Kamala Harris Uses Her Story to Force Dems to Really Consider Race

[DonViejo]

There was plenty of talk about systematic racism, voting rights and even reparations, but she was the one person on stage able to weave an accessible narrative around these issues.

Adam Howard

Published 06.28.19 12:48 AM ET

It took a while to get there, but as anticipated, former Vice President Joe Biden’s record on race led to one of the most heated moments of Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate.

Sen. Kamala Harris, who demonstrated her fierce prosecutorial acumen throughout the night, came at Biden for his “hurtful” comments about his friendly relations with segregationist senators in the 1970s, and then deftly pivoted to Biden’s own opposition to busing during that era, revealing that she was one of the young African-Americans who benefited from that desegregation program.

True to form, Biden reasserted his personal history on civil rights — ignoring the fact that Harris opened her attack by conceding that he is not a racist — and refused to apologize for his remarks about how “we got things done” with segregationists Democrats in the 1970s or renounce his now politically untenable old position on busing.

He condescendingly told Harris that it was her local City Council’s fault that she had to participate in busing in the first place, but his answer betrayed no empathy or compassion, just a stern defense of his own controversial record.

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