Speaker 1: Maya Harris is an American lawyer, public policy advocate, and writer.
Speaker 1: She was one of three senior policy advisers for Hillary
Speaker 1: Clinton's twenty sixteen presidential campaigns policy agenda, and she also
Speaker 1: served as chair of the twenty twenty presidential campaign of
Speaker 1: her sister, Kamala Harris. Now supporting her sister's bid for
Speaker 1: the presidency, Maya joins us to discuss the campaign, policy
Speaker 1: and the future of our democracy. This is Civic Cipher
Speaker 1: and I am your host, ramses Jah. All right, Maya Harris,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. It's a pleasure and an honor
Speaker 1: to have you on today. How are you doing.
Speaker 2: I'm doing great, ramses and thank you for having me.
Speaker 2: I'm delighted to be here.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. You know, it's funny because maybe three or four
Speaker 1: days ago, we had a chance to sit down and
Speaker 1: talk with your husband, and we had a fantastic conversation,
Speaker 1: very inspiring conversation, and we had a tremendous reaction to
Speaker 1: it online as well, and we had a chance to
Speaker 1: kind of get into his background just a bit. I
Speaker 1: know I gave a brief introduction, and I know that
Speaker 1: we all are kind of familiar with your background. But
Speaker 1: give us a little bit more, maybe the details we
Speaker 1: might not know that are kind of specific to you
Speaker 1: and not to you and your sister, tell us a
Speaker 1: little bit about just kind of your upbringing and kind
Speaker 1: of what led you to today's conversation.
Speaker 2: Sure, thank you for that opportunity.
Speaker 3: I well, I'm a lawyer by training, and I say
Speaker 3: by training because I've done a lot more policy advocacy
Speaker 3: than litigation. I did litigation earlier in my career, but
Speaker 3: I have had a focus over the course of my
Speaker 3: life on civil rights and social justice and have worked
Speaker 3: as an advocate in a number of organizations like the
Speaker 3: American Civil Liberties Union, which I head up the largest
Speaker 3: affiliate in California for a period of time.
Speaker 2: But have worked on those issues over a life time.
Speaker 4: And you know, I think that that my career path has,
Speaker 4: you know, come from the same upbringing that Comlin I share,
Speaker 4: which is, you know, growing up with parents who really
Speaker 4: instilled in us an idea that we had a duty
Speaker 4: and a responsibility to leave this world more fair and
Speaker 4: more adjust for more people than we entered it, and
Speaker 4: really set for us high expectations for us and what
Speaker 4: we could achieve, but even greater expectations of us and
Speaker 4: and understanding of an expectation of.
Speaker 2: Duty and responsibility to other people.
Speaker 1: Okay, so obviously there's a lot of that stuff that
Speaker 1: we know, especially those of us who's been very much
Speaker 1: invested in this campaign. You know, there's there's a lot
Speaker 1: of things that we know. We appreciate you kind of
Speaker 1: telling us the parts of the story that makes you know,
Speaker 1: your upbringing a little different from what we know, what
Speaker 1: makes your path a little bit more unique, I suppose.
Speaker 1: But you know, not too many people can answer this question.
Speaker 1: So while we have this opportunity, you know, for folks
Speaker 1: who are really excited about the campaign and for folks
Speaker 1: who you know they might be questioning what kind of
Speaker 1: person Kamala Harris really is behind you know, the politics
Speaker 1: and the speeches and so forth, talk to us a
Speaker 1: little bit about maybe what kind of sister Kamala Harris
Speaker 1: is to you and what kind of sister you have
Speaker 1: been to her?
Speaker 4: Well, I would say, I mean, she is an older sister,
Speaker 4: so she has been very protective as an older sister.
Speaker 4: You know, she's been an inspiration to me the way
Speaker 4: she has been for so many other people. I mean,
Speaker 4: she is someone who I have looked up to just
Speaker 4: in terms of her leadership over a course of a lifetime,
Speaker 4: and I mean demonstrated leadership even from when we were children,
Speaker 4: and you know, her being fearless and courageous and tough
Speaker 4: and just so resilient. I think all of those things
Speaker 4: are things that I admire so much and respect about her,
Speaker 4: and they're things that I have really seen in her
Speaker 4: since we were children. And you know, her protectiveness to
Speaker 4: you know that I've said that she has been toward me.
