Harris attends the We Vote Next Summit event presented by Eighteen X 18 at TOMS Corporate Office on September 29, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)
Harris received sharp criticism for her racially charged jump to conclusion.
A children's book author and prominent surrogate for her aunt during the 2020 campaign, Harris has received favorable media attention. She earned a glowing New York Times profile in January for her "empire" of "statement T-shirts," and she recently penned a Washington Post op-ed praising the cancellation of several Dr. Seuss books.
The suspected perpetrator of last week's rash of Atlanta-area shootings that killed eight people was a White man.
Harris wasn't the only person to assume the Boulder suspect was White.
Deadspin editor Julie DiCaro wrote she was "extremely tired of people's lives depending on whether a white man with an AR-15 is having a good day or not," to which USA Today race and inclusion editor Hemal Jhaveri wrote, "it's always an angry white man. always."
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