Racist Tropes Stir Harris' Emotions at NABJ

‘It’s Got to Stop,’ She Says of GOP Falsehoods

Homepage photo: Vice President Kamala Harris arrives on stage at WHYY in Philadelphia (Credit: Emma Lee/WHYY)

‘It’s Got to Stop,’ She Says of GOP Falsehoods

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke emotionally Tuesday about the damage the Republican ticket of Donald Trump and JD Vance is causing with false claims about Haitians eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, as the Democratic presidential nominee fielded questions in Philadelphia from a three-person panel of members of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Harris expanded on themes she highlighted in last week’s debate with former president Trump, again providing a stark contrast with her Republican opponent, responding to a query about her message to Black men and whether she would, as president, take executive action to study reparations, as well as expanding her views on the war in Gaza, abortion, gun control and the weekend assassination attempt on Trump. Both she and President Biden said they called Trump to ask if he was all right.

“This is how journalism is done,” NABJ President Ken Lemon told Journal-isms afterward. He said NABJ wanted to train journalists in how to raise questions that exemplify how to inject issues of concern to African Americans into their news reports. Some 250 people were packed into the downtown studios of WHYY public media, some from Pennsylvania’s Cheyney University and other historically Black colleges and universities.

This year was the first in 24 years that both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates accepted NABJ’s offer to appear before its members, Lemon told the audience, some watching the 45-minute event streamed. Trump was interviewed at the NABJ convention in Chicago on July 31.

“The event could not have been more different than Trump’s July sit-down with the same organization, in which he clashed with moderators and drew widespread criticism for questioning when Harris ‘became Black,’ as the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. “(Harris, whose mother is Indian and whose father is Jamaican, has long embraced both aspects of her heritage.)”

The Harris interview was fact-checked by PolitiFact, which found only one falsehood, Harris’ statement that when she and Biden took office, it was “the worst unemployment since the Great Depression.”

Harris called out Trump and Vance for spreading “lies that are grounded in tropes that are age-old” and said “It’s a crying shame” when asked about the Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees spreading unsubstantiated claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating neighbors’ pets. “I mean, my heart breaks for this community.“

“A spokesperson for the city of Springfield told ABC News these claims are false, and that there have been ‘no credible reports or specific claims of pets harmed, injured or abused by individuals in the immigrant community,” Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, and Will McDuffie reported for ABC News.

“A rash of bomb threats have targeted schools, government buildings and elected officials’ homes in Springfield, forcing evacuations and closures.”

[On Sept. 18, Hadas Gold of CNN reported that the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Haitian Times “covered the false claims targeting Springfield. Now it’s also facing attacks.“]

Harris noted that some children in Springfield had to evacuate their schools because of bomb threats. “You know, there were elementary school children who – it was… it was – school photo day. You remember what that’s like? Going to school on picture day. Who are dressed up in their best, got all ready, knew what they were going to wear the night before. And had to be evacuated – children. Children. A whole community put in fear.”

Harris also said, “I learned at a very young stage in my career that the meaning of my words could impact whether somebody was free or in prison. As attorney general of California, fifth largest economy in the world, I was acutely aware that my words could move markets. When you are bestowed with a microphone that is that big, there is a profound responsibility that comes with that – that is an extension of what should not be lost in this moment, this conception of the public trust. . . .

Perfect answer by VP Harris in response to MAGA using her joy as means to make her out to be an unserious candidate. 🫶🏾 #NABJ pic.twitter.com/ULFgWn7WEl

— 🪷 Madam Auntie VP Kamala Harris for PRESIDENT! (@flywithkamala) September 17, 2024

“Not to mention, what is happening in terms of – look, you say you care about law enforcement. Law enforcement resources [are] being put into this because of these serious threats that are being issued against a community that is living a productive, good life before this happened. And spewing lies that are grounded in tropes that are age-old.

“And look, I said it not very far from here the other day at the debate: This is not new. This is not new in terms of these tropes. This is not new in terms of where it’s coming from. And, you know, whether it is refusing to rent to people – rent to Black families. Whether it is taking out a full-page ad in the New York Times against five innocent Black and Latino teenagers, the Central Park Five, calling for their execution. Whether it is referring to the first Black President of the United States with a lie – birther lies. . . .”

In 1973, the Justice Department had brought suit in federal court against Trump and his father, charging them with violating the 1968 Fair Housing Act,” Glenn Kessler has reported for The Washington Post. “Two years later, in 1975, Trump settled the suit without admitting wrongdoing.”

Tonya Mosley (center), co-host of WHYY’s “Fresh Air with Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley,” one of three NABJ panelists, told Journal-isms afterward, “We don’t often hear her talk in the way that she did,” referring to those remarks on Haitian immigrants. Eugene Daniels (right), “Playbook” co-author, White House correspondent for Politico and president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, agreed.

The third panelist, Gerren Keith Gaynor (left), is White House correspondent and managing editor of politics at theGrio.

Gaynor asked about Black men; Daniels asked about Harris’ solutions for the economy, about abortion and the weekend assassination attempt on Trump. Mosley additionally asked whether, as president, Harris would take executive action to move stalled congressional bills to study reparations.

