Zurkerx wrote:How Kamala Harris seized the moment on race and police reform. Criminal justice reformers say she's neutralized a major liability — her past as a prosecutor — and it comes as Biden prepares to name his VP.
So, it appears she has somewhat re-burnished her image. Hell, even freaking Shaun King seems to have warmed up to her:
“I have been a frequent critic of her because of some of her past work … but she was brilliant,” Shaun King, the activist and former prominent Bernie Sanders supporter, told POLITICO after watching her recently on MSNBC. “It wasn’t canned, either. It was real. Her thoughts on the George Floyd case, how it should be handled, what the (Justice Department) could do, etc., was ... one of the best of any elected officials.
“It made me much more comfortable with her as a potential VP pick," King added.
However, while she's taking up the mantle of criminal justice reform, there are plenty of good reasons why she shouldn't be the VP Nominee:
As attorney general, Harris opposed legalizing marijuana and stayed out of controversial statewide ballot initiatives aimed at lowering nonviolent offenses from felonies to misdemeanors and giving certain nonviolent felons a chance at early parole. She did not back state legislation requiring independent investigations of officer-involved killings or a bill to mandate police officers wear body cameras. And as district attorney years before, she supported raising cash bail.
DeRay Mckesson, the activist, podcaster and co-founder of the police reform group Campaign Zero, met with Harris during her presidential run. In public, he said, Harris was unable to explain her past criminal justice positions in the way she was able to articulate in person. He pointed to her long-standing refusal until last spring to support independent investigations into police shootings and cases of alleged brutality by law enforcement officials.
Early in her career, Harris refused to seek the death penalty for a member of a gang who shot and killed a San Francisco police officer, prompting calls for the case to be taken from her. She reasoned that getting rid of prosecutorial discretion would threaten DAs like herself.
There's more, plenty more too. And some say her record isn't as bad as Klobuchar's...
There's that contrast between Shaun King and DeRay McKesson. Of course King is a grifter and I don't particularly trust what he says.