20th Century African American Women

"Democrats are doing the right thing by standing up for working people and not allowing the Republicans to carry a tax cut for the wealthiest people in our country on the backs of working people in America."

"We have to get away from this idea of ‘Who is the one?’ There are many ways that I think will be effective when people are authentic unto themselves."

"There are a fair number of people who voted for Donald Trump because they believed what he said, which is that he was going to bring down prices. Sadly, he lied to them."

"We’ve got to do a better job of dealing with the immediate needs of the American people."

"He and I have been playing phone tag actually in the last couple of days, I’d invite everyone to say a prayer if that’s what you do for his well-being and health right now."

"Kamala isn’t just having some moments tonight. She IS the moment. Wow. Oh my god. Biden meltdown. He is so offended that anyone dare question him. I am reminded that @cenkuygur predicted earlier today that Biden would be exposed... Holy sh... Kamala just obliterated Biden."

"I think Senator Harris did a tremendous job in pointing out the economic injustice, but one of the things I would say is we have to stop saying things were well before COVID. It’s almost as though we give that away to the Trump and Pence. The reality is, Wall Street was well. The reality is, those who got his tax cuts were well. The reality is, though, that before COVID, they were trying to overturn healthcare. Before COVID, they were blocking living wages. Before COVID, we were not addressing the issue of poor and low-wealth people... One of the things I like about the fact of the Biden-Harris plan is that they are, number one, not talking about taking people’s healthcare. The Trump-Pence plan, that’s what they’re saying: “Elect us. We’ll take your healthcare.” The Biden-Harris plan is talking about raising people’s living wages, $15 an hour. The Trump-Pence plan is talking about giving more money to the wealthy. In fact, the Trump-Pence-McConnell plan, they refuse to pass a stimulus because they want another $200 billion in tax cuts, they want money for a fighter jet, and they want to protect corporations from liability when those corporations didn’t protect their people from coronavirus,,, while Biden and Harris may not be every, fully where the Poor People’s Campaign are, they are in the world of wanting to do more. They’re in the sphere of wanting to increase. They’re in the sphere of wanting to make sure that the people have what they need, as opposed to wanting to only secure the wealthy and the greedy. he was fusion politics indeed. She was the second Black woman to be the vice president on a major ticket, first on the stage to debate. You know, I couldn’t help but go to the Book of Exodus, where it talked about where God said, “If you don’t let my people go, I’m going to cause flies to come as a sign of what’s wrong. But I won’t let the flies be on the people, but the fly will be a symbol that you’re just wrong. You’re lying. Let my people go.” And Trump and Pence need to let the people go. They’ve been holding poor and low-wealth people hostage, essential workers hostage. It’s time for a change in this country."

"Ms Harris — the only black woman in the US Senate — has spoken of "reimagining how we do public safety in America".... has described herself as a "progressive prosecutor" and "top cop" in her previous roles in California, but her record rankled both liberals and conservatives... for bolstering President Barack Obama's landmark Affordable Care Act... introduced a climate equity bill with... Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that seeks to rate how environmental laws affect lower-income communities... opposes fracking... called for federal legal action against the fossil fuel industry... outlined a $10tn climate plan for net-zero emissions by 2045... During her White House bid, Ms Harris promised to use executive action to enact stricter gun control... supported more regulation of gun manufacturers, mandatory background checks, tightening loopholes and a ban on assault weapons... proposed providing all workers with six months paid family leave for personal or medical issues, including those related to domestic violence.... suggested... that large companies should be required to be "equal pay certified" to close the gender pay gap, or face fines... pledged to offer a path to citizenship to the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the US... supported decriminalising border crossings by undocumented immigrants and providing taxpayer-funded healthcare for those crossing the US border without papers... outraged conservatives by drawing parallels between the Ku Klux Klan and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency within the US Department of Homeland Security."

"If you notice, I have more people supporting me in the black community that have announced for me, because they know me the only bl– African-American woman that ever been elected to the United States Senate... ...no I said the first! I said the first African-American elected! The first African... so my point is..."