Speaker 2: It's not just toward me as her younger sister, but
Speaker 2: really to.
Speaker 4: Everyone in her life. And you know, from her earliest days,
Speaker 4: her best friend Stacy in kindergarten who's still a very
Speaker 4: good friend of hers today. She and Stacy in kindergarten
Speaker 4: literally were on the playground and some boy was picking
Speaker 4: on Stacy and Kamala stepped into the situation, and the
Speaker 4: boy turned on Kamala and he either picked up a
Speaker 4: stick or a rock and he hit Kamala in the
Speaker 4: face with it. And she still has a scar on
Speaker 4: the side of her eye from that. But it's sort
Speaker 4: of an example of what I mean when I say
Speaker 4: that she has had that kind of stance or instinct
Speaker 4: toward not only her younger sister, but to or you know,
Speaker 4: everyone in that situation, stepping into defense stacy. She did
Speaker 4: that again. I mean, she's done it so many times.
Speaker 4: But there was another particular example of that that stands
Speaker 4: out with her friend Wanda in high school, who had
Speaker 4: been being molested by her stepfather and when Kamala found
Speaker 4: out about that, Kamala said to Wanda, you need to
Speaker 4: come stay with us. And you know, Kama came home
Speaker 4: and asked my mom whether Wanda could come stay with
Speaker 4: us and try to help navigate the situation, and of
Speaker 4: course my mom said yes. But it, you know, again,
Speaker 4: is just sort of an example of what I mean
Speaker 4: about she has that protective instinct, but she also has,
Speaker 4: you know, this sense of responsibility toward other people where
Speaker 4: she will go into a situation where someone is vulnerable
Speaker 4: or needs help or is you know, struggling to figure
Speaker 4: something out and try to figure out how she can
Speaker 4: be helpful and whether it's in lifting up the person
Speaker 4: or getting them into a better situation. And that's just
Speaker 4: something that you know, she has always been And so yes,
Speaker 4: you protected toward her younger sister, but I've seen her
Speaker 4: have that kind of sense of you know, compassion, protection,
Speaker 4: empathy toward other people as well.
Speaker 1: Right now, you're someone who is well known in the
Speaker 1: political arena, So let's talk politics for a bit if
Speaker 1: we may. In your estimation, let me figure out how
Speaker 1: I want to ask this to you. How about this?
Speaker 1: What are give me three major issues in the selection
Speaker 1: that you feel like or that you've encountered, that you
Speaker 1: think people are most concerned about.
Speaker 4: Well, let's think these are great questions. I would say
Speaker 4: that people are concerned about the economy, and that's a
Speaker 4: very big issue. But I would say people are concerned
Speaker 4: about the economy and in particular about their costs, and
Speaker 4: you know, the desire to have lower costs, which is
Speaker 4: something that Kama's very focused on, and in fact, it
Speaker 4: is her number one priority, which is to bring down
Speaker 4: costs for people, especially for like sort of the everyday
Speaker 4: things that you care about, like your groceries and your
Speaker 4: housing and prescription drugs, which you know they've already brought
Speaker 4: down the costs for example, vincelind to thirty five dollars.
Speaker 4: Hen want to do a lot more.
Speaker 2: She wants to do a lot more of that.
Speaker 4: So I would say costs, you know, and the economy
Speaker 4: are an important thing. I think people are really concerned
Speaker 4: about healthcare, and rightly so, because we've had progress over
Speaker 4: these last several years through the Affordable Care Act of
Speaker 4: getting millions more people onto healthcare. And there is a
Speaker 4: very distinct difference between her and Donald Trump on this issue,
Speaker 4: which is a comas trying to figure out how we
Speaker 4: expand and build on the Affordable Care Act. And one
Speaker 4: of the things that I think relates again to an
Speaker 4: issue that people care a lot about, is an example specifically,
Speaker 4: is of how she wants to expand it is she
Speaker 4: has just unfolded a policy which would for the first
Speaker 4: time ever expand Medicare to cover home care for seniors,
Speaker 4: which speaks to an issue a lot of people have
Speaker 4: on their mind today, which is the Sandwich generation. And
Speaker 4: you know, for your listeners who may not be familiar
Speaker 4: with that, it's the idea of people who are doing
Speaker 4: everything they can do every day to go to work
Speaker 4: and build a life, but who are also taking care
Speaker 4: of children at the same time that they're taking care
Speaker 4: of either an ailing or elderly parent, and so people
Speaker 4: are feeling squeezed and feeling the you know inability to
Speaker 4: manage it all, and certainly the inability to afford it all.
