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As we all now know, this weekend in Charlottesville, hundreds of white supremacists gathered with torches, shouting racial, ethnic and religious epithets about Black and Jewish people, chanting Nazi slurs, waving the Confederate flag and banners emblazoned with giant swastikas. A peaceful protester was murdered. Two brave police officers lost their lives.
To some Americans, this was shocking and scary. They asked themselves how could this happen - in the United States of America - in 2017?
To other Americans, what they know is, Charlottesville exemplifies an undeniable reality that lurks just beneath the surface in this nation we love.
And as the country grappled with this tragedy, we were told that “many sides” should be condemned.
Many sides.
I often advocate that we look at many sides of an issue, walk in someone else’s shoes, and identify and reject false choices.
But there are not “many sides” to this.
“Many sides” is what kept children in this country at separate schools and adults at separate lunch counters for decades.
“Many sides” is what turned a blind eye when Emmett Till was lynched and stood silent when marchers were beat in Selma for “disturbing the peace.”
“Many sides” is what my parents and thousands of others fought against during the Civil Rights Movement.
“Many sides” suggests that there is no right side or wrong side, that all are morally equal. But I reject that. It’s not hard to spot the wrong side here. They’re the ones with the torches and the swastikas.
Let’s recall what led to the march in Charlottesville in the first place: the removal of Confederate statues, which celebrated men who fought for an America that kept human beings enslaved. That’s an America in which I’d never be allowed to vote, much less be elected a U.S. Senator.
The white supremacists who gathered in Charlottesville were there to protest so-called “attacks” on their self perceived racial superiority. That’s it – that’s their grievance.
Imagine how they’d feel if they were told they could not come into America because of their religion. Or that they could not serve in our military because of their gender identity. Or that their polling place was shut down as a part of a systematic effort to stop them from voting. Or could be separated without warning from their family or the country they call home. Or that they could lose their job because of who they love.
These are things happening right now in our country, too. And if we care about what happened yesterday in Charlottesville, we’ve got to care about everyday discrimination as well.
If we say this is not who we are, it’s on us to show that.
I feel a special responsibility, and I hope and expect my colleagues in the U.S. Senate do, too. It’s easy to tweet that hate has no place in America. But no legislator should be allowed to be horrified on a Saturday and then vote to drag America backward on a Monday.
There is hope to be found. The truth is that the vast majority of Americans are good, fair and just and they want their country to reflect those ideals. And the fact that yesterday’s explicit hate was met with near-universal condemnation affirms my belief in our capacity to overcome evil.
We don’t have to let extremists define us. Opportunities to do right are right in front of us. We just have to seize them.
The fight over this Supreme Court seat is going to be one of the most serious fights we’ve faced under this President.
We cannot relent.
Today, I’m reminded of the commitment I made on Election Night 2016. When our nation’s values and ideals are under attack – do we retreat or do we fight?
I say, we fight.
This Supreme Court vacancy puts issues that affect every single American in the balance, from a woman’s constitutionally protected right to make her own health care decisions to privacy, equality and civil rights. Given the stakes of this seat which will determine the fate of protected constitutional rights, the American people, who are set to vote in less than four months, deserve to have their voice heard. We should not vote on confirmation until they have voted at the ballot box. The President’s list of potential nominees are complete non-starters. They are conservative ideologues instead of mainstream jurists. We cannot and will not accept them to serve on the highest court in the land which is supposed to stand for equal protection under the law and justice for all.
Our country’s success depends on the right of all workers – including teachers, firefighters, peace officers and nurses – to collectively negotiate fair wages, benefits and protections. The Supreme Court’s decision today in Janus vs. AFSCME undermines the basic American premise, held up by courts for more than four decades, that if a union represents all employees in negotiating and administering a collective bargaining agreement, then all employees ought to share the costs o...f that representation.
We also cannot ignore that this decision is part of an ongoing trend of the Roberts Court that has repeatedly sided with employers over employees, corporations over consumers, and special interests over vulnerable Americans. Congress must act to bolster the American labor movement that built the middle class of this country. It is up to all of us to fight to protect the ability of working families to make a living wage and pursue the American dream now more than ever.
When I was AG of CA, I defended a law that kept anti-choice “clinics” from lying to and misleading patients about their health care options. Today, the Supreme Court wrongly decided those clinics can withhold medical information from women. All women deserve full access to care.
6/26/13 Prop 8 was dismissed.
6/26/15 Marriage equality became the law of the land.
Happy Anniversary to all the couples celebrating in the coming days. #LoveisLove
The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the President’s Muslim Ban is shameful. This nation was built upon the promise that people of all faiths should be welcome to our shores. Today's decision is an utter failure on that promise and an abdication of our moral leadership. Let’s be clear – this Muslim Ban was never been about national security. It was about discrimination against immigrants and an entire religion.
On Friday, I visited the Otay Mesa detention facility to meet with the mothers who had their children taken from them. We must keep fighting to reunite these families.
I’ve just introduced a bill to require that farm workers are paid minimum wage and have overtime rights. This is a matter of basic fairness and justice.
U.S. Senator Kamala Harris added a post from June 22 to their timeline.
Just finished touring the Otay Mesa detention facility. We were not allowed by ICE to bring phones or cameras inside. During my visit, I spoke with mothers who have been separated from their children, some as young as five years old.
These women do not know for certain where their children are, do not know if and when they will be reunited and some have not been able to even speak with them by phone.
This is unacceptable. These mothers have fled some of the murder capitals of the world and fled domestic violence. And our government is treating them like they pose the same threat as a member of a transnational gang.
A little later today, I will be in San Diego to visit with mothers at the Otay Mesa Detention Facility who were separated from their children at the border. I’ll share updates of what I see and learn. Check back with me as the day goes on.
This morning, as I prepare to visit the Otay Mesa Detention Facility and meet mothers who were separated from their children at the border, I’m thinking of the more than 2,000 children who woke up today scared and without their parents.
There are over 2,000 children in our country who will go to bed tonight asking, “Where’s my mommy, where’s my daddy?” This is an outrage.
U.S. Senator Kamala Harris added a new photo.
U.S. Senator Kamala Harris was live.
On the Senate floor now to talk about the Trump Administration's zero-tolerance policy and this Executive Order. Watch live.
Taking these babies from their parents is unnecessary and it’s cruel. The law does not require it. We’re talking about innocent children who are being traumatized.
