Charlamagne Tha God, Kamala Harris Discuss Criticisms and Policy During Town Hall

Vice President Kamala Harris recently participated in a town hall with radio host Charlamagne Tha God, tackling various topics, including healthcare, criminal justice reform and U.S. foreign policy.

Held in Detroit and broadcast via iHeartRadio, the discussion provided a platform for Harris to address critical issues and respond to common criticisms.

Charlamagne opened the conversation by challenging Harris' perception of being overly scripted. Harris countered by calling it "discipline," emphasizing the importance of repetition in delivering her message and stating, "There are certain things that must be repeated to ensure everyone knows what I stand for."

One of the more controversial moments came when Charlamagne questioned Harris about accusations regarding her record as a prosecutor, specifically claims that she disproportionately jailed Black men for marijuana offenses. Harris denied the allegations, affirming her progressive stance on marijuana decriminalization, both as a prosecutor and as vice president.

"I was the most progressive prosecutor in California on marijuana cases and would not send people to jail for simple possession of weed, and as vice president, have been a champion for bringing marijuana down on the schedule. So instead of it being ranked up there with heroin, we bring it down. And my pledge is, as President, I will work on decriminalizing it, because I know exactly how those laws have been used to disproportionately impact certain populations, and specifically black men," Harris said.

The town hall also discussed key policies, such as the Biden administration’s handling of the economy, criminal justice and healthcare reform. Harris highlighted the administration's achievements, including a $35 cap on insulin and the executive order addressing police reform. "An executive order by the President and our administration says that for federal law enforcement, the following things have to happen, which we, for the first time, put in place: no-knock warrants, barring chokeholds, a national database. Now it's for federal law enforcement, but a national database for us to collect information and track police officers who have broken the law," Harris explained.

Harris also responded to a question about Donald Trump's claims regarding immigration policies, stressing that Trump prefers to run on problems rather than solving them. Harris took the opportunity to share the efforts the Biden administration has made to fix the immigration system.

"Within hours of being inaugurated, the first bill we passed, before we did the Inflation Reduction Act, before we did the bipartisan Infrastructure Act before we did the Safer Communities Act to deal with gun violence, the first thing we dropped was a bill to fix the broken immigration system, which, by the way, Trump did not fix when he was president," Harris said. "And you can look at every step along the way. We then tightened up the asylum application process. We then worked with what we needed to do to secure ports of entry. We did a number of things, including what we did to try and get that border security bill passed, and then also an executive order that has actually reduced significantly the number of illegal crossings and tightened up what needs to happen in between ports of entry," Harris added.

Harris maintained her stance on the importance of voting and engaging in the political process, particularly in light of what she described as the "threat to democracy" posed by former President Trump.

"By the way, do not forget, in the 2016 election, because I was a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee when we investigated it [President of Russia] targeted Black voters in 2016 with mis and disinformation to discourage Black people from voting in that election. And this is just another of the very many examples of who Donald Trump really is," Harris said.

Harris is committed to addressing racial disparities and discussed the challenges many Black families have with homeownership.

"I know what it means for an individual and a family to have homeownership. I also know in the context of history, nobody got 40 acres and a mule. We have a history of a number of things, including redlining," Harris shared. "For example, something that still exists that I've worked on to address, which is racial bias and home appraisals. And we know homeownership...Black families are 40% less likely to be homeowners than others, and that homeownership is one of the surest ways to build intergenerational wealth," Harris added.

Additionally, she reiterated her push for reparations to be studied and addressed, affirming the need for action to tackle systemic inequities.

"First of all, on the point of reparations, it has to be studied. There's no question about that. And I've been very clear about that position," Harris said.

The town hall concluded with Harris reaffirming her dedication to the Black community, encouraging listeners to participate in the upcoming election.

Check out the full interview.