"I know how much Beau respected Kamala and her work. That mattered a lot to me, to be honest with you, as I made this decision."

"This morning, all across the nation, little girls woke up, especially little Black and brown girls, who so often feel overlooked and undervalued in their communities. But today just maybe they’re seeing themselves for the first time in a new way: as the stuff of president and vice presidents."

"One of the reasons that I chose Kamala is that we both believe that we can define America simply in one word: possibilities."

"Pearls hold a particular symbolism for Harris as a link to her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Members of the sorority, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter sorority established for college women of African American heritage, are known as “pearls”. Harris has worn pearls at every milestone, from her graduation photo to her recent Vogue cover, framing them as a gesture of sisterhood and solidarity, rather than a display of wealth."

"In a word, Harris is a totem of the left’s ideologically driven identitarian agenda, often framed by religiously inclined leftists as “social justice.”"

"[Donald Trump] tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again. As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris."

"Among the early voters Harris leads two to one"

"Stephen Colbert according to Harris Leads In Early Voting, Deftly Handles MAGA Heckler | Trump Fixates On Arnold Palmer's Manhood ( Oct 21, 2024) Youtube video"

"While many have speculated they're linked to RBG, they're actually an homage to a sisterhood. Read on for the real meaning and symbolism behind Sen. Harris pearls—and their connection to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. But for anyone who has been paying attention to her style for a while would note that pearls have been a regular member of her wardrobe—and are likely a nod to her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Pearls have long been a statement piece of the first historically Black Greek sorority and its founders."

"Jacob Jr. told Sen. Harris that he was proud of her, and the senator told Jacob that she was also proud of him and how he is working through his pain. Jacob Jr. assured her that he was not going to give up on life for the sake of his children."

"The senator’s tribute to AKA highlighted her affection for the group. In fact, her emotional connection to the sorority runs so deep that she wore a symbol in support of her sisters—a 34” necklace bejeweled with Akoya and South Sea pearls—to her acceptance speech."

"She really took a large step toward demonstrating — not telling people, but demonstrating to people — she's a candidate who can go the distance."

"We are voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they are fighting to protect our reproductive freedom, our planet and our democracy."

"Harris’s fondness for pearls goes much deeper than any political stylist’s involvement. She proudly wears a single-strand pearl necklace and drop earrings in her 1986 graduation picture from Howard University, where she was part of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. AKA—the first Black Greek-letter sorority—has a legendary story in which they refer to their founding members and incorporators as the “Twenty Pearls.” Each new member is given a special badge decorated with 20 pearls upon initiation."

"Vice President Kamala Harris, who was a first-term senator from California before entering the White House, hasn’t been given the sort of immersive experiences or sustained, high-profile tasks that would deepen and broaden her expertise in ways Americans could see and appreciate."

"Ms. Harris has been a regular target of negative stories — about staff disarray and departures or her annoyance that White House staff members didn’t stand when she entered a room or even her discomfort in some media interviews. She has also faced double standards in how she is seen and judged, as many women and people of color are, including when they are firsts in jobs. But she’s also not the first vice president to be sniped at and frustrated by a job whose constitutional duties are to preside over the Senate and count electoral votes."

"With 13 days until the election, Kamala Harris will answer voter questions during a live town hall on Wednesday evening. CNN will host the one-hour-and-15 minute event from Pennsylvania, a battleground state both the Harris and Trump campaigns need to win to secure the White House. The network previously extended an invitation to Harris and Trump for an October debate, which Trump declined and Harris accepted."

"At her first campaign event with Biden, Harris acknowledged “all the heroic and ambitious women before me whose sacrifice, determination and resilience makes my presence here today even possible”...Crusading anti-lynching journalist Ida B. Wells, labor organizer Lucy Parsons, civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer, presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm, Congressmember Barbara Jordan and countless other African American women leaders forged the path that Kamala Harris now walks, often at great risk and without recognition or reward."

