The Breakfast Club host Charlamagne tha God interviewed Kamala Harris on Tuesday in the vice president’s latest media blitz weeks away from polling day.
Charlamagne pressed Harris on topics including her record as a federal prosecutor, accusations that she has come across as “scripted,” and her relationship with the Black community.
Harris was also asked about an “out of context” clip Charlamagne found that “says you won’t do anything specifically for Black people.”
The Claim
During an interview with Kamala Harris, Charlamagne tha God mentioned a clip that suggested Kamala Harris “won’t do anything specifically for Black people.”
“Have you seen the clip, Madam Vice President from theGrio?” Charlamagne said.
“It’s a clip that’s kind of out of context, and it says that you won’t do anything specifically for Black people. Have you seen that?”
Harris replied: “I have not seen that.”
Charlamagne continued, “Well, it’s a clip that has you saying that you, you’re not going to do anything specifically for Black people.”
Harris responded: “Well, that’s just not true.”
Vice President Kamala Harris and Charlamagne tha God in Detroit on October 15. Harris was asked about a clip that Charlamagne said depicted her saying that she wouldn’t do anything “specifically” for Black people.
GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images
The Facts
While Charlamagne initially suggested that the clip had been taken “kind of out of context,” he did not explain why.
The clip was not brought up again; Harris went on to say that “one of the biggest challenges that I face is mis and disinformation, and it’s purposeful because it is meant to convince people that they somehow should not believe that the work that I have done has occurred and has meaning.”
The clip Charlamagne referred to was from a 2020 interview with the Grio during Harris’ presidential run. In it, Harris was asked whether she supported reparations for Black Americans.
In her answer, Harris argued that disparities existed across the U.S. and highlighted the particular struggle of Black Americans.
“And we have to recognize that everybody did not start out on an equal footing in this country,” Harris said.
“And in particular, Black people have not.”
The then-California senator mentioned her support of the LIFT Act, a tax proposal Harris said would “benefit and uplift 60 percent of Black families who are in poverty.”
Interviewer Natasha Alford asked Harris if there was a particular policy “for African Americans that you would support.”
Harris answered that ensuring equity in policy creation directly benefited Black Americans because “the disparities are so significant.”
“Listen, the reality also is this: any policy that will benefit Black people will benefit all of society,” Harris later said.
“Let’s be clear about that. Let’s really be clear about that.
“So I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘I’m going to do something that’s only going to benefit Black people.’ No.
“Because whatever benefits that Black family will benefit that community and society as a whole and the country. Right?”
The argument was not that Harris did not support policies that engaged with or were designed to support Black communities but that any such policy would benefit all, an outcome that Harris said should be highlighted.
Nonetheless, clips of the interview were used to suggest Harris would not support policies designed principally to help Black people.
A post on X, formerly Twitter, by user Maxwell Little on July 21, 2024, included the Grio clip with the message “Never forget Harris ignoring the simple yes or no on supporting reparations for Black people…Nothing for Black people as a Senator or Attorney General in Cali.”
A TikTok posted on March 6, 2024, by user Marc Cruz, viewed 39,700 times, included the video with the caption “Kamala Harris Says That She’s Not Gonna Do Anything That Will Only Benefit Black People.”
In both these examples, Harris’s words were misleadingly framed when, quite clearly from the rest of the interview’s content and arguably on common sense, she did not say she wouldn’t “do anything specifically for Black people.”
Newsweek reached out to Charlamagne tha God via an online contact form and Harris via email for comment.
The Ruling
False.
Kamala Harris did not say that she “won’t do anything specifically for Black people.” This misquote is from a video interview in 2020 in which Harris argued that policies that improve equity and narrow disparities experienced by Black Americans benefit all groups in society.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team
