WASHINGTON — As protests continued after the killing of George Floyd, community organizers in a recent virtual town hall pressed California Senator Kamala Harris on what should be done about racist cops and whether Congress would be “a wet blanket” on the hopes of young activists clamoring for big change.
In a warm but direct tone, the moderators also hit on perhaps the most significant concern regarding Harris as a top potential running mate for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden: How can people trust you to change the criminal justice system when, as California’s attorney general for six years, you were part of that system?
For Harris, the question wasn’t new. She’s faced similar probing in recent years, first as a Senate candidate in 2016, then during her presidential run last year. Both campaigns came after earlier waves of Black Lives Matter demonstrations opened the way for more critical examination of the nation’s laws on crime, justice, and punishment.
Now, after Floyd died while begging for breath as a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes, Democratic voters are grappling with their own question: With America at a tipping point over police brutality and institutional racism, will voters see Harris’s law enforcement past as an asset or a liability?
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