Latinos Are Mostly Excited About Kamala Harris as Vice President
Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his vice president and immediately many praised his progressive choice
Photo: Facebook/@KamalaHarris
Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his vice president and immediately many praised his progressive choice. If they win she’ll not only become the first female VP but the first Black woman and the first Indian woman on a major party’s presidential ticket. Her mother immigrated from India and her father came from Jamaica so for a child of immigrants to make it this far is certainly worthy of celebration.
Sen. Kamala Harris has served in the Senate since 2017 after a six-year stint as California’s attorney general and seven years as the San Francisco district attorney. As attorney general of California, Harris won a majority of support from Latino voters twice in 2010 and 2014 and she beat Loretta Sanchez for California’s open Senate seat in 2016.
In a recent LA Progressive poll on behalf of Voter Participation Center and Voto Latino they found that 59 percent of Latino voters in key states said they would be excited about Harris as VP; 52 percent say the selection of Harris will make them more likely to vote for Biden. She was also endorsed by civil rights icon Dolores Huerta when she ran for the Democratic party presidential nomination.
Her record is being celebrated by some who point to her progressive approach to marijuana cases, how she spearheaded a task force combating the human trafficking of girls, and raised funds to launch a first in the nation re-entry program.
“Harris and I talked about my client and the exploitation of young girls happening on a constant basis. Unlike her predecessors, she did something about it,” Niki Solis, a former manager in the public defender’s office when Harris served as San Francisco district attorney, wrote in an Op-Ed for USA Today. “She stopped prosecuting young girls for prostitution — acknowledging that they were victims who needed treatment for trauma and not criminals who needed to be incarcerated.”
I had a chance to intv @KamalaHarris for @MikaKYV365 and asked about #Dreamers When the cameras stopped rolling I told her I was a #DACA recipient and this was her immediate reaction. Empathy from leadership goes a long way. pic.twitter.com/W9G2JWaVkJ
— Daniela Pierre Bravo (@dpierrebravo) August 12, 2020
However, her work as a district attorney indicates she’s a centrist on criminal justice. The Appeal reports she failed to hold police and prosecutors accountable for misconduct. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter uprising and the movement to defund the police, that is perceived as a glaring failure.
So while she is a progressive candidate, she also has a history as a DA that shouldn’t be brushed aside. Either way, we vote for the Biden/Harris ticket or allow Trump to win again and that would be so much more detrimental to the U.S. Latino community in every way.
