Kamala Harris agrees with Tim Scott that the US is not racist, but says racism must not be ignored
“No. I don’t think America is a racist country but we also do have to speak truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today,” Harris said. “I applaud the President for always having the ability and the courage, frankly, to speak the truth about it.”
Harris noted that domestic terrorism manifested by White supremacists is “one of the greatest threats to our national security.”
She continued, “These are issues that we must confront and it doesn’t — it does not help to heal our country, to unify us as a people, to ignore the realities of that and I think the President has been outstanding and a real national leader on the issue … We want to unify the country, but not without speaking truth and requiring accountability as appropriate.”
During the speech, Biden laid out his plans for a sweeping spending proposal that could revamp the American economy with trillions of dollars of spending on physical infrastructure and what he administration calls “human infrastructure.”
As for concerns about the size and scope of the infrastructure proposals, Harris said the administration has been in “many meetings” with Republicans and Democrats, reiterating the White House’s broader definition of bipartisan.
“We’re very serious about that and very sincere in our hope that we can reflect the bipartisan nature of the American people on these issues,” she said.
Harris also addressed some of her immediate plans for tackling the crisis at the US southern border.
The vice president has been assigned the role of leading diplomatic efforts to the Northern Triangle countries, where the bulk of migrants coming to the US illegally are from. She reiterated that her focus is on root causes of migration, outlining her conversations with members of the Cabinet like Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, as well as with heads of state and other leaders.
“It will not be fixed overnight … but we are prepared to make the investment and to get in there for the long haul,” she said.
CNN’s Clare Foran and Caroline Kelly contributed to this report.
