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Date: 2025-02-04 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00027273
US POLITICS
DNC ... KAMALA HARRIS ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

C-SPAN: Kamala Harris Full Acceptance at 2024 Democratic National Convention


Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hy2cZaGbOM
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess
Kamala Harris Full Acceptance at 2024 Democratic National Convention

C-SPAN

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7,987 views

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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