Harris’ closing speech at Ellipse is ‘powerful’ symbolism of race and democracy

Vice President Kamala Harris, a Black woman, stands between Donald Trump and what his critics see as safeguarding America’s democracy.
Vice President Kamala Harris commanded the prime-time television airwaves on Tuesday evening as she delivered her closing arguments in prosecuting the case against Donald Trump at the ballot box and her “forward” vision for America.
The venue of her major speech — the Ellipse — is a symbolic one. The 52-acre park outside the White House’s South Lawn is where Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump held his “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
A massive 75,000-person crowd descended on the Ellipse to hear Harris deliver a 30-minute carefully crafted speech aimed at voters who are “still considering who to vote for, or whether you’ll vote at all.” Most of all, Harris painted clear contrasts between herself and Trump, who she lambasted as a “petty tyrant.”
“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That is who he is, but America, I am here tonight to say that is not who we are,” said Harris to tremendous applause.
Harris, the first Black woman and first South Asian presidential nominee, is a symbolic political figure who stands between Trump and what his critics see as safeguarding America’s democracy.
“I think it’s very powerful that here in the greatest democracy in the world, this is the first time that we’ve had a person of color, who’s also the vice president, give their vision for America in such … a historic place,” U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told theGrio.
Thompson notably chaired the Jan. 6 Select Committee, which investigated Trump’s actions related to Jan. 6 and attempts to overturn the 2020 election. The findings of the congressional probe were turned over to the Justice Department, which ultimately criminally charged Trump.
The then-president infamously and falsely claimed he won the 2020 presidential contest against Joe Biden and that the election was stolen from him as a result of voter fraud.
In addition to allegedly working with lawyers to create a scheme of fake electors to change the outcome of the election, Trump sent his thousands of supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol building to stop the certification of the 2020 election results.
The mob — some of whom carried weapons — violently breached the building and physically assaulted more than 100 law enforcement officers. Several people died as a result of the violent event.
“What Donald Trump did was tear down every fundamental principle of democracy that all of us have come to love and cherish,” said Congressman Thompson.
On Tuesday at the Ellipse with a giant billboard with the word “Freedom” on it, Harris said, “We know who Donald Trump is. He is the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election.”
The Democratic presidential nominee laid out her plans to address the economic strain for millions of Americans — including tax credits for the Middle Class and subsidies for first-time homebuyers — and protect freedoms like reproductive rights. But it was her laying out the case as to why Trump is a danger to U.S. citizens and American norms that was most palpable.
“Donald Trump intends to use the United States military against American citizens who simply disagree with him. People he calls—quote—“the enemy from within,” said Harris. “This is not a candidate for president who is thinking about how to make your life better. This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and out for unchecked power.”
The vice president declared that “it is time for a new generation of leadership in America,” adding, “And I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States.”
Though Harris was able to turn the race around after President Biden dropped out, the presidential contest remains a tight one, according to polling.
Given Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 and his continued racist and sexist attacks on Harris, LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Lives Matter PAC, expressed deep frustration that the race between him and Harris is as close as it is.
Brown told theGrio that Black Americans, particularly Black women, have to “fight twice as hard” for any job and that it is no different for the presidency.
“People are asking her for answers, and Trump can get up on the platform and listen to music for 45 minutes and talk crazy,” she lamented.
Referring to Trump’s repeated claims that Harris has a “low IQ” and is “lazy,” Brown added, “Name one reason why her intellect is being questioned, other than Trump puts it out there.”

“Racism has always been an effort to dehumanize us, to make us believe and make others believe that we are less than,” she explained. “So we are literally seeing all of the demons of racism rear their head in this election cycle.”

Brown said the racism displayed this election cycle was especially highlighted in Trump’s Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden, where former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson parroted Trump’s claims about her competency.
“We’re seeing [the racism] in real-time, more so than even what [former President Barack] Obama dealt with, because I think that her gender also further exacerbates it,” Brown told theGrio.
She continued, “We’re seeing a less-than-mediocre man rise to the highest office when you have a woman who … in every single thing she’s done, she’s excelled, and her competency is still in question.”
Brown said, “That is the embodiment of what racism looks like in America.”
Former Capitol police officer and Harris-Walz campaign surrogate Harry Dunn, who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, told theGrio that Kamala Harris is “being held to one standard, and Donald Trump has been held to another.”

“It’s unfair, and she’s still defying all odds,” he told theGrio.
While he recognizes the important symbolism of Harris standing at the Ellipse as a Black woman aiming to save America from Trump’s anti-democratic proclivities, he said there are also “millions of people standing behind her.”
Dunn predicts that Harris will garner “the most votes in American history” after the election is called.
“How symbolic is that? All those people supporting her, a woman and a woman of color, like, double minority, right?” said Dunn.
Though Dunn and the other officers who protected members of Congress from Trump’s mob of supporters have been hailed as heroes, he told theGrio that on Jan. 6, their only focus was “trying to survive and go home that day.”
“Defending democracy and saving democracy came as a byproduct,” he said. Now, it is up to the American voters, said Dunn.
“I’m so glad that people are taking this moment to see how they can get involved and not stand around, to not be complacent,” said the former Capitol police officer. “It’s been so encouraging.”
Haniyah Philogene
Haniyah Philogene
Associated Press
Panama Jackson
Fred Clasen-Kelly and Renuka Rayasam for KFF Health News
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Kay Wicker
Associated Press