Speaker 4: And so Comma's looking at how do we expand Medicare
Speaker 4: to lower costs for families are dealing with these issues
Speaker 4: around caretaking, let seniors still be able to live at
Speaker 4: home and indignity, but also importantly get better wages for
Speaker 4: care workers and improve the quality of care. And we
Speaker 4: can do that by expanding Medicare, and she has a
Speaker 4: whole plan to do that. But on the flip side,
Speaker 4: Donald Trump wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act. So
Speaker 4: not only is he not looking at how to ease
Speaker 4: the burden that people are feeling on something so important
Speaker 4: like your own health care or providing for family members,
Speaker 4: He's not only not only looking at that, he's looking
Speaker 4: at how do we rip away what we already have
Speaker 4: with the Affordable Care Act? And I just think that's
Speaker 4: something else that people are really concerned about. And when
Speaker 4: Donald Trump was president, because you might remember the Affordable
Speaker 4: Care Act came in through President Obama, well when Donald
Speaker 4: Trump became president, three hundred thousand black Americans lost their
Speaker 4: health insurance in his first two years. And he now
Speaker 4: wants to go further and rip away more of it.
Speaker 4: So I just say that to say I think that's
Speaker 4: another issue that is on people's minds. But it also
Speaker 4: is one of those issues that has a very distinct, sharp,
Speaker 4: clear difference between where Kamala has had it, which is forward. Yeah,
Speaker 4: where she's had it which is forward, and Donald Trump,
Speaker 4: who's trying to take people backward. Okay, well, but you
Speaker 4: did ask me for three, So I'm going to give
Speaker 4: you one other one, which is And one of the
Speaker 4: reason I want to give you this one is because
Speaker 4: Kamala is so excited about it, which is about small businesses.
Speaker 4: But the other reason I wanted to mention it is
Speaker 4: because it's related to the bigger point about the economy
Speaker 4: and also opportunity, which is that Kamala really sees how
Speaker 4: as it relates to the economy, our small businesses are
Speaker 4: the engine right in the economy in terms of growth
Speaker 4: in the economy but also providing jobs in our economy.
Speaker 4: And small business owners though still struggle right whether it's
Speaker 4: to try to get a business off the ground as
Speaker 4: an entrepreneur and a small business owner, but also in
Speaker 4: terms of if you have a business, how to grow
Speaker 4: it and so she's really excited about this because it
Speaker 4: also speaks to people's you know, ambitions and aspirations and
Speaker 4: their innovation. Right, let's support all of that. And so
Speaker 4: one of the examples of what she wants to do
Speaker 4: is to take the tax deduction for startups from five
Speaker 4: thousand dollars, which is what it is today, to fifty
Speaker 4: thousand dollars because she knows that nobody can really start
Speaker 4: a small business with is five thousand dollars, right, So, right, right,
Speaker 4: So let's give people more help in order to be
Speaker 4: able to not only get their ambitious ideas off the ground,
Speaker 4: but to be able to invest in our economy through
Speaker 4: investing in entrepreneurs and small business owners. Again, very distinct
Speaker 4: from Donald Trump, who really is constantly focused on wealthy
Speaker 4: corporations and wealthy individuals. Sure not, you know, sort of
Speaker 4: every day you know, people working, working, working class folks,
Speaker 4: middle class communities that are trying to get ahead. He's
Speaker 4: focused on, you know, wealthy individuals and wealthy corporations. And
Speaker 4: so I think that that is something that people are
Speaker 4: trying to figure out, right, which is maybe you don't
Speaker 4: want to work for somebody else, right, and maybe you
Speaker 4: want to start start your own business. You already have
Speaker 4: your own business. She's focused on how can she help
Speaker 4: you get ahead with that path as opposed to, you know,
Speaker 4: more tax cuts for people who don't really really frankly
Speaker 4: don't need it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So Okay, well, I appreciate that I want
Speaker 1: to get through as many of these questions as I can,
Speaker 1: because again, this is kind of some rare ara that
Speaker 1: we're in right now. So I feel like you're also
Speaker 1: in a position to kind of give us a very
Speaker 1: unique answer for this next question. So what are some
Speaker 1: of the more memorable whatever comes to mind, the more
Speaker 1: memorable like lies or myths floating around on social media
Speaker 1: about your sister that you have heard and would like
Speaker 1: to dispel.
