When you say the word “prosecutor” to Khari Noerdlinger, painful memories come to mind.
At 19, Noerdlinger was attacked by three men armed with weapons. When he fought back in self-defense, fatally wounding one of the attackers with a knife, a New Jersey prosecutor charged him with manslaughter.
Noerdlinger and his family fought the charges, and they were dismissed after a judge ruled that the prosecutor had engaged in prosecutorial misconduct. But the trauma of his arrest looms when conversations about the justice system come to mind.
“She lied throughout most of my case, and the case ended up getting thrown out because of her prosecutorial misconduct,” Noerdlinger tells theGrio of the female prosecutor. “So I always looked at the justice system as something that cannot be trusted. Something that is to push us back.”
Then came Kamala Harris.
While Harris’ career as a former prosecutor has been touted as an asset for her campaign against former President Donald Trump, who was convicted of 34 felonies related to his business dealings, her role has also been used to label her a “cop.” False accusations of Harris throwing “thousands of Black men” in jail have been debunked, but for survivors of injustice in the system, a prosecutorial reputation isn’t necessarily a plus.
“At first, I didn’t support Kamala Harris,” said Noerdlinger, adding, “It wasn’t the best choice for me when [Joe] Biden first got elected.”
Today, Noerdlinger has a different point of view. He’s now 27 years old and works as a project manager for Dr. Jamila T. Davis’ Voices International Publications. Noerdlinger said, much like his own story has evolved, he’s watched Harris evolve in her journey from prosecutor to politician.
“I am a true believer that people have time to grow. She’s been around the Biden administration for the last four years,” noted Noerdlinger. “She’s been helping push different agendas that are helping our people.”
He continued, “You can tell she’s changed mentally and had to adjust to her environment, which was a way bigger position than a prosecutor. And she’s showing that in her campaign by dealing with everything that comes her way in a positive … form.”
A key example of Harris’ growth on policy issues has been her stance on marijuana. As attorney general, Harris didn’t support California’s effort to legalize marijuana. This past March, as vice president, Harris convened a White House roundtable with rapper Fat Joe and recently pardoned individuals. Harris declared, “No one should go to jail for smoking weed.” In 2023, President Biden pardoned thousands of people who’d been saddled with marijuana charges on federal lands, and the Biden-Harris administration has made efforts to reclassify the drug.
For Noerdlinger, who is also a father to a young baby boy, Kamala Harris being a former prosecutor is no longer a disqualifying factor, despite his own traumatic experience with one.
“We need more cops that are from our communities. How are you going to bring a person that’s not from a community and throw them into a community?” he queried. “So, of course, people from the community should … go for those jobs.”
Noerdlinger also cites concerns about Project 2025’s impact on Black communities, which he says has a direct appeal to Black men this presidential election cycle.
“My message to all the Black men like me [is] honestly, I didn’t want to vote either. But we have to. It’s crucial at this present moment that we all come together as a community,” he urged.
“Some people say … ‘Oh, she was a cop before … she’s a woman.’ Honestly, I support her because she’s a woman. Black women are some of the toughest people I’ve ever known in my life, like my mother,” Noerdlinger added. “Black woman are very tough … It’s the time to come together and support those who support you.”
Watch the full video interview with Khari Noerdlinger above, and follow theGrio for the latest Election 2024 coverage.