In an interview with ABC News set to air on Sunday night, Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden asserts that his decision to pick Kamala Harris as his vice presidential nominee is genuine.
“No, I didn’t feel pressure to select a Black woman,” Biden told ABC’s Robin Roberts. “But I – what I do think and I’ve said it before, and you’ve heard me say it. I’ve probably said it on your show with you, is that the government should look like the people, look like the country.”
“Fifty-one percent of the people in this country are women,” Biden continued. “As that old expression goes, women hold up half the sky, and in order to be able to succeed, you’ve got to be dealt in across the board, and no matter what you say, you cannot, I cannot understand and fully appreciate what it means to walk in her shoes, to be an African American woman, with [an] Indian American background, child of immigrants.”
The claim that Biden got pressured into picking Harris may stem from the many prominent Black voices, such as Diddy and Charlamagne tha God, that urged Biden to pick a Black woman as his running mate, as theGrio previously reported.
As the first Black and South Asian woman to accept a vice presidential nominee, Harris’ candidacy made history.
READ MORE: Diddy, Charlamagne tha God and others urge Biden to pick Black woman as VP
As theGrio previously reported, Harris has been attacked for not truly being American. Harris’ father, Donald Jasper Harris is from Jamaican and her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, is from India. They both immigrated to California during the Civil Rights era.
Harris’ goal is to “restore the principles of inclusivity after four years of divisiveness under Trump,” CNN reported.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!