Kamala Harris Goes After Biden For His Segregationist Senator Comments

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 11:30 am

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Kamala Harris went there and mixed it up with Joe Biden and called him for his comments about working with segregationist senators.

Harris said:

So on the issue of race, I couldn’t agree more that this is an issue that is still not being talked about truthfully and honestly. There is not a black man I know, be he a relative, a friend, or a coworker who has not been the subject of profiling or discrimination. My sister and I had to deal with the neighbor who told us her parents couldn’t play with us because we were black. I will say also that in this campaign we have also heard and I will direct this at vice president Biden, I do not believe you are a racist and I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground, but I also believe and it’s personal and it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senator who is built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country.

It was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose bussing. There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bussed to school every day. That little girl was me. So I will tell you that on this subject, it cannot be an intellectual debate among Democrats. We have to take it seriously. We have to act swiftly. As attorney general of California, I was proud to put in place a requirement that all my special agents would wear body cameras and keep those cameras on.

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Biden responded, “It’s a mischaracterization of my position across the board. I do not praise racists. That is not true. Number one. Number two, if we want to have this litigated on who supports civil rights, I’m happy to do that. I was a public defender. I was not a prosecutor. I left a good form to become a public defender. When in fact my city was in flame because of the assassination of Dr. King. Number one. Number two, as vice president of the United States, I worked with a man who in fact we worked very hard to see to it we dealt with the issues in a major, major way. The fact is that in terms of bussing, the bussing, you would have been able to go to school the same way because it was a local decision made by your city council. That’s fine. That’s one of the things I argued for that we should be breaking down the lines. The bottom line here is, look. Everything I have done in my career, I ran because of civil rights and continue to think we have to make fundamental changes and those civil rights, by the way, include not just African-Americans, but the LGBT community.”

Harris delivered the strongest attack she could on the former vice president, and Biden responded well.

Kamala Harris brought it, and Joe Biden matched it.

It was a clash of two top tier Democrats, and a real test for Joe Biden that he passed.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association