Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Tuesday on a popular radio show encouraged Americans to vote this year, even if they don’t believe all their problems can be solved in the near future.
“Solutions are not going to be implemented overnight, and the solutions that we all want are not going to be implemented in their entirety in one election,” Harris said during a live interview from Detroit with Charlamagne Tha God, co-host of the nationally syndicated “The Breakfast Club.”
“But the point is that what we want and what we are willing to fight for will not happen if we are not active and participate.”
Harris said she doesn’t “support” the idea that it can’t be achieved just because something takes a long time, pointing to the years of struggle before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 became law.
“It took the brutality of what happened when John Lewis and everyone (who) tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge,” Harris said, referring to Bloody Sunday. “Throughout our history, it has taken a lot of work to achieve what we have achieved so far, but we must remain committed.”
Harris who takes aim reaching black male voters, encouraged listeners disenchanted or traditionally disenfranchised by politics to vote this year, arguing that if they stayed home they would send a message to “obstructionists who stand in the way of change are winning because they convince people it can’t be done.”
“Look at this cycle, look at this vicious cycle,” Harris said. “So let’s not fall for it.”
Harris said during an hour-long town hall radio show that while the race between her and Republican candidate Donald Trump is close, she expects to win once all the votes are counted.
She also criticized him for making false statements about her career, actions taken by the Biden administration and policy proposals she presented during her run for the Oval Office.
“One of the biggest challenges I face is misinformation, and it’s intentional because it’s designed to convince people that somehow they shouldn’t believe that the work I did happened and matters,” Harris said.
Trump and his allies, she said, are trying to “scare people” from voting for her in the presidential race “because they know that otherwise they wouldn’t have anything to fall back on.”
Police brutality
Harris detailed her proposals to expand the child tax credit, make it easier for first-time home buyers to make a down payment, raise access to capital for miniature business start-up owners and decriminalize cannabis.
She said that if elected, she would work with Congress to address police brutality through legislation and noted that President Joe Biden signed the agreement executive order over two years ago made some changes how federal law enforcement agencies operate.
The executive order required the Department of Justice to create a database containing “official records documenting incidents of misconduct by law enforcement officers, as well as commendations and awards.”
Harris said during the interview that, like other provisions in the executive order on how federal law enforcement can exploit “no-knock warrants” and language against chokeholds, they mark a significant change.
“This is quite a problem… because as we know, we have seen many examples of a police officer who engaged in misconduct in one jurisdiction and then went to another jurisdiction and was hired because there was no place to track his misconduct ” Harris said, adding that if elected, she would push Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
This BillWhich passed the House in March 2021 would make significant changes to the way law enforcement officers operate at the local, state, and federal levels, including regarding racial profiling.
“We are running to be president for everyone.”
During the interview, Harris was asked how her policies would impact the Black community and whether she planned to provide people with access to fresh educational and career opportunities.
“I will run to be president of everyone. However, I have a clear understanding of the history and disparities that exist within each community. And I’m not going to be ashamed of it,” Harris said. “That doesn’t mean my policies won’t benefit everyone, because they do. Everything I just talked about will benefit everyone.
“Small business owners — regardless of their race, age, gender and geography — will benefit from the fact that I intend to expand tax credits to $50,000,” she added.
“Every first-time homeowner – wherever they are, regardless of race – will benefit by being a first-time home buyer and receiving a $25,000 down payment. Everyone will benefit from my plan to increase the child tax credit to $6,000 for the first year of a child’s life. This will benefit everyone.”
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