In a powerful speech at the NAACP Image Awards ceremony, former Vice President Kamala Harris urged people to stay resilient and hold onto their faith during the tenure of President Donald Trump.
“While we have no illusions about what we are up against in this chapter in our American story, this chapter will be written not simply by whoever occupies the Oval Office nor by the wealthiest among us,” Harris said after receiving the NAACP’s Chairman’s Award.
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“The American story will be written by you. Written by us. By we the people,” she said calling the civil rights organization a pillar of the Black community. The 56th annual Image Awards was held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in the Los Angeles area Saturday night.
Harris, daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, both immigrants, was the first woman, first South Asian and the first person of colour to serve as vice president. She had previously been a US senator from California and the state’s attorney general.
In her first major public appearance since leaving office, Harris did not reference her election loss to Trump or his actions since entering the Oval Office, although Trump mocked her earlier in the day at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Harris spoke about eternal vigilance, the price of liberty, staying alert, seeking the truth and America’s future. “Some see the flames on our horizons, the rising waters in our cities, the shadows gathering over our democracy and ask ‘What do we do now?’” Harris said.
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“But we know exactly what to do, because we have done it before. And we will do it again. We use our power. We organize, mobilize. We educate. We advocate. Our power has never come from having an easy path.”
Other winners of the Chairman’s prize have included former President Barack Obama, the late Rep. John Lewis and the late actor Ruby Dee.
Harris was honored during the ceremony along with the Wayans family. The family was inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame in recognition of pioneering contributions to film, TV, sketch and stand-up comedy that have shaped Hollywood for decades.