"You have a record last night, a ceiling shattered. Senator Kamala Harris made history as the first Black woman to debate a white man in a presidential or vice-presidential debate. She was the first Black woman, Indian American woman. Reverend Barber, at one point during the debate, a fly landed on Pence’s head for nearly two-and-a-half minutes, prompting widespread commentary online. Professor Ibram X. Kendi, author of the best-selling book How to Be an Antiracist, tweeted, “As soon as Pence started denying the existence of systemic racism, the fly got him!” And you have a record last night, a ceiling shattered. Senator Kamala Harris made history as the first Black woman to debate a white man in a presidential or vice-presidential debate. She was the first Black woman, Indian American woman. The significance of this, in the last 20 seconds we have?"

"[T]here’s a great deal of frustration that there is this choice not only to nominate a candidate who is known as the author of what is actually called the Joe Biden crime bill, but that he’s gone and also selected a running mate who is known for being the top cop from California, the state that has the second-highest number of incarcerated people in America. And moreover, Kamala Harris is someone who has had these criticisms leveraged at her throughout, very early on, at the start of her campaign, and, to many people in the activist community, has done very little to assuage people’s concerns about her previous stances or to demonstrate the level of growth that we would like to see."

"Her trademark pearls have even launched social activist groups, including Facebook’s Wear Pearls on Jan 20th 2021 and United By Pearls, each with hundreds of thousands of members. Kamala’s distinctive style is elegant yet practical, modern yet timeless. Pearls are a key component of Kamala Harris’ style, and they have a long history in politics and power."

"The DNC and its media organs engineered a surge of popularity for Vice President Harris based upon nothing. No policies, no interviews, no debates, only smoke and mirrors and balloons in a highly produced Chicago circus."

"I do interviews everyday. Everyone who asks gets to interview me. Sometimes I do 10 a day. President Trump also does many interviews. How could the Democrat Party choose a candidate who refuses to do an interview?"

"Harris' record in San Francisco and then as California attorney general, the top law enforcement official in the state, came under close scrutiny during the run-up to the 2020 primary. She has described herself as a "progressive prosecutor" and won her first term as district attorney on a platform opposing capital punishment... Shortly after she took office, Harris announced she would not seek the death penalty against a suspect accused of killing a police officer. On the stump and during her run for Senate in 2016, Harris touted her role in that tough negotiation with the nation's five largest mortgage service firms, including JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, and her work to strengthen — with mixed results — protections for homeowners targeted by predatory lenders. Harris pulled California out of the 2011 talks during a crucial moment, arguing that the deal coming into sight at the time — hammered out with other state attorneys general — was not strict enough on the banks... During the Democratic presidential primary... The left criticized Harris' record on criminal justice, from her election as district attorney in San Francisco to her time as California's attorney general. Those concerns were amplified after Harris' spectacular entry into the race in January 2019, when her announcement was greeted by an adoring crowd of 20,000 outdoors in Oakland, California. Her campaign would become the most expansively waged by any Black woman in American political history. Decades after Shirley Chisholm ran for president in 1972, Harris amassed more than $35 million dollars over 11 months, despite the challenges that Black women candidates face raising in money."

"I will just say honestly, I think there is a good chance that you are going to win the nomination … You in a general election fight against Donald Trump would be the funnest thing in the world to cover."

"Kamala is quite literally a communist. She wants not merely equal opportunity, but equal outcomes."

""Medicare-for-all," once widely considered a fringe proposal for providing health care in the U.S., is getting more popular. Several Democratic presidential hopefuls are getting behind the idea.... Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., endorsed the approach Monday...saying her aim would be to eliminate all private insurance. "Who of us has not had that situation, where you've got to wait for approval and the doctor says, well, 'I don't know if your insurance company is going to cover this,' " Harris said. "Let's eliminate all of that. Let's move on." ...The health insurance industry is already gearing up to oppose any "Medicare-for-all" proposals, according to The Intercept, an investigative news website."

