Kamala Harris Full Acceptance at 2024 Democratic National Convention
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Aug 23, 2024
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Vice President Kamala Harris accepts the Democratic nomination for president of the Unites States at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, IL. https://www.c-span.org/video/?537641-...
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Transcript
- 0:00
- [Applause] thank you everyone thank you everyone thank you okay let's get to business
- let's get to business all right so let me start by thanking my
- most incredible husband [Music] Doug for being an incredible partner to
- me an incredible father to Cole Ella and happy anniversary douge
- I love you so very much to our President Joe
- Biden when I think about the path that we have traveled together Joe I am
- filled with gratitude your record is extraordinary as history will show and
- your character is inspiring and Doug and I love you and Jill and are forever thankful to you
- 1:07
- both and to coach Tim
- Walls you are going to be an incredible vice
- president and to the delegates and everyone who has put your faith in our
- camp campaign your support is humbling so
- America the path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt
- unexpected but I'm no stranger to unlikely Journeys
- so my mother our mother shamala Harris had one of her own and I miss her every
- day and especially right now and I know she's looking down smiling
- 2:02
- I know that so my mother was 19 when she crossed the world alone traveling from
- India to California with an unshakable dream to be the scientist who would Cure
- breast cancer when she finished school she was
- supposed to return home to a traditional arranged marriage but as fate would have
- it she met my father Donald Harris a student from
- Jamaica they they fell in love and got married and that act of
- self-determination made my sister Maya and
- Me growing up we moved a lot I will always remember that big Mayflower truck
- packed with all our belongings ready to go to Illinois
- 3:01
- to Wisconsin and wherever our parents' jobs
- took us my early memories of our parents together are very joyful ones a home
- filled with laughter and Music artha Co
- train and miles at the park my mother would say
- stay close but my father would say say as he smiled run kamla run Don't Be
- Afraid don't let anything stop
- you from my earliest years he taught me to be Fearless but the harmony between my
- parents did not last when I was in elementary school they split up and it
- was mostly my mother who raised us before she could finally afford to
- buy a home home she rented a small apartment in the East Bay in the
- 4:05
- bay in the bay you either live in the Hills or the
- flat lands we lived in the flats a beautiful workingclass neighborhood of
- firefighters nurses and construction workers all who tended their lawns with
- pride my mother she worked long hours and like many working parents she leaned
- on a trusted Circle to help raise us Mrs Shelton who ran the daycare below us and
- became a second mother Uncle Sherman Aunt Mary Uncle Freddy Auntie Chris none
- of them family by Blood and all of them family by love
- 5:02
- family who taught us how to make gumbo how to play
- chess and sometimes even let us win family Who Loved Us believed in us
- and told us we could be anything and do
- anything they instilled in us the values they person ified
- Community faith and the importance of treating others as you would want to be
- treated with kindness respect and
- compassion my mother was a brilliant 5 foot tall brown woman with an
- accent and as the eldest child as the eldest child I saw her how the world
- 6:00
- would sometimes treat her but my mother never lost her cool she was tough
- courageous a Trailblazer in the fight for Women's Health and she taught Maya
- and me a lesson that Michelle mentioned the other night she taught us to never
- complain about Injustice but do something about it do something about it
- that was my mother and she taught us and she always
- she also taught us and she also taught us and never do anything half
- ass and that is a direct
- quote a direct quote I grew up immersed in the ideals
- of the Civil Rights Movement my parents had met at a civil rights Gathering and
- they made sure that we learned learned about civil rights leaders including the lawyers like thur Good Marshall and con
- 7:06
- Constance Baker mle those who battled in the courtroom
- to make real the promise of America so at a young age I decided I wanted to do
- that work I wanted to be a lawyer and when it came time to choose the type of
- law I would pursue I reflected on a pivotal moment in in my
- life you see when I was in high school 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 so one day I asked if everything was all right and she confided in me
- that she was being sexually abused by her stepfather and I immediately told her
- she had to come stay with us and she did this is one of the reasons
- 8:00
- I became a prosecutor to protect people like Wanda
- because I believe everyone has a right to safety to dignity and to
- Justice as a prosecutor when I had a case I charged it not in the name of the
- victim but in the name of the people for a simple reason in our system of
- justice a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of
- us and I would often explain this to console survivors of crime to remind
- them no one should be made to fight alone we are all in this
- 9:02
- together and every day in the courtroom I stood proudly
- before a judge and I said five words kamla Harris for the
- [Music] people and to be
- clear and to be clear my entire career I've only had one client the
- people and so on behalf of the
- people on behalf of every American regardless of party race gender or the
- language your grandmother speaks on behalf of my mother and
- everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely
- 10:02
- Journey on behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with people who work
- hard chase their dreams and look out for one
- another on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the
- greatest nation on Earth I accept your nomination to be
- president of the United States of
- America and with this election
- and and with this election our nation
- our nation with this election has a precious fleeting opportunity to move
- 11:07
- past the bitterness cynicism and divisive battles of the past a chance to
- chart a new way
- forward not not as members of any one party or
- faction but as Americans and let me say 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 you can always trust me to put country above
