On Tuesday, shortly after the jury convicted Officer Derek Chauvin on three counts related to the death of George Floyd, Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the nation alongside President Joe Biden.
Throughout her emotional speech, Kamala Harris recalled America’s history with “systemic racism,” denouncing it as an affront to American values.
“America has a long history of systemic racism. Black Americans and black men, in particular, have been treated throughout the course of our country as less than human,” she said. “Black men are fathers & brothers & sons, and uncles, and grandfathers, and friends, and neighbors. Their lives must be valued in our education system, in our healthcare system, in our housing system, in our economic system, in our criminal justice system, in our nation. Full-stop.”
Kamala Harris added that the presence of smartphones made it possible for Americans to witness the “racial injustice” that black Americans have known for generations.
“Because of smartphones, so many Americans have seen the racial injustice that black Americans for generations,” she said. “The racial injustice that we have fought for generations, that my parents protested in the 1960s, that millions of us – Americans of every race – protested last summer.”
However, Harris denounced racial injustice as a “problem for every American.”
“Here’s the truth about racial injustice: it is not just a black America problem, or a people of color problem. It is a problem for every American. It is keeping us from fulfilling the promise of liberty and justice for all. And it is holding our nation back from realizing our full potential,” she said. “We’re all a part of George Floyd’s legacy & our job now is to honor it and to honor him.”
As The Daily Wire reported, both Kamala Harris and Joe Biden spoke with George Floyd’s family over the phone shortly after the jury delivered its verdict.
“Your courage, your commitment, your strength,” Harris said. “This is a day of justice in America.”
“In George’s name and memory we are going to make sure his legacy is intact and that history will look back at this moment and know that this is an inflection moment,” Harris continued. “He had to sacrifice so much and your family did too. But we believe, with your leadership and, and the president that we have in the White House, that we’re going to make something good come out of this tragedy, okay?”
Though Kamala Harris welcomed a guilty verdict in the Chauvin case, she believed it to be the beginning of justice.
“Let’s say there is a guilty verdict on the highest charge, it will not take away the pain of the Floyd family,” Harris told CNN. “It will not take away the pain of the communities, all communities, regardless of their color or geographic location, that felt sadness and anger in what they witnessed in that video.”
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