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  • 2020-08-12 (xsd:date)
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  • Did Kamala Harris Call Joe Biden a Racist? (en)
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  • On Aug. 11, 2020, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden announced that Sen. Kamala Harris would be his running mate. Soon thereafter, Katrina Pierson, the senior advisor to President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign, released a statement claiming that Harris had accused Biden of being a racist. The statement read in part: Not long ago, Kamala Harris called Joe Biden a racist and asked for an apology she never received. This talking point was picked up by several other Biden critics and Trump supporters. The Daily Caller and Fox News also shared video that supposedly showed the moment that Harris called Biden racist. This claim stems from a moment during the first Democratic primary debate in June 2019. Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, was asked about his low support among Black voters, a recent shooting, and why the South Bend Police Department had so few Black officers. After Buttigieg's response and some back and forth between the other candidates, Harris took control of the floor and turned the conversation toward Biden. Harris criticized Biden for remarks he made earlier that week about how he was able to work with late Sens. James O. Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia, despite their staunch opposition of desegregation. Harris also criticized Biden for opposing busing policies aimed at integrating schools in the 1970s. While Harris' comments certainly focused on race relations in the United States, the claim that the senator called Biden a racist is undercut by how Harris prefaced her remarks, in which she explicitly said: I do not believe you are a racist. Here's a transcript of Harris' full comment [emphasis ours]: Biden pushed back, saying that this was a mischaracterization of his record and that he didn't oppose the practice of busing, but a federal law requiring the practice. Biden also argued that he had a long history of supporting civil rights. Here's a video of the exchange from NBC News: Although Harris truly criticized Biden for working with senators who supported segregation and for backing an anti-busing policy that arguably delayed integration, she did not call Biden a racist. In fact, Harris prefaced her remarks by saying, I do not believe you are a racist. (en)
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