From the earliest days of her candidacy, one matter has loomed over Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential bid: her observe document with prison justice reform in the USA.
On Tuesday, Harris — the Democratic nominee for the presidency — had an opportunity to deal with among the criticisms, in a city hall-style interview with radio host Charlamagne tha God.
It was additionally a chance for Harris, the previous legal professional basic of California, to bolster assist among the many Black neighborhood.
Whereas the overwhelming majority of Black voters determine with the Democratic Get together, current polls present their backing for Harris will not be as sturdy as in 2020, when fellow Democrat Joe Biden was operating for president.
Harris took the offensive on Tuesday, in a short time steering the dialog in the direction of correcting the document about her candidacy.
“Of us say you come off as very scripted,” Charlamagne started, within the first minute of their dialog. “They are saying you want to stay to your speaking factors —”
The vp instantly jumped in. “That may be referred to as self-discipline,” she quipped.
It was an obvious effort to attract a distinction between herself and her Republican rival Donald Trump, whose public appearances are sometimes described as rambling.
Harris continued to offer sharp rebuttals to criticisms of her public look as buttoned-up.
“What do you say to individuals who say you keep on the speaking factors?” Charlamagne requested.
“I’d say, ‘You’re welcome,’” she replied.
Prosecutor previous below highlight
A former prosecutor who grew to become district legal professional of San Francisco after which legal professional basic of California, Harris has lengthy confronted scrutiny for her method to prison justice.
On the marketing campaign path this election cycle, Harris’s allies have sought to leverage her background to the Democrat’s benefit, framing the race as a battle between “the prosecutor” and “the felon”.
Trump, in any case, has 34 felony convictions to his identify, after he was discovered responsible in Might of falsifying enterprise data in relation to a hush-money cost to an grownup movie actor.
Harris herself has leaned into that framing. On July 23, shortly after she launched her presidential marketing campaign, Harris struck a distinction between herself and Trump, who faces a complete of 4 prison indictments.
“Earlier than I used to be elected vp, earlier than I used to be elected United States senator, I used to be elected legal professional basic of the state of California, and I used to be a courtroom prosecutor earlier than then,” Harris instructed a rally in Wisconsin.
“And in these roles, I took on perpetrators of every kind: predators who abused girls, fraudsters who ripped off shoppers, cheaters who broke the foundations for their very own acquire. So hear me once I say, I do know Donald Trump’s sort.”
However critics have blasted Harris for that very same historical past as a prosecutor, with members of each the fitting and left slamming her insurance policies.
Progressives, on one hand, have criticised her hard-handed method to points like pupil truancy: Harris famously championed a state regulation that will make dad and mom eligible for a misdemeanour if their baby had been chronically absent from college with out an excuse.
In 2014, Harris additionally opposed calls to implement an unbiased system to overview the deadly use of drive by police.
Critics on the time argued that native prosecutors work intently with police and are due to this fact unable to be goal when deciding whether or not to convey prices. Harris, nevertheless, stated, “I don’t suppose it might be good public coverage to take the discretion from elected district attorneys.”
Her opponents on the fitting, in the meantime, have accused Harris of being lax on crime and failing to adequately assist regulation enforcement.
Decriminalising marijuana
In her interview with Charlamagne, Harris sought to tamp down on the criticism in opposition to her by branding it the product of right-wing misinformation.
“One of many greatest challenges that I face is mis- and dis-information,” Harris instructed the radio host. “And it’s purposeful. As a result of it’s meant to persuade people who they one way or the other mustn’t consider that the work I’ve carried out has occurred and has that means.”
Charlamagne, for his half, referred to as on Harris to reply a number of rumours swirling round her marketing campaign.
“One of many greatest allegations in opposition to you is that you simply focused and locked up 1000’s of Black males in San Francisco for weed. Some stated you probably did it to spice up your profession. Some stated you probably did it out of pure hate for Black males,” he stated, asking: “What are the info of that scenario?”
Harris refuted the allegations, replying, “It’s simply merely not true.”
She then pivoted to her work on decreasing penalties for marijuana possession, a difficulty that disproportionately impacts Black males.
A 2020 evaluation from the American Civil Liberties Union, as an example, discovered that Black persons are 3.64 instances extra prone to be arrested for possessing the drug, in comparison with white individuals. The report, nevertheless, discovered no important distinction in marijuana use between the 2 populations.
