Kamala Harris hits Joe Biden hard on segregation, busing

Beloved Democrat Joe Biden isn’t getting a pass for his record on race anymore.

That era ended Thursday night during the Democratic debates when Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) attacked the 2020 frontrunner for his record on segregated school busing and his recent reference to segregationist congressmen as models of political “civility.”

Watch below:

Harris bashes Biden

Stressing the need for unity among Democratic politicians, regardless of who earns the right to go up against President Donald Trump in 2020, Biden cited politicians with whom he once worked in Congress — and who supported segregation — as exemplars of civility. For obvious reasons, the move didn’t sit well with Democrats, but fellow presidential hopeful Harris seems to have saved her most potent criticism for debate night.

Although she agreed with Biden on the “importance of finding common ground,” she blasted him for getting on with such men. “It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two U.S. senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country,” she said.

Harris, whose ethnicity is half-Jamaican, half-Indian, also took issue with the fact that, decades ago, Biden worked with those congressmen to oppose legislation to end the segregated busing of school children.

“And there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public school and she was bused to school every day,” she said. “And that little girl was me.”

Biden defends himself

Such criticism would be tough for any political candidate to overcome. But Biden tried his best.

“It’s a mischaracterization of my position across the board,” he responded. “I did not praise racists. That is not true.”

Biden went on to explain that he was opposing federal government control of the busing situation, and that if it were the state governments trying to end bus segregation he would not have opposed the legislation.

He further tried to soften the blow by pointing out that, for eight years, he was America’s number two, behind Barack Obama — the country’s first black president.

Outcomes

Sensing that he didn’t do enough to overcome Harris’ attack during the debate, Biden continued his defense in a speech on Friday, saying, “I fought my heart out to ensure that civil rights and voting rights, equal rights are enforced everywhere,” and that he “never, ever opposed voluntary busing.”

In the meantime, Harris is capitalizing on her moment by selling “That little girl was me” T-shirts, a move even some of her supporters have condemned as contrived.

While opinions are mixed about the effectiveness of Harris’ attack on Biden, the polls declared Harris the unambiguous winner. The Morning Consult/FiveThirtyEight poll found that she is up by 9 points, while Biden is down by 10.