Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The Beat,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden selecting Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) to be his running mate was the ticket that can get black people to the “mountaintop.”
Booker was referencing Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech in which he said, “I’ve been to the mountaintop,” in 1968 at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee.
Booker said, “I know Kamala. She and I have been in the trenches together. She’s more than a friend. She’s my sister. And even when we were running against each other, I would joke with the press that you know, there could be sibling rivalry but don’t get it wrong. We’re family. I’m of two minds on this. On a very deep personal level, I know her, and I know there is a lot of conversations about the historic nature, and I’m excited about that. I want you to note that she is a monumentally qualified human being to do this job, and from a personal level, I will affirm that. The other mind is the historic mind. This is a woman that every step of her career, how many Howard graduates do you know that this country ever saw their value? And saw their greatness in the way that this moment is a real breakthrough? Those of us who know Howard, and a lot of other emerging HBCUs, they’re just as impressive as Stanford, Oxford, Yale, Harvard, et cetera. So she had to forge a path where people like her were not allowed to the table. She had to fight her way every step of her career. Every step of the way, she made her way. I’m so proud. My ancestors are rejoicing tonight upon heaven.”
He added, “She has this gift in politics. It is so valuable. I’ve seen it at all levels of politics when you can stand up and get a crowd on their feet, tens of thousands of people you have the poetry and the poise and the charisma. But then she also has the ability to get into the room when no cameras are there. The sausage-making is getting it done, to dot the Is, cross the Ts, and get something across the finish line that actually makes a difference for folks in our communities. That’s a powerful balance. For Joe Biden to have that as his wing woman, I’m telling you right now, this duo in the White House is not just, forget beating Donald Trump. That’s critical. It is essential. For me, it is necessary but not sufficient because beating Donald Trump that gets us out of the valley. I want us to go. It does not get us to the mountaintop. But Biden-Harris, they could help us get to the mountaintop.”
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