âI do not believe you are a racist,â Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) told former Vice President Joe Biden at Thursday nightâs Democratic presidential debate.
Then she proceeded to press himâhardâon his complicated history on race and civil-rights issues.
In recent weeks, that past re-emerged as a controversial topic when Biden touted his ability to work with senators who were staunch segregationists.
âIt was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two U.S. senators who built their reputations and careers on the segregation of race in this country,â Harris said. She went on to say Biden worked with those senators to oppose the policy of school busing to integrate schools. When Biden said he only opposed federally mandated busing, Harris shot back âthere was a failure of states to integrate public schools in America.â
âOn this subject,â said Harris, âit can not be an intellectual debate among Democrats.â
If Harris got at one of Bidenâs core vulnerabilities, the former vice president and veteran senator tried to work in one of Harrisâ perceived weaknessesâher long career as a prosecutorâin his response.
âIf we want to have this litigated on who supports civil rights, Iâm happy to do that,â said Biden. âI was a public defender. I was not a prosecutor.â
But Harris made it personal, too. âThere was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bussed to school every day,â she said. âThat little girl was me.â