Kamala Harris - insurrectionist and murdering rioter supporter,
or peaceful protest supporter?
CONTEXT
Criticisms of President Biden, his administration and democrats generally are coming fast and vicious. The 2022 election season is well-underway. So far, most attacks seem to be significantly or completely grounded in lies, misleading statements, partisan motivated (flawed) reasoning, etc. One of the attacks is on statements that Harris made about protesters in the weeks before the 2020 election. The radical right characterizes her statements as open support for insurrection, violent riots and lawlessness. These days, when the radical right hurls accusations at political or social opposition, it seems to usually be the case that they are projecting and often the targets are not doing much or any of the accused bad behavior. Is that the case with Harris? Three different analyses by reliable sources say that Harris did not express support for riots or illegal protest. The three analyses are by AP, Reuters and the fact checking organization, Snopes.
Three separate analyses
CLAIM: Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris encouraged the rioters that are destroying American cities to keep going, saying, “they’re not gonna stop before Election Day in November, and they’re not gonna stop after Election Day, and they should not.”
AP’S ASSESSMENT: Missing context. Harris was talking about protesters, not rioters, during a June interview with CBS “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert. The conversation focused on marching and protests, with no mention of riots.
FALSE: A June quote from California Sen. Kamala Harris about protest movements has surfaced anew in a social media post that uses it to misleadingly paint the vice presidential candidate as a cheerleader of rioting and destruction.
Reuters Oct. 29, 2020 analysis:
The video being shared by social media users ( youtu.be/5XxLR2r5oPg ) shows a clip of Harris on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert saying: “But they’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop. They’re not. This is a movement. I’m telling you. They’re not going to stop, and everyone, beware. Because they’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop before election day in November, and they are not going to stop after election day. And everyone should take note of that on both levels. That they’re not going to let up. And they should not, and we should not.”
Above the video clip there is the headline: “Harris on BLM riots: ‘Beware,’ they’re not gonna stop.”
Captions with the video include, “Democrats like rioters. They like terrorists. They support looters and arsonists. Democrats hate America. Crush the Democrats.” (here; “Kamala Harris continually advocates for riots and disruption as a valid response.” ( here ); “Kamala Harris promises that the BLM riots will not stop. They will continue until election day and beyond.” ( here )Harris condemned violent protests on Aug. 27 after multiple nights of looting and two violent deaths.
She said, “It’s no wonder people are taking to the streets and I support them. We must always defend peaceful protest and peaceful protestors. We should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence, including the shooter who was arrested for murder. And make no mistake, we will not let these vigilantes and extremists derail the path to justice.” ( here )
Harris joined anti-racism protests following the death of George Floyd. She wrote about her support for the protests and her experience at the protests in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Sentinel here .
VERDICT
Partly false. Harris’ comments on The Late Show expressing support for protests are authentic. However, there is no mention of riots or violent protests in this interview. Harris has previously condemned violent protests.
They’re not gonna stop […] this is a movement I’m telling you, they’re not gonna stop. And everyone beware, because they’re not gonna stop, they’re not gonna stop before election day in November, and they’re not gonna stop after election day […] and everyone should take note of that on both levels, that they’re not gonna let up, and they should not, and we should not.
These were indeed her words from the interview on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in June. While Harris did make that statement, she was not speaking out in favor of the rioting, however. The statement in question appears towards the end of the clip below at around 5:25:
For context, Colbert had asked Harris about her participation in a protest in Washington D.C. over the summer. She spoke about her family history of activism, and in favor of protesters who were asking for justice and accountability. Riots were not mentioned in the clip. Excerpts of the transcript can be found below:
Harris: I learned that the greatest movements that we have seen in recent history in our country and probably since the beginning have been born out of protest, have been born out of understanding the power of the people to take to the streets and force their government to address what is wrong, the inequities, the inequalities, the unfairness, but also the conscience of a government is its people, to force the government to be true to the ideals that we say we hold dear and almost every one of those marches has been about one fundamental ideal in our country which is equal justice under law […] These protests are the catalyst to getting there.
[…]
Harris: The only way we are truly going to achieve change is when there are people in the system who are willing and pushing to do it, and when there are those folks who are outside of the system demanding it. I am very clear that some of the success that we are able to achieve around criminal justice reform would not have happened in recent years were it not for Black Lives Matter.
[…]
Colbert: I want to make clear that I know that there are protests still happening in major cities across the United States, I’m just not seeing the reporting on it that I had for the first few weeks […]
Harris: They’re not gonna stop […] this is a movement I’m telling you, they’re not gonna stop. And everyone beware, because they’re not gonna stop, they’re not gonna stop before election day in November, and they’re not gonna stop after election day […] and everyone should take note of that on both levels, that they’re not gonna let up, and they should not, and we should not.
Harris has previously condemned the riots that led to looting and violence during some of the protests, and said she supports peaceful protesters. In August, she reacted to the violence that occurred during demonstrations against the police-involved shooting of Jacob Blake, another Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, the alleged perpetrator, was arrested on homicide charges after shootings in which two people were killed and a third injured.
Of the anti-police brutality protesters, Harris said: “We should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence, including the shooter who was arrested for murder. And make no mistake, we will not let these vigilantes and extremists derail the path to justice.”
So, does Harris support riots, violence and/or illegal protests? Is she just as bad as the former president who tried to overthrow the government by force and is in the process of consolidating his iron grip on the now fascist, lies and blind hate-driven GOP?
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