- party and self to hold sacred America's
- fundamental principles from the rule of law to free and Fair elections to the
- 12:01
- peaceful transfer of
- power I will be a President Who unites us around our highest
- aspirations 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 as a young courtroom prosecutor in Oakland California I stood up for women
- and children against predators who abuse them as Attorney General of Califoria
- California I took on the big Banks delivered $20 billion for middle
- 13:06
- class families who faced foreclosure and helped pass a homeowner Bill of Rights
- one of the first of its kind in the
- nation I stood up for veterans and students being scammed by big for-profit
- colleges for workers who are being cheated out of their wages the wages
- they were due for seniors facing elder abuse I
- fought against the cartels who traffick in guns and drugs and human beings who
- threaten the security of our border and the safety of our communities and I will tell you these
- fights were not easy and neither were the elections that put me in those
- 14:01
- 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
- fellow Americans this election is not only the most important
- of Our Lives it is one of the most important in
- the life of our nation in many ways Donald Trump is an
- unserious man but the consequences
- but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are
- 15:04
- extremely serious consider consider not only the chaos and
- Calamity when he was in office but also the gravity of what has happened since
- he lost the last election Donald Trump tried to throw
- away your votes when he failed he sent an armed mob to the United States
- capital where they assaulted Law Enforcement Officers when politicians in his own
- party begged him to call off the mob and
- send help he did the opposite he fanned the
- flames and now for an entirely different set of crimes he was found guilty of
- 16:01
- fraud by a jury of everyday Americans and
- separately and separately found liable for committing sexual
- abuse and consider consider what he intends to do
- if we give him power again consider his explicit intent to set free
- violent extremist who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the capital his
- explicit intent to jail journalists political opponents and anyone he sees
- as the enemy his explicit intent to deploy our active duty military against
- our own citizens consider consider the power he will have
- 17:01
- especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled that he would
- be immune from Criminal
- prosecution just imagine Donald Trump with no guard
- rails and how he would use the immense powers of the
- presidency of the United States not to improve your life not to
- strengthen our national security but to serve the only client he has ever had
- himself and we know and we know what a second Trump
- term would look like it's all laid out in Project 2025 written by by his
- closest advisors and its sum total is to pull our country back to the past but
- 18:07
- America we are not going back we are not going
- back we are not going back we are not going back to when
- Donald Trump tried to cut Social Security and
- Medicare we are not going back to when he tried to get rid of the Affordable
- Care Act when insurance companies could deny people with pre-existing conditions
- we are not going to let him eliminate the Department of Education that funds our Public
- Schools we are not going to let him end programs like Head Start that provide
- preschool and child care for our children America we are not going back
- 19:03
- [Applause] and we are
- charting and we are charting a new way
- forward 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 sucess and building that middle class will be a
- defining goal of my
- presidency and I'll tell you this is personal for me the middle class is
- where I come from my mother kept a strict budget we lived within our means
- yet we wanted for little and she expected us to make the most of the
- opport opportunities that were available to us and to be grateful for them
- 20:04
- because as she taught us opportunity is not available to
- everyone that's why we will create what I call an opportunity economy an
- opportunity economy where everyone has the chance to compete and a chance to
- succeed whether you live in a rural area small town or
- big city and as president I will bring together labor and workers and small
- business owners and entrepreneurs and American companies to create jobs to
- grow our economy and to lower the cost of everyday needs like Health Care and
- housing and groceries we will provide access to capital for small business
- owners and entrepreneurs and Founders and we will end America's
- 21:05
- housing shortage and protect Social Security and
- Medicare now compare that to Donald Trump because I think everyone here
- knows he doesn't actually fight for the middle class not he doesn't actually fight for the middle class instead he
- fites for himself and his billionaire friends and he will give them another round of tax breaks that will add up to
- $5 trillion to the national debt and all the while he intends to
- enact what in effect is a national sales tax call it a trump tax that would raise
- prices on middle class families by almost $4,000 a year
- well instead of a trump tax hike we will pass a middle class tax cut that will
- 22:05
- benefit more than 100 million
- Americans friends I believe America 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 but tonight in America too many women are
- not able to make those decisions and let's be clear about how we got here
- Donald Trump handpicked members of the United States Supreme Court to take away
- reproductive freedom and now he brags about it in his words
- 23:03
- quote I did it and I'm proud to have done it end quote well I'll tell you over the past
- two years I've traveled across our country and women have told me their
- stories husbands and fathers have shared theirs stories of women miscarrying in a
- parking lot developing sepsis losing the ability to ever again have children all
- because doctors are afraid they may go to jail for caring for their
- patients couples just trying to grow their family cut off in the middle of
- IVF treatments children who have survived sexual assault potentially being forced
- to carry a pregnancy to term this is what's happening in our
- country because of Donald Trump and understand he is not
- 24:05
- done as a part of his agenda he and his allies would limit
- access to birth control ban medication abortion and enact a nationwide abortion
