In entrance of a raucous and rapt Democratic Nationwide Conference Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the occasion’s nomination for president.
“We gotta get to some enterprise,” she stated whereas the group was nonetheless shouting and cheering. “Let’s get to business.”
The primary enterprise was honoring and thanking President Joe Biden.
“When I think about the path that we have traveled together, Joe, I am filled with gratitude,” Harris stated. “Your document is extraordinary, as historical past will present, and your character is inspiring, and Doug and I like you and Jill and are without end grateful to you each,” she added.
“America, the trail that led me right here in current weeks was little question surprising. However I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys,” Harris stated. That journey, she stated, began together with her mom Shyamala.
“My mom was 19 when she crossed the world alone, touring from India to California with an unshakeable dream to be the scientist who would remedy breast most cancers,” Harris stated. She defined that her mom raised her in “a beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses, and construction workers, all who tended their lawns with pride.”
“She taught us to never complain about injustice but do something about it,” she stated about her mom. “And never do anything half-assed. And that is a direct quote!”
Harris’ introduction to public service, to serving to folks, got here when she was in highschool.
“I started to notice something about my best friend, Wanda. She was sad at school. And there were times she didn’t want to go home,” she stated. Wanda didn’t need to go house, she defined, as a result of she was being sexually abused by her step-father.
“I immediately told her she had to come stay with us. And she did,” Harris continued.
“That is without doubt one of the causes I grew to become a prosecutor. To guard folks like Wanda. As a result of I imagine everybody has a proper to security, to dignity, and to justice.”
The remainder is historical past. After gaining levels from Howard College and the College of California School of the Legislation, she began her legislation profession and rose up as a county and metropolis prosecutor to being elected as San Francisco’s district lawyer, then the state’s lawyer normal, and at last U.S. senator.
As a prosecutor, she stated, she had one tenet. “In our system of justice, a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us,” she said. “No one should be made to fight alone. We are all in this together.”
In my complete profession, I’ve solely had one consumer: the folks. So on behalf of the folks, on behalf of each American, no matter occasion, race, gender, or the language your grandmother speaks, on behalf of my mom and everybody who has ever set out on their very own unlikely journey, on behalf of Individuals just like the folks I grew up with, individuals who work exhausting, chase their desires, and look out for each other, on behalf of everybody whose story might solely be written within the best nation on earth, I settle for your nomination to be president of the USA of America.
With this election, our nation has a valuable, fleeting alternative to maneuver previous the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the previous. An opportunity to chart a New Method Ahead. Not as members of anyone occasion or faction, however as Individuals.
“I know there are people of various political views watching tonight. And I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans,” Harris continued. “You’ll be able to all the time belief me to place nation above occasion and self.”
“I can be a president who unites us round our highest aspirations,” she stated. “A president who leads—and listens. Who is realistic. Practical. And has common sense. And always fights for the American people. From the courthouse to the White House, that has been my life’s work.”
Harris associated a number of the greatest fights for the folks of her profession. “These fights were not easy, and neither were the elections that put me in those offices. We were underestimated at practically every turn. But we never gave up because the future is always worth fighting for.”
“And that’s the fight we are in right now—a fight for America’s future.”
Her opponent, Harris stated, “is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious…. Consider not only the chaos and the calamity of when he was in office.”
When he was out of workplace, “Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes. When he failed, he despatched an armed mob to the USA Capitol the place they assaulted legislation enforcement officers.”
“And now for an entirely different set of crimes, he was found guilty of fraud by a jury of everyday Americans and separately found liable for committing sexual abuse,” Harris said. “Consider what he intends to do if we give him power again.”
“Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.”
However “we are not going back,” she and the group modified. “We are charting a new way forward,” Harris said. “Forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class because we know a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success, and building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.”
“I believe American cannot truly be prosperous unless Americans are fully able to make their own decisions about their own lives, especially on matters of heart and home,” Harris continued. “But tonight in America, too many women are not able to make those decisions. And let’s be clear about how we got here.”
We acquired right here due to Donald Trump and his Supreme Court docket appointees, Harris stated.
“And now he brags about it. Merely put, they’re out of their minds. And one should ask: Why precisely is it that they do not belief ladies? Properly, we belief ladies,” she stated.
“One must ask, why exactly is it that they don’t trust women?” she continued. “Well, we trust women. We trust women.”
Democrats, she stated, additionally belief voters and can restore these rights. “With this election, we finally have the opportunity to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.”
Talking about nationwide safety, Harris gave full-throated assist to Ukraine, and to the energy of the NATO alliance. “I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un who are rooting for Trump—who are rooting for Trump!—because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors.”
“Fellow Americans,” Harris went on, “I love our country with all my heart. Everywhere I go—in everyone I meet—I see a nation ready to move forward. Ready for the next step, in the incredible journey that is America.”
I see an America the place we maintain quick to the fearless perception that constructed our nation and impressed the world. That right here, on this nation, something is feasible. That nothing is out of attain. An America the place we take care of each other. Look out for each other. And acknowledge that we have now a lot extra in frequent than what separates us. That none of us has to fail for all of us to succeed. And that in unity, there’s energy.
One other lesson from her mom: “Never let anyone tell you who you are. You show them who you are. America, let us show each other and the world who we are and what we stand for: freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness, and endless possibilities.”
“We must be worthy of this moment. It is our turn … to fight for this country we love.” To combat for the “privilege and pride that comes with being an American.”
