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Kamala Harris’s Kickoff Rally Speech trancribed by cineSOURCE
Kamala Harris walking the halls of the Congress along with fellow senator and presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren. photo: unknown
In keeping with cineSOURCE's coverage of cutting-edge Oakland culture and politics, and since we couldn't find online the transcript of Candidate Kamala Harris's campaign kickof rally speech at Oakland City Hall, we had it transcribed.
Oh my goodness. Thank you thank you, thank you, thank you [laughs]. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh my heart is full right now, thank you everyone.
I want to thank Libby Schaaf, the great mayor of the City of Oakland, for that incredible introduction and our longstanding friendship. You know, our mothers were friends also, together here in Oakland, and I can’t thank you enough Libby for your leadership and your friendship.
So here we are—here we are [cheers].
Well, let me tell you, I am so proud to be a daughter of Oakland, California [cheers]. And as most of you know, I was born just up the road at Kaiser Hospital.
And it was just a few miles away where my parents met as graduate students at UC Berkeley [cheers], where they were active in the civil rights movement. And they were born half a world apart from each other: My father Donald came from Jamaica to study economics my mother Shamala came from India to study the science of fighting disease [cheers].
They came her in pursuit of more then just knowledge. Like so many others they came in pursuit of a dream, and that dream was a dream for themselves, for me and for my sister Maya As children growing up here in the East Bay, we were raised by a community with a deep belief in the promise of our country, and deep understanding of the parts of that promise that still remain unfulfilled.
We were raised in a community where we were taught to see a world beyond just ourselves, to be conscious and compassionate about the struggles of all people. We were raised to believe public service is noble cause and the fight for justice is everyone’s responsibility [cheers].
In fact, my mother used to say, ‘Don’t sit around complain about things, do something.’ I think she was basically saying, ‘You've got to get up and stand up and don’t give up the fight.’ [cheers] [Harris laughs]
And it is this deep rooted belief that inspired me to become a lawyer and a prosecutor. It was just a couple of blocks from this very spot nearly thirty years ago as a young district attorney I walked into the courtroom and for the first time and said the five words that would guide my life’s work: ‘Kamala Harris for the people.’ [sustained cheers]
Now, I knew our criminal justice system was deeply flawed. But I also knew the profound impact law enforcement had on people's lives and its responsibility to give them safety AND dignity. I knew I wanted to protect people. And I knew that the people in our society, who are most often targeted by predators are also most often the voiceless and vulnerable. [cheering, breaking into 'Ka-ma-la']
Kamala Harris greets enthusiastic supporters as she exits her January 27 rally in front of Oakland City Hall. photo: D. Blair
I believe then, as I do now, no one should be left to fight alone. Because you see in our system of justice, we believe that a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us. That is why when a case is filed, it doesn’t read the name of the victim, it reads ‘the people.’
And this is a point I have often explained to console and council survivors of crime, people who face great harm, often at the hands of someone they trust, be it a relative or a bank or a big corporation. I would remind them, ‘You are not invisible. We all stand together.’ Because that is the power of the people.
And my whole life I had only had one client: The people [cheering]. And fighting for the people meant fighting on behalf of survivors of sexual assault, a fight not just against predators but a fight against silence and stigma.
‘For the people’ meant fighting for a more fair criminal justice system. At a time when prevention or redemption were not in the vocabulary or mind set of most district attorneys, we created an initiative to give skills and job training instead of jail time for young people arrested for drugs.
‘For the people’ meant fighting for middle class families who had been defrauded by banks and were losing their homes by millions in the Great Recession. And I’ll tell you, sitting across the table from the big banks, I witnessed the arrogance of power. Wealthy bankers accusing innocent homeowners of fault as if this Wall Street mess was of The Peoples makings.
So we went after the biggest five banks in the United States; we won twenty billion dollars for California’s homeowners; [cheers] and together we passed the strongest anti-foreclosure law in the United States of America. We did that together [cheers] .
For the people meant fighting transnational gangs who traffic in drugs and guns and human beings, and I saw their sophistication and their persistence and their ruthlessness. On the subject transnational gangs, let’s be perfectly clear: The president’s medieval vanity protect is not going to stop them [cheering].
During the fight for the people to hold this administration accountable, I have seen the amazing spirit of the American people. During the health care fight, I saw parents of children with grave illnesses walk the halls of the United States Congress. Families who had traveled across the country at incredible sacrifice. They came to our nation's capital believing that if their stories were heard and if they were seen their leaders would do the right thing.
I saw the same thing with our dreamers. They came by the thousands by plane, train, automobile, on shore—they were sleeping ten deep on someone living room floor. And they came because they believe in our democracy and the only country they have ever know as home [cheering].
