Kamala Harris defines her role as vice president: a prosecutor who will lead the fight "of the people" against Trump

Kamala Harris accepts the Democratic vice presidential candidacy 1:46

(CNN) - Kamala Harris made history Wednesday night and defined the role she hopes to play as Joe Biden's running mate: the advocate for the voiceless, vilified and forgotten Americans who have fought for four years into Donald's presidency. Trump.

Presenting herself as the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants and someone who embodies the values ​​of a new, more inclusive America, Harris - who became the first black and South Asian woman to accept a major party vice presidential nomination. he wove his story with this narrative.

He spoke of his education, his decision to become a prosecutor, his career focused on correcting injustices, and how this influenced his approach amid the heaviness of the moment, as the country tries to find its way out of the coronavirus pandemic. and an economic collapse and at the same time dealing with the systematic racism that is so ingrained in American culture.

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After a nod to the pioneer women who paved the way for her historic moment, Harris spoke poignantly of her own mother, whom she said taught her and her sister Maya to "be aware and compassionate of the struggles of all people." and to believe that "the fight for justice is a shared responsibility." It was those values ​​that led her to become the prosecutor who would try to reform the criminal justice system from the inside, and then a US senator.

During each step of her career, Harris said she has been guided by the words she spoke as a prosecutor "from the first time I was in court: Kamala Harris, by the people."

He highlighted his work on behalf of children and survivors of sexual assault, and recounted the predators he targeted both in his role as California's local attorney and general, including transnational gangs and the nation's largest banks in the wake of the recession. 2008.

Clearly aware that many Americans might be hearing her for the first time, Harris at first seemed determined to project a lighthearted demeanor as she spoke of her love for her family and background. But she found her balance, as always, when she brought up the case against Trump, whose "leadership failure," she said, "has cost lives and livelihoods."

Now, he said, the nation is engaged in a battle against the coronavirus pandemic, but noted that the disease has not been an "equal opportunity offender."

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“Blacks, Latinos and indigenous people are suffering and dying disproportionately. This is no coincidence, ”Harris said. «It is the effect of structural racism; of inequalities in education and technology, health care and housing, job security and transportation; injustice in reproductive and maternal health care; in the excessive use of force by the police and in our criminal justice system in general.

"This virus has no eyes and yet it knows exactly how we look and how we treat ourselves," he said.

Harris, who co-authored Democratic legislation to address police brutality and excessive force, along with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, also invoked the memory of George Floyd, a black man who died in the custody of a police officer from Minneapolis who knelt on his neck for more than seven minutes this spring.

"There is no vaccine for racism," he said. We have to do the job. By George Floyd; by Breonna Taylor; for the lives of many others who need to be named.

"We have to do the work to fulfill that promise of equal justice under the law," he continued. "Because none of us is free, until we are all free."

Harris has long argued that Trump's tactics have ripped the nation apart as he forced families to separate at the border, vilified immigrants, criticized his political opponents, and urged government officials to "dominate" the Peaceful protesters in the streets after Floyd's death.

During the Trump presidency, he argued, many Americans felt adrift in "constant chaos," alone because of the president's "callousness" and fearful of his "incompetence."

With those concerns in mind, he defended the election of Biden as president, someone to whom he said "will unite us all: black, white, Latino, Asian, indigenous, to achieve the future we collectively want."

The California senator argued that Trump turns "our tragedies into political weapons" while she and Biden share "a vision of our nation as a beloved community, where everyone is welcome, no matter what we look like, where we come from or who we love."

During a night when Democrats honored women's political activism, 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton offered words of encouragement to Harris, noting that as someone who knows "a thing or two about criticism and attacks" She was sure that "Kamala can handle them all."

The women of the Harris family — Maya; Harris's niece, Meena, and her stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff — officially nominated her as a Democratic candidate for the vice presidency of the United States.

Marking that milestone, Harris said he was thinking of his mother, who said she taught him that "serving others gives meaning and purpose to life."

How I wish he were here tonight, but I know he's looking down on me. I keep thinking of that 25-year-old, five-foot-tall Indian woman who gave birth to me at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland, California, ”Harris said.

"That day, you probably never imagined that I would be before you speaking these words: I accept your nomination for Vice President of the United States of America."

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