Kamala Harris promises to work towards justice, says ‘there is no vaccine for racism'

At the third night of Democratic National Convention, Kamala Harris invoked the names of African-Americans who died for the United States and said ‘there is no vaccine for racism’. On August 19, Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president and made history as the first black woman on a major party ticket. In her address, the California Senator said that the Democrats will work to fulfil the promise of equal justice under law. 

Harris said, “There is no vaccine for racism. We have got to do the work” 

She added, “For George Floyd, for Breonna Taylor, for the lives of too many others to name, for our children and for all of us. We have got to do the work to fulfil that promise of equal justice under law. Because here is the thing. None of us are free until all of us are free”. 

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In her acceptance speech, Harris evoked the lessons of her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, and said that she initialled in her a vision of ‘our nation as a beloved community, where all are welcome no matter what we look like, where we come from or who we love’. She also spoke about her Jamaican immigrant father, who protested in the streets in the 1960s. She even specifically spoke about her birth in Oakland’s Kaiser Hospital to shun President Donald Trump’s baseless ‘birther’ theories. 

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Harris says Biden will turn challenges into purpose

The California Senator went on to name several female civil rights and political leaders like Mary Church Tyrell, Mary Mcleod Bethune, Fannie Lou Hamer, Diane Nash and Shirley Chisholm. She said, “We are not often taught stories. But as Americans, we all stand on their shoulders”. 

Harris added, “Without fanfare or recognition, they organised, testified, rallied, marched and fought -- not just for their vote, but for a seat at the table. These women and the generations that followed worked to make democracy and opportunity real in the lives of all of us who followed. They paved the way for the trailblazing leadership of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton”. 

Furthermore, Harris went on to slam Trump and said that his ‘failure’ has cost lives and livelihoods. She added that US has a president who turns ‘tragedies into political weapons’. The Senator also said that Joe Biden, on the other hand, will rejuvenate a country ravaged by a pandemic and riven by racial and partisans divides. She added that Biden will be a president who ‘turns challenges into purpose’. 

(With inputs from agencies) 

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