I met survivors who shared their deepest and most painful experiences, who told stories they had never before revealed, even to their closest loved ones, because they believed that if they were seen their leaders would do the right thing and protect the highest court in our land.
And together we took on these battles. And to be sure, we won and we’ve lost but we have never stopped fighting [cheers]. We have never stopped fighting, and that is why we are here today. And that is why we are here today.
Kamala Harris's ebullience on full display at the end of her meeting with her base's base, Oaklanders. photo: D. Blair
We are here knowing we are at an inflection in the history of our world, we are at an inflection point in the history of our nation. We are here because the American dream and our American democracy are under attack and on the line like never before [cheering].
And we are here at this moment in time because we must answer a fundamental question: Who are we? Who are we as Americans?
So, let’s answer that question, to the world, and each other, right here and right: America, we are better than this, we are better than this. [long cheering]. We are better than this.
When we have leaders who bully and attack a free press and undermine our democratic institutions, that’s not our America!
When white supremacists march and murder in Charlottesville, or massacre innocent worshipers in a Pittsburg synagogue, that’s not our America!
When we have children in cages crying for their mothers and fathers—don’t you dare call that border security, that’s a human rights abuse—[cheers] AND that’s not OUR America!
When we have leaders who attack public schools and vilify public school teachers, that is not our America! [cheers]
When bankers who cracked our economy get bonuses but the workers who brought our country back can’t even get a raise, that’s not our America! [cheers]
And when American families are barely living paycheck to paycheck, what is this administration’s response? Their response is to try and take health care away from millions of families [boos]; their response is give away a trillion dollars to the biggest corporations in this country [boos]; and their response is to blame immigrants as the source of all our problems [boos].
And guys let’s understand what is happening here: People in power are trying to convince us that the villain in our American story is each other. But that is not OUR story; that is not WHO WE ARE; that is not our America! [cheers]
You see, our United States of America is not about us versus them, it is about ‘We the People.’ [cheers]. And in this moment we must all speak truth about what is happening. We must seek truth, speak truth and fight for the truth [cheers].
So let’s speak some truth [cheers] [Harris sees someone in the crowd and laughs]. Let’s speak truth about our economy. So let’s speak some truth bout our economy: Today our economy is not working for working people. The cost of living is going up but paychecks aren’t keeping up. For so many Americans a decent retirement feels out of reach and the America dream feels out of touch.
The truth is our people are drowning in debt: record student debt, car loan debt, credit card debt, resorting to payday lenders because you can’t keep up with the bills. People are drowning in America. We have a whole generation of Americans living with the sinking fear that they won’t do as well as their parents.
And let’s speak another truth about our economy: Women are paid on average 80 cents on the dollar, black women 63 cents, Latinas 53 cents [boos]. And here’s the thing, here’s the thing: when we lift up the women of our country, we lift up the children of country [cheers], we lift up the families of our country [cheers], and the whole of society benefits [cheers].
Let’s speak another truth: Big pharmaceutical companies have unleashed an opioid crisis from the California coast to the mountains of West Virginia. And people, once and for all, we have got to call drug addiction what it is: a national public health emergency [cheers]. And what we don’t need is another war on drugs [cheers].
Let’s speak truth: Climate change in real [cheers] and it’s happening now [cheers]. Every one here knows from wild fires in the west to hurricanes in the east, to floods and droughts in the heartland, but we are not going to buy the lie. We’re going to act, based on science fact not science fiction [cheers].
Let’s speak an uncomfortable but honest truth with one an other: racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia are real in this country, and they are age-old forms of hate with new fuel. And we need to speak that truth so we can deal with it [cheers].
Let’s also speak the truth that too many unarmed black men and women are killed in America. Too many black and brown Americans are being locked up, from mass incarceration to cash bail to policing our criminal justice systems needs drastic repair—let’s speak that truth.
And let’s speak truth: Under this administration America’s position in the world has never been weaker. When democratic values under attack around the globe, when authoritarianism is on the march, when nuclear proliferation is on the rise, when we have foreign power infecting the White House like malware [sustained cheers].
[Yells] Let’s speak that truth!
Let’s speak truth about what are clear and present dangers, and let’s speak the biggest truth of all: in the face of powerful forces trying to sow hate and division amongst us, the truth is that as Americans we have so much more in common than what separates [cheers]. Let’s speak that truth. Let’s not buy that stuff that some folks are trying to peddle. Lets not ever forget that on the fundamental issues, we all have so much more in common then what separates us.
