Kamala Harris (D-Calif) accepted the Democratic Vice Presidential nomination on Wednesday, making history as the first Black and South Asian American woman to be nominated on a major presidential ticket.
Harris followed former President Barack Obama, whose fiery remarks served as a dire warning to voters that the nation’s democracy is at stake with the Nov. 3 election.
Obama’s speech freed up Harris to focus less on Trump and instead use her historic moment to introduce herself and her American story to the public.
Harris spoke proudly of her immigrant parents and how her Jamaican father met her East Indian mother at a civil rights rally.
She touched on the pandemic and its disproportionate effects on people of color. She also spoke about systemic racism and injustice mentioning George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black lives lost to police violence. “There’s no vaccine for racism—we have to do the work,” said Harris.
Harris also gave a shout out to HBCUs and AKAs when she spoke about what family means to her. “Family is my beloved Alpha Kappa Alpha, our Divine Nine, and my HBCU brothers and sisters,” said the Howard graduate.
A former prosecutor and attorney general, Harris did thump Trump throughout her speech. She ended her talk about her days as a prosecutor with, “I know a predator when I see one”—widely seen as a thinly veiled jab at the president and the case she will make against him in days to come
Harris closed her speech on a hopeful and straightforward note. “I pledge to you we will act boldly and deal with our challenges honestly. We will speak truths, and we will act with the same faith in you that we ask you to place in us,” said Harris, ending her speech to the upbeat sounds of Mary J. Blige’s “Work That.”
Watch Kamala Harris’ full speech above courtesy of her campaign.
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