Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday vowed to help Black voters in a key swing state, but the Democratic presidential nominee did not propose any policy changes for the war in Gaza as she tries to repair a frayed relationship with Arab Americans. “I’m working to earn the vote, not assume I’m going to get it because I’m Black,” Harris said in Philadelphia, calling “our young Black men ..
. the backbone of our economy — and when they do better, we all do better.” She again pushed her proposals to help that group, including a proposal to greatly increase a federal benefit to help Black Americans — and others — start their own businesses.
“Nobody can start a small business for $5,000, so I’m expanding that to $50,000,” she said during an interview arranged by the National Association of Black Journalists, whose conference GOP nominee Donald Trump addressed in July. As she did during last week’s debate with Trump, Harris criticized his record for attacking the “Central Park Five,” allegedly refusing to rent apartments to Black people in buildings he owned in New York and spearheading the “birther” movement about whether then-President Barack Obama was born in the U.S.
In a portion of the interview, Harris was asked about Trump’s false allegation that Haitian migrants, most of whom are Black, were eating American citizens’ pets in Springfield, Ohio. Citing subsequent threats on schools and other government buildings there, Harris was at her.