And you know, some will say, ‘We need to search to find that common ground.’ [cheers] Here is what I say, ‘We need to recognize that we are already standing on common ground.’ I say, ‘We rise together or we fall together as one nation indivisible.’ [cheers]
And I want to be perfectly I am not talking of unity for the sake of unity. So hear me out, I'm not talking of unity for the sake of unity. I'm not talking about some façade of unity, and I believe we must acknowledge that the word unity has often been used to shut people up or to preserve the status quo [cheers].
After all let’s remember, when women fought for suffrage those in power said, ‘They were dividing the sexes and disturbing the peace.’ Let’s remember, when abolitionists spoke out and civil right workers marched, their oppressors said, ‘They were dividing the races and violating the word of god.’ But Frederick Douglas said it best—and Harriet Tubman and Dr. King knew—to love the religion of Jesus is to hate the religion of the slave master [cheers].
When we have a true unity, no one will be subjugated for others. It is about fighting for a country with equal treatment, collective purpose and freedom for all [cheers]. That’s who we are—that’s who we are.
And so, I stand before today [cheers], I stand before you today, clear-eyed about the fight ahead and what has to be done, with faith in god, with fidelity to country, and with the fighting spirit I got from my mother [cheers], I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States.
[sustained cheering, then chants of ‘Ka-ma-la’]
Thank you, thank you. And I will tell you, I am running for president because I love my country—I love my country [cheers].
I am running to be president of the people, by the people and for ALL people. I am running to fight for an America where the economy works for working people, for an America where you only have to work one job to pay the bills [cheers], where hard work is rewarded and where any worker can join a union [cheers].
I am running to declare, once and for all, that health care is a fundamental right [cheers] and we will deliver that right with Medicare for all [cheers].
I am running to declare education is a fundamental right [cheers], and we will guarantee that right with universal pre-K and debt-free college [cheers].
I am running to guarantee working and middle class families an overdue pay increase. We will deliver the largest working and middle class tax cut in a generation—up to $500 a month to help America’s families make ends meet [cheers]. And we’ll pay for it, we’ll pay for it, by reversing this administration’s giveaway to the top corporations and the top one percent.
I am running to fight for an America where our democracy and its institutions are protected against all enemies foreign AND domestic [cheers]. Which is why I will defend this nation against all threats against our cyber-security [cheers]. We will secure our elections and critical infrastructure to protect OUR democracy [cheers].
And we will honor our service members and veterans so no one who has served this country has to wait in line for weeks and months to get what they are owed, when they return home on first day [cheers].
I’m running to fight for America where no mother or father has to teach their young son that people may stop him, arrest him, chase or kill him because of his race [cheers]. An America where every parent can send their children to school without being haunted by the horror of yet another killing spree.
Where we treat attacks on voting rights, and civil rights and women’s rights and immigrants rights, as attacks on our country itself [cheers]. An America where we welcome refugees and bring people out of the shadows and provide a pathway to citizenship [sustained cheers].
An America where our daughters, and our sisters and our mothers and our grandmothers, are respected where they live and work [cheers]. Where reproductive rights are not just protected by the constitution of the United States but guaranteed in every state.
I’ll fight for an America where we keep our word and where we honor our promises, because that’s our America. And that’s the America I believe, that’s the America I know we believe in.
And as we embark on this campaign, I will tell you this, I am not perfect, lord knows I am not perfect, but I will always speak with decency and moral clarity and treat all people with dignity and respect [cheers]. I will lead with integrity and I will speak the truth.
And of course, we know this is not going to be easy guys, this is not going to be easy. And we know what the doubters will say. It is the same thing they have always said. They’ll say, ‘It is not your time;’ they’ll say, ‘It’s not your turn;’ they’ll say, ‘The odds are long;’ they’ll say, ‘It can’t be done.’
But, but America’s story has always been written by people who can see what can be unburdened by what has been [cheers].
That is our story, that is our story. And as Robert Kennedy many years ago said, ‘Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.’ [cheers] He also said, ‘I do not lightly dismiss the dangers and the difficulties of challenging an incumbent president but these are not ordinary time and this is not ordinary election.’ He said, ‘At stake is not simply the leadership of our party and even our country, it is our right to the moral leadership of this planet.’ [cheers]
So today I say to you my friends, these are not ordinary times, and this will not be ordinary election. But this is OUR America [cheers]. So here's the thing: It is up to us, it up to us—each and every one of us. So let’s remember, in this fight, we have the power of the people.
We can achieve the dreams of our parents and grandparents; we can heal our nation,; we can give our children the future they deserve; we CAN reclaim the American dream for every single person in our country [cheers]; and we can restore America’s moral leadership on this planet [cheers]