Senator Kamala Harris, potentially the first African American and Asian American U.S. Vice President, is rallying voters in Atlanta today.
Throughout her bid for the White House, Harris has been criticized for her tough on crime policies as California Attorney General that “swelled prison populations”.
When asked about voter outreach targeted directly at African American men, Harris told V103’s Maria Boynton “I’m never going to tell somebody that they are supposed to vote for us. We need to earn the vote.“ Harris went on to say there are many things that are “necessary” when addressing the needs of Black men in America. “Black men, like anyone else, they’re not monolithic” she said, adding “there are issues about criminal justice reform, but also about what we need to do to close the racial wealth gap.”
Harris, a graduate of Howard University, also told V103’s Maria Boynton, that she and candidate for President Joe Biden have a plan to provide $70 billion to HBCUs. To minimize the rate of Black men dropping out of college, Harris said the plan would include free tuition at public and private HBCUs for families making less than $125,000 a year. Referring to helping Black men raise their families, Harris said under the Biden-Harris plan, no family would have to pay more than 7% of their income for childcare.
In Atlanta, Harris is participating in virtual Biden for President finance events, along with an early vote launch mobilization.
Early in-person voting ends on October 30th in Georgia. Tomorrow is the last Saturday for early voting in Georgia.
The election is on November 3rd.