Speaker 4: There's so many.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think one thing is that for people.
Speaker 4: Who would say that she's not you know, ready or
Speaker 4: qualified for the presidency, you know, it's such a distortion
Speaker 4: of her record, which is a career of spending her
Speaker 4: entire career in public service serving other people in the
Speaker 4: largest state and most diverse state in the country, and
Speaker 4: you know, having been elected district attorney, having then become
Speaker 4: the Attorney general for the entire state of California, having become,
Speaker 4: you know, the Senator for the state of California and
Speaker 4: being vice president for the past four years. I don't know.
Speaker 4: I haven't seen a quote unquote resume that's more qualified
Speaker 4: for the presidency of the United States than that, Sure,
Speaker 4: And so you know, I suppose that that might be
Speaker 4: an example of something that has been distorted about her.
Speaker 4: You know, I guess what I would say partly about
Speaker 4: that is that and part of the reason I have
Speaker 4: to think so hard about it is that we're focused
Speaker 4: on the truth telling in terms of what her vision
Speaker 4: is for the country. Sure, we're focused on having people
Speaker 4: get to know who she really is through the positive
Speaker 4: affirmative narrative of who she is and who she's always
Speaker 4: been and what she has fought for. And there's so
Speaker 4: much to talk about there. And we also don't get
Speaker 4: distracted and lose focused on what's at stake in this
Speaker 4: election by focusing on the the distractions that Donald Trump
Speaker 4: and his allies are trying to create in order to
Speaker 4: divert you from what is the promise of a Kamala
Speaker 4: Harris administration and a Kamala Harris track record. And so,
Speaker 4: you know, the stakes are so high in the election,
Speaker 4: and we're really fighting for the country's future. We are
Speaker 4: focused on talking about people's lives, what the solutions are
Speaker 4: that Kamala has and plans are that she has for
Speaker 4: improving the people's lives, and how you can count on
Speaker 4: that those are not campaigned promises in the way that
Speaker 4: people talk about, oh, election promises that aren't delivered. The
Speaker 4: Kama has been delivering for the American people for her
Speaker 4: entire career. And so I think that we're really focused
Speaker 4: on not being sidetracked and distracted by the lies and distortions,
Speaker 4: because that's why they're lying and distorting. They want you
Speaker 4: to be off onto another path as opposed that's untrue,
Speaker 4: because they know if you focus on the truth, there
Speaker 4: is really only one choice in this election, if you
Speaker 4: care about your lives being lifted up and you care
Speaker 4: about moving forward to a positive vision where everybody, every
Speaker 4: American can see themselves versus you know, being taken backward
Speaker 4: to a time when rights and freedoms were for some
Speaker 4: of us but not all of us. And so you know,
Speaker 4: there's only really one choice if you want to move forward,
Speaker 4: and that's kinme a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I feel like there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: having to come to terms with the fact that they've
Speaker 1: been fed you know, those lies in that misinformation. One
Speaker 1: person comes to mind dial Hughgley, who recently had to
Speaker 1: go on his show and apologize for not only like
Speaker 1: believing a lot of what he heard about Kamala Harris
Speaker 1: initially and her during her initial run for the presidency
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, but also parroting and echoing some of
Speaker 1: those talking points on his platform, and recently he had
Speaker 1: to make his apology as loud as his transgression, and
Speaker 1: for a lot of us that look to him as
Speaker 1: the comedian and as kind of the activist that he's
Speaker 1: become in recent years, you know, those of us that
Speaker 1: never did our deep dives, myself included, and we've admitted
Speaker 1: that on this show. We had to come to terms
Speaker 1: with the fact that, Okay, Kamala Harris's overall public strategy,
Speaker 1: her approach to you know, police, her approach to marijuana,
Speaker 1: her approach to you know, and then of course there
Speaker 1: were other things that we were bumping up against too,
Speaker 1: of course, as you know, the false narratives that have
Speaker 1: been spun by the right and the far right. As
Speaker 1: you mentioned, we had to come to terms with the
Speaker 1: fact that some of this stuff, like we had been
Speaker 1: tricked by some of this stuff, And the truth is
Speaker 1: is that there's not an insignificant amount of people who
Speaker 1: have read into and and bought into some of that
Speaker 1: misinformation and disinformation. So when we talked to your husband
Speaker 1: about this too a bit, so talk to us a
Speaker 1: bit about sort of the narrative that the narrative of
Speaker 1: black voters specifically and the role they could play in
Speaker 1: this selection. And maybe if you had a message that
Speaker 1: you could give specifically to black voters, what would that be.
Speaker 4: Well, one thing that we know is black voters have
Speaker 4: been decisive in every presidential election.
Speaker 1: Very good Black.
Speaker 4: Men and black women have been decisive in every presidential election.
Speaker 4: And so we need to make sure that all everyone
Speaker 4: in the black community is informed to the degree that
Speaker 4: they may have Like you said that you were, and
Speaker 4: we know the DL was being misled by some of
Speaker 4: the information disinformation that has been out there. Make sure
Speaker 4: that black folks aren't informed and that everybody is registered
Speaker 4: in voting in numbers that are so overwhelming that we
Speaker 4: leave no doubt where the black community stands when it
Speaker 4: terms in terms of the direction of the country. And
Speaker 4: I say that because, you know, we really are talking
Speaker 4: about too fundamentally different views of the country. One where
Speaker 4: Kamala has a whole agenda for every American, but that
Speaker 4: does also very specifically address issues and disparities and concerns
Speaker 4: that have been raised in the black community. And on
Speaker 4: the other hand, you have someone in Donald Trump who
Speaker 4: has antagonized the black community, who has not had an
Speaker 4: agenda about lifting up the black community, who wants to
Speaker 4: You got to look at his Project twenty twenty five
Speaker 4: agenda so that you can know what he has in
Speaker 4: store on issues that the black community, like wanting to
Speaker 4: have blanket police immunity for any actions like as I
Speaker 4: said earlier, ripping away healthcare, which is ensuring millions of
Speaker 4: black people, you know. And I could go on and
Speaker 4: on and look at his track record, right, I mean,
Speaker 4: the person who was the Birther Live, you know, promoting
Speaker 4: Birther lives about our first black president, Barack Obama. The
Speaker 4: person who watched the COVID nineteen response which disproportionately left
Speaker 4: Black Americans dead and black owned businesses shuttered. So I
Speaker 4: say that to say, you got to look at make
Speaker 4: sure people are informed, you know, not only about who
Speaker 4: commonly is and the positive things that she's done her
Speaker 4: entire life to lift up the black community, but also
Speaker 4: having concrete plans to keep building on progress. Okay, as
Speaker 4: president United States. And then look at a track record
Speaker 4: of someone who has antagonized the black community, you know,
Speaker 4: falsely click accused the exonerated five of murder and call
Speaker 4: for their execution, and who has during the four years
Speaker 4: he had as president, done things that have devastated the
Speaker 4: black community and has a plan in Project twenty twenty
Speaker 4: five that surely will take us even further back as
Speaker 4: a community. So I think that those are all important.
Speaker 4: Being informed and then being registered and voting. And so
Speaker 4: in Arizona, of course, for example, we only have eight
Speaker 4: days obviously nationally to election day, but this Friday, November first,
Speaker 4: is going to be the last day for early vote,
Speaker 4: and we're telling everybody get out and do your voting
Speaker 4: early because of course election day, Tuesday, November fifth, is
Speaker 4: the last day to vote, but don't wait till the
Speaker 4: last minute. Get out there and do it early because
Speaker 4: you never know what might happen on election day where
Speaker 4: your heartbreaks down or your childcare falls through and you
Speaker 4: don't get a chance to go vote. So every vote
Speaker 4: is going to count in this election. And again thinking
Speaker 4: about Arizona in twenty twenty the Biden Harris ticket in
Speaker 4: twenty twenty one in Arizona, but less than eleven thousand votes,
Speaker 4: do you know framss that that is less than one
Speaker 4: half of one percent okay, of the vote. And so
Speaker 4: if there are people out there who are saying, well,
Speaker 4: my vote doesn't matter, oh yes, your vote does matter.
Speaker 4: Every single vote is going to matter in this election.
Speaker 4: It may come down to a handful of votes per precinct.
Speaker 4: So if you sit this one out, you could have
Speaker 4: very well been the vote to take this over the
Speaker 4: finish line. So I think those would be the messages
Speaker 4: that I would have to Black voters to please be
Speaker 4: informed as we usually are as voters, but in this election,
Speaker 4: we know there's so much misinformation and disinformation out there,
Speaker 4: so we have to make sure that we are truly
Speaker 4: informed and educated. One way to do that is to
Speaker 4: look at Kamala's plans versus Donald Trump's Project twenty twenty
Speaker 4: five agenda, and then to just make sure we're registered
Speaker 4: and we're getting out there voting and we're doing it early.
Speaker 1: Okay, So in the past, you've organized conferences around police
Speaker 1: community relations and advocated for police reform. Kamala is famously
Speaker 1: a former attorney general. As we've discussed, talk to us
Speaker 1: about why this is important and what the Harris campaign
Speaker 1: is planning to do to address some of these critical
Speaker 1: issues that have caused some voters to pause in terms
Speaker 1: of expressing their enthusiasm or indeed heading out to the polls.
Speaker 4: Well, I think that you can look at the work
Speaker 4: that she has done in terms of being the first
Speaker 4: state to in California when she was Attorney general, pushing
Speaker 4: for body cameras for police officers in the state of California,
Speaker 4: again the largest, most you know, diverse state in the country,
Speaker 4: and the bills that she's fought for for criminal justice
Speaker 4: reform and police reform in the Senate when she was
Speaker 4: a senator, and the track record of work that she
Speaker 4: has had when she was first elected as district Attorney
Speaker 4: in San Francisco, where she really looked at and established
Speaker 4: the first you know, back on track program, which you
Speaker 4: know your listeners may be aware of, but it really
Speaker 4: was an effort to you know, take people who've been
Speaker 4: involved in the criminal justice system and give them a
Speaker 4: second chance. You know, a very Christian value, right, which is.
Speaker 2: To have a second chance.
Speaker 4: If you, you know, have had something that you have
Speaker 4: done in in your past, it shouldn't necessarily define you
Speaker 4: for the rest of your life. And so you know,
Speaker 4: she's had a track record. I think of looking at
Speaker 4: how we you know, continue to strengthen justice right in
Speaker 4: the and with a specific focus on the justice system.
Speaker 4: And I think that unfortunately we have had the inability
Speaker 4: to get some of the bills passed in the Congress
Speaker 4: that she has you know, supported and brought forward for
Speaker 4: criminal justice reform and specifically as it relates to some
Speaker 4: of the police reform issues. And so this is again
Speaker 4: why you know, it's so important for everybody to get
Speaker 4: out and vote and vote not only for Kamala and
Speaker 4: for president, but vote Democrat up and down the ticket,
Speaker 4: because you may have a congressional race or a senator
Speaker 4: a Senate race.
Speaker 2: In your state that if.
Speaker 4: Kamala has a Democratic Senate and a Democratic Congress House
Speaker 4: you know, House of Representatives, then with her as president,
Speaker 4: we will be able to finally act on some of
Speaker 4: the bills that she brought forward even as a senator
Speaker 4: that would improve our justice system or improve our protection
Speaker 4: of voting rights. Another issue she champion when she was
Speaker 4: a senator and certainly before she even became a senator,
Speaker 4: voting rights.
Speaker 2: We haven't been able to get the.
Speaker 4: Voting rights legislation passed, and so I think it's important
Speaker 4: to look at, you know, the voting up and down
Speaker 4: the ticket and voting Democrat up and down the ticket,
Speaker 4: so that we can not only send Kama to the
Speaker 4: White House's president, but actually have a Congress that's willing
Speaker 4: to work with her. Some throm binness country forward in
Speaker 4: these ways exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. So one of the things that we had
Speaker 1: encountered in interacting with our listeners in terms of lending
Speaker 1: our support to Kamala Harris was that, you know, again
Speaker 1: some early misinformation and disinformation. Okay, she was a prosecutor,
Speaker 1: She locked up black men for marijuana crimes, all that
Speaker 1: sort of stuff, which we to be fair, we had
Speaker 1: probably three or four different episodes talking about all of
Speaker 1: that stuff and how it was either exaggerated, outright just
Speaker 1: untrue or whatever. You know. So we've addressed all that stuff.
Speaker 1: The thing is that there are some people who it
Speaker 1: just didn't really sit right with them, the fact that
Speaker 1: she worked so closely with actual on the ground police officers,
Speaker 1: she was top cop. You know, these are the sorts
Speaker 1: of things that we heard quite a bit from, you know,
Speaker 1: our listeners and just people when we do things live
Speaker 1: in person around the country. And one of the things
Speaker 1: that we were able to talk to your husband Tony about,
Speaker 1: and one of the things that we had been suspecting
Speaker 1: and he was able to confirm for us, was that
Speaker 1: her approach to the criminal justice system was one of
Speaker 1: if I can get into this system and I can
Speaker 1: ascend the ranks, then I'd be in a better position
Speaker 1: to create some changes that will affect the community, black
Speaker 1: and brown communities in particular. I'd be in a better
Speaker 1: position to do it from the inside and from the top,
Speaker 1: then I would be from the outside with a picket sign.
Speaker 1: And this is what we had begun to suspect sometime
Speaker 1: after her being nominated as vice president, And this is
Speaker 1: kind of where we've been the whole time. And again,
Speaker 1: it's just these unique opportunities where we get to have
Speaker 1: conversations with people like you who grew up with her,
Speaker 1: who know this firsthand and can provide some insight into
Speaker 1: the type of person that she is, because the truth is,
Speaker 1: there are some people who are afraid of having a
Speaker 1: police officer in the White House. They're not more afraid
Speaker 1: of that than they are of Donald Trump. But the
Speaker 1: fact is is that again it might give some folks pause.
Speaker 1: So I appreciate you bringing some light and some clarity
Speaker 1: to that. And I was able to tell your husband
Speaker 1: the same thing because this is something that at least
Speaker 1: on this show. These are things that we discussed quite
Speaker 1: a bit. Now before I let you go, I have
Speaker 1: another unique opportunity to.
Speaker 4: Say, but can I but can I plea? Can I
Speaker 4: just say one thing on that rams, please? Because I
Speaker 4: think you know, given I had a devoted my career
Speaker 4: was devoted to being a civil rights lawyer and advocate.
Speaker 4: So I was on the outside of the system advocating
Speaker 4: right for policies, and you know she was on the
Speaker 4: inside of system. You know, the symbol for justice is,
Speaker 4: you know, a lady holding a scale, right. And what
Speaker 4: I have come to very clearly understand is that for
Speaker 4: the scales of justice to balance, you need to have
Speaker 4: people with our values both outside the system and inside
Speaker 4: the system, right. And that really does speak to that point.
Speaker 4: About people who have a sense of what's right and wrong,
Speaker 4: who have grown up with a strong sense of what's
Speaker 4: right and wrong, and who are have a positive, forward
Speaker 4: looking vision of the future and what is possible in
Speaker 4: America right in terms of opportunity for everyone, justice for everyone,
Speaker 4: equality for everyone, and that there are many roles to
Speaker 4: play in getting to that vision of America, and some
Speaker 4: of those roles are inside the system and some are
Speaker 4: outside the system. So I just wanted to say that
Speaker 4: and that when it comes to the justice system, you
Speaker 4: really do need people both inside and outside. And the
Speaker 4: thing that I think is incredible about Kamala's career is
Speaker 4: the way that she has inspired other people to take
Speaker 4: on all the roles. Yes, to have people take on
Speaker 4: the roles outside the system the same way I did,
Speaker 4: but to inspire people who never would have thought of
Speaker 4: going into government, of being an elected office, of being
Speaker 4: a local district attorney. Has inspired other people to see
Speaker 4: the way that that matters too. And I have meant
Speaker 4: women all over this country, men all over this country
Speaker 4: who say they looked at Kamala and the path that
Speaker 4: she has trail blazed, truly trail blazed, and had then
Speaker 4: the inspiration to see a role for them that they
Speaker 4: did not see before that was possible. So I just
Speaker 4: wanted to be able to share that.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you did because that was actually
Speaker 1: what It's easier for you to say that and for
Speaker 1: it to land with our listeners than it is for me.
Speaker 1: So this is I appreciate you taking an extra moment
Speaker 1: to bring some clarity to that, because this is kind
Speaker 1: of what we've been trying to explain to people who
Speaker 1: are still kind of riding that line, even at this
Speaker 1: late hour in the election cycle. So one last quick
Speaker 1: question before I let you go in know we're short
Speaker 1: on time. Trump was in the headlines recently about his
Speaker 1: sort of closing argument rally at Madison Square Garden and
Speaker 1: how it was sort of overshadowed by racist rhetoric. What
Speaker 1: do you think would be the closing argument of the
Speaker 1: Harris campaign? So just you know, your final thoughts on
Speaker 1: what this moment in history means and what it is
Speaker 1: that your sister intends to do with this country.
Speaker 4: Well, I believe that she will, you know, continue to
Speaker 4: lift up the fact that it is time for.
Speaker 5: Us to turn the page, turn the page on all
Speaker 5: the division and the chaos and the degradation and the
Speaker 5: dehumanization of Trump.
Speaker 6: I mean, his closing rally was in plain sight all
Speaker 6: of what it is time for this country to.
Speaker 4: Just say no to and move away, turn the page
Speaker 4: to a new way forward and to in America that
Speaker 4: is for everyone and in which everyone can see themselves
Speaker 4: and can prosper everyone. And that is who she is
Speaker 4: and who she's always been about everyone, not just some.
Speaker 4: And she's going to be for everyone whether you voted
Speaker 4: for her or not. But the point is, if you
Speaker 4: want to move yourself and your family and your community forward,
Speaker 4: there really is only one choice, and that is Kamala
Speaker 4: And so I believe that you know she will close
Speaker 4: her election in the way that she has really I think,
Speaker 4: lifted up things throughout this campaign and lifted up people
Speaker 4: throughout this campaign and being very clear who she's fighting for,
Speaker 4: and she is fighting for you. She is not like
Speaker 4: Donald Trump looking out for himself. She is fighting for you.
Speaker 4: And I think we will hear that again loud and
Speaker 4: clear in her closing argument. And that is what we
Speaker 4: can be confident looking at her track record, we can
Speaker 4: be confident that that is who she will fight for
Speaker 4: when we elect her president of the United States.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it fantastic. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for all of that. One last thing, is there
Speaker 1: any social media is that you want to leave any
Speaker 1: websites anything like that where people can get more information
Speaker 1: about the campaign, about you personally, anything you got going on.
Speaker 4: We would love to have all of your listeners go
Speaker 4: and get their early vote in and then come help
Speaker 4: us get this over the finish line. Going to go
Speaker 4: dot Kamala Harris dot com to volunteer, whether you have
Speaker 4: a couple hours, or you have a couple of days,
Speaker 4: or whether you can do it for the.
Speaker 2: Next eight days until election day. We would love to
Speaker 2: have people come and volunteer with us.
Speaker 4: And for any of your listeners who still have questions
Speaker 4: about Kamala's plans, her policies, where she's going to take
Speaker 4: this country and how she's going to take it forward,
Speaker 4: they can go to Kamala Harris dot com and she
Speaker 4: has everything there for people to see, and that will
Speaker 4: be I think, a roadmap for people to see how
Speaker 4: we are going to get to this new way forward
Speaker 4: and this briber future that Kamala is painting for all
Speaker 4: of us.
Speaker 1: Fantastic. Well, once again, I'd like to thank you for
Speaker 1: coming on and sharing your insights and your unique perspective
Speaker 1: on hopefully our next President of the United States of America.
Speaker 1: Once again. Today's guest is Maya Harris, American lawyer, public
Speaker 1: policy advocate, writer, and sister to the Democratic nominee for President,
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Ramses, it was a wonderful talking to you.
Speaker 4: Thank you for allowing me to be with you today.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you