On the third day of the virtual Democratic National Convention 2020, Kamala Harris officially accepted her nomination for the Vice President post. She said, “On that day, she [Harris’s mother] probably could have never imagined that I would be standing before you now speaking these words: I accept your nomination for Vice President of the United States of America.”
Kamala Harris started her speech by saying that this week marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment that gave women of the United States the right to vote. She narrated the story of her mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who came to the US when she was 19. She talked about how her parents fell in love during the march for justice in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. While mentioning the support she got from her family, and how proud her mother would be to see her standing there, Harris accepted her nomination for the post of Vice President.
Covid-19 is racist
While talking about President Donald Trump’s leadership, she said that it has cost lives and livelihoods. She pointed out the current situation in America because of the Covid-19 pandemic and said that the nation is grieving the loss of life, jobs, opportunities and normalcy and certainty. Continuing her speech, she called Covid-19 a racist virus.
She said, “And while this virus touches us all, let’s be honest, it is not an equal opportunity offender. Black, Latino and Indigenous people are suffering and dying disproportionately. This is not a coincidence. It is the effect of structural racism. Of inequities in education and technology, health care and housing, job security and transportation. The injustice in reproductive and maternal health care. In the excessive use of force by police. And in our broader criminal justice system. This virus has no eyes, and yet it knows exactly how we see each other—and how we treat each other.”
Racism in America and George Floyd
Harris added that there is no vaccine for racism and the people of the US have to work on finding a way to end racism. In her speech, she specifically mentioned the name of George Floyd whose killing in May 2020 resulted in protests in the US and other parts of the world. The protests soon turned into violent riots in the US and some other parts of the world, resulting in loss of billions of dollars and lives. A worldwide campaign on #BlackLivesMatter was started as a result of Floyd’s killing.
Harris urged people to choose Joe Biden as the President
She further praised Joe Biden for his role as the Vice President and a single father. Harris said,” In this election, we have a chance to change the course of history. We’re all in this fight. You, me, and Joe—together.” She ended her speech by saying, “Years from now, this moment will have passed. And our children and our grandchildren will look in our eyes and ask us: Where were you when the stakes were so high? They will ask us, what was it like? And we will tell them. We will tell them, not just how we felt. We will tell them what we did.”
