Hosting the Prime Minister of Ireland, Micheal Martin, on Wednesday, St. Patrick’s Day, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke of the recent murders of eight people in Atlanta, saying the incident “speaks to a larger issue which is the issue of violence in our country.”
Harris started, “I’m just going to say a few words about an incident that is occurring, a horrible incident, in our country, and then we’re going to begin our conversation. But before I begin I do want to talk about what happened in Georgia in Atlanta. It is tragic. Our country, the president and I and all of us, we grieve for the loss. Our prayers are extended to the families of those who’ve been killed.”
“It speaks to a larger issue which is the issue of violence in our country and what we must do to never tolerate it and to always speak out against it,” Harris lectured. “The investigation is ongoing. We don’t yet know, we’re not yet clear about the motive, but I do want to say to our Asian-American community that we stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked and outraged all people but knowing the increasing level of hate crime against our Asian-American brothers and sisters we also want to speak out in solidarity with them and acknowledge that none of us should ever be silent in the face of any form of hate.”
Harris wrote in her 2010 book “Smart on Crime,” “My mother used to laugh when she told the story about a time I was fussing as a toddler: She leaned down to me and asked, ‘Kamala, what’s wrong? What do you want?’ And I wailed back, ‘Fweedom.’” Harris repeated the story in her 2019 book, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” then repeated it again in June of 2020, speaking with Jimmy Fallon on NBC’s “The Tonight Show.”
Fox News reported that Harris was accused of “appropriating the anecdote from civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.” after it appeared again in an Elle magazine interview.
King told Playboy in 1965. “I will never forget a moment in Birmingham when a white policeman accosted a little Negro girl, seven or eight years old, who was walking in a demonstration with her mother. ‘What do you want?’ the policeman asked her gruffly, and the little girl looked at him straight in the eye and answered, ‘Fee-dom.’ She couldn’t even pronounce it, but she knew. It was beautiful! Many times when I have been in sorely trying situations, the memory of that little one has come into my mind, and has buoyed me.”
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Harris linked Joe Biden with racism during the second Democratic debate, saying:
Growing up, my sister and I had to deal with the neighbor who told us her parents couldn’t play with us because we were black. And I will say also that, in this campaign, we have also heard – and I’m going to now 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 – it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country. And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing.