Kamala Harris applauded for remarks on race and reparations during NABJ-WHYY interview

“I am pleased that Vice President Harris acknowledged the important role truth plays in our quest for racial healing and transformation,” said U.S. Rep. Baraba Lee. During a wide-ranging interview with the National Association of Black Journalists and WHYY public radio, Vice President Kamala Harris talked about race more extensively than she had since emerging as a presidential candidate and, subsequently, the Democratic Party’s nominee. The historic presidential figure (Harris is the first Black woman and Indian American to be a major party nominee) discussed reparations for the first time as vice president and outlined the systemic harms to Black communities caused by the United States history of the enslavement of African Americans and racial oppressive laws. “We just need to speak truth about history. In spite of the fact that some people try and erase history and try and teach our children otherwise,” Harris told theGrio during the 45-minute sit-down interview in Philadelphia on Tuesday. “We need to speak truth about the generational impact of our history in terms of the generational impact of slavery, the generational impact of of redlining, of Jim Crow laws.” Harris was responding to theGrio’s questioning of her position on H.R.40, a 35-year-old bill...