- ban with or without Congress and get
- this get this he plans to create a national anti-abortion
- coordinator and force states to report on women's miscarriages and
- abortions simply put they are out of their
- minds and one must ask one must ask why exactly is it that
- 25:02
- they don't trust women well we trust
- women we trust
- women and when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive Freedom as
- president of the United States I will proudly sign it into law
- in this election many other fundamental freedoms are at stake the freedom to live safe
- from gun violence in our schools communities and places of worship the
- freedom to love who you love openly and with pride the freedom to breathe clean air
- and drink clean water and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate
- 26:05
- crisis and the freedom that unlocks all the others the freedom to
- vote with this election we finally have the opportunity to pass the John Lewis
- Voting Rights Act and the freedom to vote Act
- and let me be clear and let me be clear after decades in law enforcement I
- know the importance of Safety and Security especially at our border last
- year Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in
- decades the border patrol endorsed it but Donald Donal Trump believes a border
- 27:00
- deal would hurt his campaign so he ordered his allies in
- Congress to kill the deal well I refuse to play politics with
- our security and here is my pledge to you as president I will bring back the
- bipartisan Board of security bill that he killed and I will sign it into
- law I know I know we can live up to our proud
- Heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration
- system we can create an earned Pathway to
- citizenship and secure our
- border and America we must also be Stead fast in advancing our security and
- 28:01
- values abroad as vice president I have
- confronted threats to our security negotiated with foreign leaders
- strengthened our alliances and engaged with our brave troops
- overseas as commanderin-chief I will ensure America always has the strongest
- most lethal fighting force in the world
- world and I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and
- their families and I will always honor and never disparage their service and
- their sacrifice
- I will make sure that we lead the
- 29:04
- world into the future on space and artificial intelligence that America not
- China wins the competition for the 21st century and that we strengthen not
- abdicate our Global Leadership Trump on the other
- hand threatened to abandon NATO he encouraged Putin to invade our allies
- said Russia could quote do whatever the hell they
- want five days before Russia attacked Ukraine I met with president zalinski to
- warn him about Russia's plan to invade I helped mobilize a Global Response over
- 50 countries to defend against Putin's aggression and as president I will stand
- strong with Ukraine and our NATO
- 30:09
- allies with respect to the war in Gaza President Biden and I are working
- around the clock because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire
- deal done
- and let me be clear and let me be clear I will always stand up for Israel's
- right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel
- has the ability to defend itself because the people of Israel must never again
- face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on
- October 7th including
- 31:02
- unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music
- festival at the same time what has happened in Gaza over the
- past 10 months is devastating so many innocent lives
- lost desperate hungry people fleeing for safety over over and over again the
- scale of suffering is heartbreaking President Biden and I are
- working to end this war such that Israel is secure the hostages are released the
- suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their
- right to dignity security freedom and self-determination
- 32:03
- and know this I will never hesitate to take
- whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interest against Iran
- and iran-backed terrorists I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like
- Kim Jong-un who are rooting for Trump who are rooting for Trump
- because you know they know they know he is easy to manipulate with flatter and
- favors they know Trump won't hold autocrats accountable because he wants
- to be an autocrat himself and as president I will never
- waver in defense of America's security and ideals because in the enduring
- struggle between democracy and tyranny I know where I stand and I know where the
- 33:04
- United States
- belongs so fellow Americans fellow
- Americans I I love our country with all my
- heart Everywhere I Go Everywhere I Go in everyone I meet I
- see a nation that is ready to move forward ready for the next step in The
- Incredible Journey that is America I see an America where we hold
- fast to The Fearless belief that built our nation and inspired the world that
- 34:04
- here in this country anything is possible that
- nothing is Out Of Reach an America where we care for one
- another look out for one another and recognize that we have so much more in
- common than what separates us
- that none of us none of us has to fail for all of us
- to succeed and that in unity there is
- strength you know our opponents in this race are out there every day denigrating
- America talking about how terrible everything is
- well my mother had another lesson she used to teach never let anyone tell you who you
- 35:07
- are you show them who you
- are America let us show each other and the
- world who we are and what we stand stand
- for Freedom opportunity compassion
- dignity fairness and Endless
- Possibilities we are the hirs to the greatest
- democracy in the history of the world and on behalf of our children and
- our grandchildren and all those who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and
- 36:06
- liberty we must be worthy of this
- moment it is now our turn to do what
- Generations before us have done Guided
- by optimism and Faith to fight for this
- country we love to fight for the ideals we cherish and to
- uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the
- greatest privilege on Earth the privilege and pride of being an American
- so let's get out there let's fight for it let's get out there let's vote for it
- 37:08
- and together let us write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary Story
- Ever Told thank you God bless you and may God
- bless the United States of America thank you all
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