title: trump reaches out to blacks blacks riot in philadelphia
text: illinois senator draws fire for racially charged attack on opponents family alexandra jaffe and traci g lee nbc news october   
  illinois sen mark kirk is again under fire for making raciallycharged comments this time for questioning the military service of his democratic opponents family 
  during thursday nights debate between kirk and challenger rep tammy duckworth duckworth spoke about her desire to be in the senate as a voice of reason and referenced her familys history of service saying my family has served this nation in uniform going back to the revolution im a daughter of the american revolution ive bled for this nation but i still want to be there in the senate when the drums of war sound because people are quick to sound the drums of war and i want to be there to say this is what it costs this is what youre asking us to do    families like mine are the ones that bleed first 
  kirk responded i had forgotten that your parents came all the way from thailand to serve george washington tammy duckworth is a vet who lost both legs in iraq her family has served since the revolutionary war and yet pictwittercomdhdkwrusn 
   anthony breznican breznican october   
  though duckworth who was born in thailand to a thai mother of chinese descent and an american father did not respond on the stage she tweeted a photo after the debate of herself with her parentsher father displaying medals of service on his coat my mom is an immigrant and my dad and his family have served this nation in uniform since the revolution duckworth wrote 
  duckworths late father franklin served in world war ii and has traced his lineage back to an ancestor who fought in the american revolution according to a  mother jones profile on duckworths run for congress 
  snip 
  on friday kirk tried to tamp down the backlash and tweeted sincere apologies to an american hero 
  its not the first time the illinois senator has courted controversy with raciallycharged commentshe previously said president obama was acting like the drug dealer in chief for the administrations cash payment to iran in exchange for the release of american prisoners and talked about fostering opportunities for africanamerican entrepreneurs so that the black community is not the one we drive faster through 
  snip