Why I Don’t Trust Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris. She’s smart, an accomplished politician, she’s made history in every elected position she’s held, and always seems to say the right thing at the right time. Plus, she’s black!
On paper, Harris seems like the perfect presidential candidate that would appeal to black millennial women like myself. But, keep reading that paper and you’ll see that Harris is far from the progressive candidate she’s presenting herself as. With tonight’s Democratic presidential debate looming, I’ve got to speak my piece!
Before she became California’s first Black and third female senator, Harris was Attorney General for 5 years and District Attorney of San Francisco before that. Harris has characterized herself as a reformer and someone who’s here to fix a broken system. Don’t get me wrong, sis has done a lot of good in her career. But, voters –especially those who care about ending mass incarceration — should be skeptical of not only her intensions, but her means of operation as well.
During the last Democratic debate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard called out Senator Harris for her regressive actions throughout her career. She wasn’t wrong. A close analysis of Harris’s record as prosecutor reveals many contradictions. To name a few:
- First off, Harris JUST started supporting marijuana legalization…like yesterday. Which to be fair, most politicians didn’t get on board with legalization until recently. But get this, in 2014, as Attorney General, Harris declined to take a position on Proposition 47 — a ballot that would reduce certain low-level felonies to misdemeanors.
- In 2018 she opposed a bill that would’ve required her office to investigate police shootings. She refused to support statewide standards for police to wear body cams.
- Remember Deborah Madden? The crime lab technician who purposely sabotaged her work and stole drugs. Harris’s team knew about the technician’s crimes but failed to inform defense lawyers.
- That brings me to her string of wrongful convictions. Kevin Cooper, a death row inmate who requested advanced DNA evidence to prove his innocence. Harris’s denied it UNTIL the New York Times wrote a piece on the case that went viral. Then there’s George Gage, in his case prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence that would’ve helped his case. George is still incarcerated. Not to mention Daniel Larson and Johnny Baca.
If I’ve learned anything from House of Cards, it’s that in order for politicians to gain support concessions must be made. Harris seems to be the type of politician who will go silent in times of unrest just to appease the status quo. That’s not a quality I’m looking for in a president. I want to believe that Harris is committed to equal opportunities and righting injustices, but it’s just not reality of who she is.
