Their two personal stories couldn’t be more different from each other.
- One candidate grows up in an affluent white New York City family, follows his father into the family business (property development), and makes a name for himself as a ruthless businessman, TV personality, and symbol of the wealthy elite, on the way to being elected the 45th President of the United States.
- The other, a mixed-race Jamaican and Indian girl, grows up in an immigrant household in a working class neighborhood in Oakland. She earns a law degree and goes into public service as a federal prosecutor, putting criminals behind bars, rising to state attorney general and U.S. Senator before becoming Vice President.
Do these personal stories matter? Yes and no: they may mean everything, or they may mean nothing. The first person described above could have turned out to be a champion for civil rights and a leader in improving race relations in the U.S. The second person could have turned her back on her life story and joined the entitled elite.
Let’s look at their track records to see how it has turned out.
Trump
During his first term in office:
- Donald Trump generally sought to strengthen support among segments of his mostly white base by igniting fears of “the other” through policies and rhetoric. He has doubled-down on that rhetoric in his 2024 campaign.
- Trump entered the presidential race claiming that Mexico was sending crime, drugs and rapists to the U.S. His “big, fat, beautiful wall” was clearly intended to keep Latinos out of the country. He also instituted a travel ban from predominantly Muslim countries.
- When a participant at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA killed a counter-protestor with his car, Trump’s response was that there are “very fine people on both sides.” He also targeted four congresswomen of color, suggesting that they go back to the countries from which they came (three of the four were born in the U.S.).
- Trump calls Black Lives Matter “a symbol of hate.” While overturning an Obama-era housing rule intended to fight racial segregation, he promised to “save our suburbs.” As President, he ordered a halt to anti-racism training in federal workplaces, calling it “anti-American propaganda.”
Trump’s relationship with white supremacy has only become bolder and more public since his days in office. The Proud Boys held major leadership and organizational roles in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021. One police officer was killed by the rioters, and 174 more were injured. Many Proud Boys members defended their role in the attack in court by arguing that they were taking directions from the President.
The Proud Boys formally deny being a white supremacist group, but many of its members associate with groups that are, and often attend white supremacist rallies. Donald Trump has promised to pardon the members of this group who have been convicted for their actions on January 6th if he is elected.
“Project 2025” is a 1,000 page blueprint conservative Republicans have ready, to be enacted immediately upon the election of a new Trump administration. It involves injecting the Executive Branch with power the writers of the Constitution never imagined, reversing many Biden administration policies, and ending all governmental programs and priorities designed to address the effects of still-prevalent racism in the United States.
Harris
Kamala Harris was the Attorney General of California and the U.S. Senator representing California. In those roles, she tackled a great many complex and difficult issues, including human trafficking, environmental justice, and criminal justice reform.
For the last three years, as Vice President in the Biden Administration, she has led or supported policies that have made monumental advances for Black, Latino, and other people of color in the U.S., including an economic recovery that has created the lowest Black and Latino unemployment rates on record.
Policies created by the Biden-Harris Administration have allowed more Black-owned businesses to be created than have been in 30 years, doubling the number from 2019 to 2022.
Through the passage of three enormous bipartisan pieces of legislation, The American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, and the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden and Harris administration were able to achieve radical advances for black families.
The Child Tax Credit Expansion within the American Rescue Plan cut in half the number of Black children living in poverty in 2021.
The administration is building new transportation infrastructure in isolated and underserved communities. It is connecting an estimated 5.5 million Black households to affordable high-speed internet through the Affordable Connectivity Program. The administration has financed projects that will replace hundreds of thousands of lead pipes, which at this point disproportionately remain in Black communities, posing the serious danger of lead poisoning.
Sitting in Congress right now are the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, which would strengthen the voting process for all Americans. Because this legislation is being obstructed by Republicans, the Biden/Harris administration is doing everything it can by Executive Order to protect Americans’ votes, such as doubling the number of voting rights enforcement attorneys and creating the Election Threats Task Force to investigate and prosecute threats against election workers.
The Biden/Harris administration has muscled into race and equity issues that have long plagued this country, putting policies in place that counter institutionalized racism’s continuing grip on the nation. Kamala Harris has proved to be a vital and active partner supporting these efforts to make the country more just and more safe for every American.
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