That distinction in arrest charges contributes to larger incarceration charges general for Black males within the US. The Pew Analysis Heart discovered that, in 2020, Black adults confronted 5 instances the speed of imprisonment as their white counterparts.
Referencing this discrepancy, Harris instructed Charlamagne that she would decriminalise marijuana on the federal stage if elected president.
“My pledge is, as president, I’ll work on decriminalising it, as a result of I do know precisely how these legal guidelines have been used to disproportionately influence sure populations and particularly Black males,” she stated on Tuesday.
Roughly 24 states have already taken steps to legalise small portions of marijuana for leisure use. However on the federal stage, the drug stays unlawful, although the Biden administration has taken steps to decrease penalties.
In Might, as an example, Biden’s Justice Division initiated a brand new rule reclassifying marijuana as a “schedule III drug”, down from the very best rank below the Managed Substances Act’s five-tier system.
That reclassification made the drug acceptable for medical use. It additionally indicated a shift within the authorities’s place, to acknowledge that marijuana will not be as harmful as the opposite medication in its earlier class, like heroin.
“As vp, [I] have been a champion for bringing marijuana down on the schedule,” Harris instructed Charlamagne. “So as an alternative of it being ranked up there with heroin, we convey it down.”
Attacking Trump on ‘cease and frisk’
Harris not solely defended her prison justice work as “progressive”, however she additionally actively attacked her Republican rival Trump for insurance policies she warned can be detrimental to the Black neighborhood.
All through his marketing campaign, Trump has championed a crackdown on crime within the US, proposing insurance policies that critics warn may improve the usage of extreme drive amongst regulation enforcement officers — and trigger the violation of civil liberties.
Final month, as an example, Trump floated the concept of getting “one actual tough, nasty day” for regulation enforcement to deal with property crime with out restraint.
He has additionally pledged to strengthen police immunity from prosecution and push for elevated use of “cease and frisk” insurance policies.
“You need to do a coverage of cease and frisk,” Trump instructed the TV present Fox and Pals in August, envisioning a scenario the place a police officer recognises a suspect on the road. “Cease and frisk and take their gun away.”
Whereas the US Structure protects individuals from “unreasonable search and seizure”, advocates say “cease and frisk” insurance policies enable the police to look suspects in an un-intrusive method if they’ve a “cheap suspicion” they might be armed or harmful.
However critics warn that “cease and frisk” has been used to racially profile individuals and harass them with out warrant or trigger. Some “cease and frisk” insurance policies have due to this fact been struck down as unconstitutional.
Harris zeroed in on Trump’s assist for “cease and frisk” in Tuesday’s interview.
“My opponent”, she stated, would have “a formalised cease and frisk coverage, for which he has stated, if a police division doesn’t do it, they need to be defunded”.
“There’s a lot at stake” this election, she added, pointing to the potential dangers for the Black neighborhood, which has been disproportionately focused by such insurance policies.
Strain on Harris
Harris’s look on the radio city corridor with Charlamagne got here at some point after the Democratic candidate made one other main overture to Black voters, releasing an “Alternative Agenda for Black Males“.
That agenda outlined plans for decriminalising marijuana, selling cryptocurrency and offering a million “forgivable” loans for Black entrepreneurs.
If elected, Harris can be the primary girl — and the primary individual of combined Black and South Asian descent — to win the White Home.
However whereas she carries a majority of assist amongst Black People, some pollsters see concern in how her numbers evaluate to the 2020 election. In that race, President Joe Biden carried 90 % of Black votes, in line with a survey from The New York Occasions and Siena School.
In contrast, solely 76 % of the Black citizens plan to vote for Harris, Biden’s vp, on this 12 months’s election. That’s a big drop — and the ballot confirmed even decrease numbers amongst Black males.
Solely 69 % backed Harris, in comparison with 81 % of Black girls.
Trump has tried to make good points in that demographic — and he has even publicly questioned Harris’s identification as a Black girl.
Throughout her city corridor on Tuesday, Harris confronted questions on her dedication to the Black neighborhood. One caller requested her about her “lack of engagement” with the Black church.
Harris refuted that declare too. She replied that she had grown up within the Black church.
“So to begin with, that allegation is after all coming from the Trump workforce, as a result of they’re stuffed with mis- and dis-information,” she stated. “They’re attempting to disconnect me from the individuals I’ve labored with and that I’m from, to allow them to attempt to have some benefit on this election.”
