Kamala Harris warns US freedom is under ‘profound threat’ in MLK Jr day speech

Kamala Harris issued a plea to Black voters on Martin Luther King Jr Day to join with Democrats to win the 2024 election and to stave off what she said were threats to US democracy posed by Republicans who look set to overwhelmingly back Donald Trump at their first state nomination contest today in Iowa.

The US vice-president, the headliner at the NAACP’s annual King Day at the Dome event in Columbia, South Carolina, said that freedom in the country is under “profound threat”, and cited the supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade, long lines for voting, Republican-backed book bans and the prevalence of gun violence.

“Freedom is never truly won. You earn it and win it in every generation,” she said, quoting King’s late widow, Coretta Scott King, and urging voters to “roll up our sleeves.” “We were born for a time such as this.”

Protesters were awaiting Harris at the venue, some waving Palestinian flags – the latest sign of dissent from typically Democratic-leaning voters that the Biden administration’s staunch backing of Israel in its attack on Gaza is angering some core supporters.

South Carolina, home to a hugely influential Black voting bloc in the Democratic presidential primary, will hold its contest on 3 February. But there are signs that economic anxiety and policy disappointments are also stressing Black support: an Economist/YouGov survey recently found that only 67% of Black US adults had a favorable view of Biden.

In her address, Harris said: “Today we are witnessing a full on attack on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms.” Speaking in the state once governed by Nikki Haley, a contender for the Republican presidential nomination, she passed comment on Haley’s recent gaffe when she failed to cite slavery as a cause of