Gaynor also asked a closing question about why being joyful — a Harris trait that has been mocked by Republicans — is important to her. The Democrat began her response with advice to young people: “There are some times when your adversaries will try and turn your strengths is not a weakness. Don’t you let them.”

To Gaynor’s question about Black men, Harris said it was important not to assume that “Black men are in anybody’s pocket,” and spoke of her proposals to boost small businesses and help all Americans realize their dreams.

“I’m working to earn their vote, not assuming I’m going to have it because I am Black, but because the policies and the perspectives I have understands what we must do to recognize the needs of all communities, and I intend to be a president for all people, she said.

However, in other contexts, Harris cited disparities between Black people and others in carrying debt, including medical debts and the racial gap in intergenerational wealth. She also mentioned attempts to erase or rewrite history, referencing a remark last year by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that slavery provided Black people with job skills.

To a question about whether she would issue an executive order to create a commission to study reparations, Harris said it would come down to action by Congress, an answer that disappointed such audience members as Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

Browne-Marshall cited the executive orders Biden has issued to circumvent Congress, and told Journal-isms Harris should have learned that lesson from the boss.

Students at Philadelphia’s Pennypacker Elementary School were visiting the National Constitution Center in downtown Philadelphia when they learned that Vice President Kamala Harris was to appear across the street at the studios of WHYY. They cheered as cars drove by, whether they were in a motorcade or not. (Credit: Richard Prince)

Nearly all of Harris’ answers were lengthy.

Daniels pressed her on whether she supported codifying the restrictions of Roe v. Wade, which allowed states to ban abortion in the third trimester of pregnancy. Harris was adamant that “we need to put the protections of Roe v. Wade back into law,” and personalized the issue by citing the 2022 death of Amber Nicole Thurman, a Georgia medical assistant who died after being denied timely medical care due to the state’s restrictive abortion ban. The circumstances of the death were reported Monday by Kavitha Suranain in ProPublica.

“The people who could have helped her were afraid they’d be criminalized,” the vice president said.

If elected president, Harris said, she would work with private investors to boost the housing supply, and she acknowledged in a question about the economy that more work was needed to lower prices at the grocery store.

Harris also reiterated a plan to expand the child tax credit to $6,000 and repeated a pledge that Americans not spend more than 7 percent of their income on child care.

On gun violence and the assassination attempt on Trump, Harris said that “there are far too many people in our country right now who are not feeling safe,” as Matt Brown and Darlene Superville reported for the Associated Press. “She referenced the threats to immigrants, but also the conservative Project 2025 blueprint for the next Republican administration and a GOP-led effort to restrict abortion access.

“ ‘Not everybody has Secret Service,’ she said. ‘Members of the LGBTQ community don’t feel safe right now, immigrants or people with an immigrant background don’t feel safe right now. Women don’t feel safe right now.’ ”

While the outlines of what Harris said were not new, some in the audience said they still found relevant takeaways. Assata Allah- Shabazz, a Morgan State University student, said she was glad the issue of safety was raised, as Morgan State’s homecoming is next weekend. Last year five students were shot and the homecoming events were canceled.

Mosley said she found elaboration from Harris on the issue of tax credits and education, but thought most Americans would want more clarity in answering Mosley’s question about whether Israel was practicing aggression or defense in Gaza.

Gerran said he heard some substantive answers, but that it would remain to be seen whether Black men would sign on to her approach to their issues.

Ric Harris, president and general manager of WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, said he was pleased that Harris is doing more interviews after weeks of criticism that she was avoiding them.

In 2020, after her short-lived Democratic presidential primary effort, then-Sen. Harris told a panel of Black journalists that her presidential candidacy was hampered by the dearth of Black reporters covering the campaign.

There was none of that this time, but Harris did begin her remarks by telling NABJ, “I thank you for the work you do and for the work your members do every day. It is very important that we ensure that this organization and your members always have the resources and the platforms to deliver the voices that must be heard, so I thank you for hosting me today.”

Curtis Bunn, The Hill: NABJ journalists press Harris for policy details on Gaza and reparations
Marco Cerino, Philadelphia Tribune: Harris’ meeting with NABJ in Philly a sharp contrast from group’s time with Trump in Chicago (Sept. 20)
Tommy Christopher, Mediaite: Chiquibaby Asks ‘Madam President’ Kamala Harris About Trump Assassination Bid: ‘What Are Your Thoughts On Political Violence?
Cheyanne M. Daniels, Brett Samuels and Alex Gangitano, the Hill: 5 takeaways from Harris’s interview with NABJ
Reid J. Epstein and Michael M. Grynbaum, New York Times: Harris Campaign Says She Will Meet the Press (on Her Terms)
Jadon George, Temple News, Temple University: TABJ members pack WHYY for Harris sit-down interview (Sept. 19)
Haitian Times: Mental Health Resources: How to get immediate help in Ohio for Haitians and Haitian-Americans (Sept. 18)
Jonah Meadows, Patch: Evanston Reparations Program Passes $5 Million As City Fights Suit From Conservative Group
Toluse Olorunnipa, Washington Post: Vice president criticizes her opponents for “spewing lies” based on “age-old” tropes
Holly Otterbein, Lauren Egan and Brittany Gibson, Politico: Harris refuses to veer off script in her second high-profile interview

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