Kamala Harris:
“As a former—and I consider myself a lifetime—member of the CBC, I am deeply honored to receive this award. For more than half a century, the CBC has not only been a conscience of the Congress but a conscience of America: fighting for opportunity, for equality, and for freedom.
With your help, 75 million Americans stood with us last year on behalf of a stronger America, stood with a belief in the promise of America. And today, the CBC, in the tradition of its founders, confronts an unprecedented—but not unfamiliar—threat to that promise.
The United States Congress has equal power to the executive branch in our constitutional government. Your work, then, is more important than ever—especially as your colleagues bend the knee and fail to uphold their constitutional agreement.
With each passing day, we are witnessing a president who has lined his own pockets and those of the super-rich, while he raises tariffs on the backs of working people, cuts SNAP and Medicaid, ignores science, ends the war on cancer, and deploys the United States military to the streets of America.
And let us be clear—we predicted all that. But, CBC, what I did not predict was the capitulation: the universities, law firms, media corporations, and industries that have been so quick to kneel before power.
But I’ll tell you who refuses to capitulate—the people.
When a president with a fragile ego couldn’t take a joke and brought down the weight of the government to silence the voice of a citizen, folks spoke with their pocketbooks this week, and Jimmy Kimmel is now back on the air. When Dr. Jamal Bryant issued a call to speak with your pocketbooks, the power of the people was also demonstrated.
A time such as this demands that the leaders in this room remind the people of their power: speak truth and speak with courage, even when you don’t have an audience.
A time such as this demands that we win the midterms and enforce checks and balances on this unchecked, incompetent, unhinged president.
Yesterday, I joined a visiting student at my alma mater, Howard University. You know, when I was there, I remembered—when I was there, I found my power at 17.
When I was their age, Ronald Reagan was president. The extreme right wing was hatching the long-term agenda that is being swiftly implemented today—enhanced today by propaganda and misinformation.
And recall: they played the long game, working for decades to take over state houses, gerrymander districts, stack the Supreme Court, and create the radical blueprint currently being used by this administration.
As I have written, the current president is their vehicle. But the road was paved over decades by harsh and crushing rhetoric, right-wing celebrity, the belligerent discourse of Newt Gingrich, and the narrow-minded politics of Pat Buchanan.
CBC, we have some deep work to do. First, we must prioritize immediacy—focus on the immediate issues people face, like the rising cost of groceries, housing, and health care.
Second, we cannot allow them to gaslight us by suggesting that the powerless, and not the powerful, are responsible for our predicament.
Finally, please, let’s get over the savior complex—which is just one individual. Can you say it with me? Come on. Because, Democrats, we have so many stars. We have so many stars, and many of them are in this room right now.
You are the leaders who are up for the fight. You are leaders who have courage. You are leaders who speak truth. Leaders who know that, at a time such as this, one thing is for sure:
We must fight fire with fire.
So, CBC, let’s get to work.”
