45The Long Campaign Kamala Harris
Fromthestart,her
decisiontobecomea
prosecutorwasmet
withskepticism.“Atbest,
myfamilymembers
thoughtit wasa curious
decision,”Harrissaidon
June14 at the 100 Black
Men of America gala in
Las Vegas. Even before
she announced her
campaign for president,
critics referred to
Harris derisively as a
“cop” and pointed to her record in
California—including her support
for legislation that would allow
prosecutors to charge parents
over their child’s truancy, her
opposition to a 2015 bill that would
have mandated the attorney
general’s office investigate officer-
involved shootings, and her
inconsistent stance on the death
penalty—as reason for suspicion.
On the trail, Harris has been
trying to flip that
narrative, emphasizing
efforts she made to send
low-level drug offenders
into rehabilitation instead
of prison and institute
racial bias training for
police officers. “I want to
be the person who helps
fix things, and I’ve grown
up knowing the biases
that have informed our
criminal justice system,”
she recalled telling her
family as she defended her career
decision. “There is frankly
not a black man I know,
be he a relative, a friend,
or a co-worker, who has
not faced profiling or
discrimination.”
During a two-day,
five-event swing through
Las Vegas, in the early
primary state of Nevada,
many voters seemed tobe buying Harris’s message. Some
even said her prosecutorial skills
andinsightswouldbenefither
aspresident.
“She knows how to fight for
what’s needed, and I think that
experience will help change what
needs to be changed,” said Latonia
Coleman, 50, of Las Vegas. “So yes,
she was a prosecutor, but now she
understands what the rules are.
She knows how to fight against the
rules, and she knows what rules
need to be changed.”
“If a woman is doing it, we’re
always going to get criticized,” said
Monica Jackson, 49, of Henderson,
Nev. “If a guy is doing it, ‘Oh, he’s
just tough.’ I don’t care what color
you are. That’s just the stigma that’s
been around forever, but I’m old
enough and wise enough to know
and not to get baited by somebody
else’s response to her experience.”
Almost six months into a
yearlong pre-primary season,
polls show Harris in the upper
echelon of candidates. Voters
are still wading through the vast
array of candidates’ policies and
backgrounds,though,andthefirst
roundofdebatesonJune 26 - 27 in
Miami could be a turning point.
Yvette Williams, who chairs
the Clark County Black Caucus in
Nevada, said the group plans to
endorse a candidate this summer.
While Harris is among their top
choices, they still have questions.
“She’ll have to rise above that,”
Williams, 61, said of Harris’s time
as a prosecutor. “I don’t know what
her core value is. I don’t
know how she’s grown
around some of these
issues. When she made
that decision, what
was the basis of that
decision? Those are the
kind of conversations
we want to have with
her.” �Tyler Pager
Photos by Kareem BlackThe Issue● Sell a progressive
social platform
while also defending
her record as a
prosecutor to
doubtful votersKamala Harris rose through the political ranks
as a prosecutor in California. Now a U.S. senator
running in the Democratic race for president, she’s
having to defend her background against some in
the party who question her progressive credentials.
The StopsLasVegas
①Immigration
roundtableJackson⑤Campaignrally④ 100 BlackMenof
Americagala③Women’s meet-
and-greet② Fight for $15 rally8 mi.5 mi.