"The Vice President favors pearls for a very specific reason. It is Harris’s consistent show of loyalty to her sorority sisters, the women who have been some of her most vocal supporters throughout her political career, that is perhaps her most obvious—and most endearing—tribute. Harris’s ever-present pearl necklace might seem like a safe bet at her inauguration today, but this particular piece of jewelry is imbued with symbolism. It represents her Howard University sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA), the first African American Greek-letter sorority. The founders of AKA are often referred to as the “Twenty Pearls,” and in a show of honor and sisterhood, Harris has worn a pearl necklace at nearly every important life occasion since her graduation from college."

"Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office."

"Kamala Harris is a Black woman: It’s not complicated Kamala Harris could become the first woman to be vice president. And she’s a Black woman. Calling her Black does not erase her Tamil roots. Yes, she’s the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India. Acknowledge the depth of her. Also note Harris has written about her Hindu mother raising her and her sister to be proud, Black women."

"The jewellery has a symbolic meaning for the vice-president-elect, Kamala Harris Ahead of the historic occasion, which will mark the first time a woman and a person of colour has been appointed vice president of America, social media users have been posting photographs of themselves wearing pearls, prompting the phrase “wear pearls on inauguration day” to trend"

"She laughs so expressively and infectiously that it means that everything is fine with her."

"The Kamala Harris pearls ode is a nod to Alpha Kappa Alpha, the oldest historically Black sorority in the country, which Harris joined while at Howard University. The sorority’s founders are known as the Twenty Pearls, and Harris wears pearls in solidarity with her sisters."

"Influential Democrats don’t want Biden to retire because they know Harris can’t win in 2024. But he can’t dump her from the reelection campaign, for fear of infuriating what the Times calls "key Democratic constituencies.""

"Harris’s election was supposed to break down barriers. Instead, her legacy may also be to illustrate the folly of identity politics."

"I really don't get into politics, but the President's advisor, Jenna Ellis, just said that Kamala Harris sounds like me. Lisa said she doesn't mean it as a compliment. If that's so, as an ordinary suburban housewife, I am starting to I feel a little disrespected . I teach my children not to namecall, Jenna. I was gonna say I'm pissed off, but I'm afraid they'd bleep.."

"The junior senator from California on Thursday introduced the VoteSafe Act of 2020, a $5 billion piece of legislation that would satisfy what voting experts and advocates estimate states need to enact necessary reforms. Working closely with various secretaries of state, Harris crafted a bill that would standardize early in-person voting periods, mandating that each state have at least a 20-day period ahead of the November 3rd general election. It would also require states to permit no-excuse mail-in absentee voting for this election, allowing any citizen to submit such a ballot, regardless of explanation. The bill would also maintain minimum due process protections for each voter."

"The California senator Kamala Harris, participating in the hearing remotely, argued that Barrett’s positions on key issues were clear... Harris at one point asked Barrett if she had heard Trump’s vows to seat a supreme court justice who would overturn Roe v Wade and the ACA (Affordable Care Act)... Harris also pointed out that Trump nominated Barrett to serve as an appellate judge seven months after Barrett penned an article criticizing Justice John Roberts’ ruling upholding the ACA. Harris argued that showed Trump had been elevating Barrett to overturn the healthcare law."

"This monster that was on stage with Mike Pence, who destroyed her last night by the way, but this monster, she says no no there won’t be fracking, everything she said is a lie."

"She wouldn’t have any idea what happened. It would be like a grand chess master playing a beginner. We would lose our country or be in World War III. It could be that that would happen, too, because she’d get exasperated. She’s in no way able to handle him. He’s a fierce individual.”"

"I think there is a deeper and more important issue in this debate, which is that you had Kamala Harris effectively echoing platitude after platitude after platitude. The American people can't pay their grocery bills on platitudes. They can't put their kids in a house on platitudes. Kamala Harris had a lot to say but very little actual substance behind it for how she's going to lower grocery prices, secure the border, and make housing more affordable in this country. She has been the vice president for three and a half years appear she can't run on her record and apparently can't run on much of her plans either because it's just a lot of slogans and not a lot of substance."