A clip from 2017 shows Vice President Kamala Harris urging "everybody" to be "woke." This resurfaced on social media, drawing criticism. Conservatives called her a "Communist functionary," saying she's "too radical" for the presidency.
"We have to stay woke. Like everybody needs to be woke. And you can talk about if you're the wokest or woker, but just stay more woke than less woke," Harris said in 2017. She was speaking at Recode's annual Code Conference with Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs' widow.
The conference touched on immigration and the environment. Harris criticized the Trump administration's drug and immigration policies, urging Americans to be "woke."
"I get upset when we shut our door to refugees who have waited years to qualify. And we turn them away. Yes, I'm gonna get mad about that. I'm gonna get mad when we have an attorney general trying to revive the war on drugs. And he thinks marijuana is the greatest evil. Leave grandma's medical marijuana alone," Harris stated.
The next day, Harris reiterated her stance on X: "We have to stay active. We have to stay woke."
"Woke" became popular in 2017, with dictionaries like Oxford and Merriam-Webster adding it. It describes people attentive to social justice issues, now a term for left-wing agendas.
Seven years later, critics on social media attacked Harris over the clip. Conservative author James Lindsay called her a "Communist functionary."
"Kamala is a low-level Communist functionary, and I'm tired of being told we have to pretend she's not," Lindsay wrote.
This clip resurfaced after President Biden dropped out of the 2024 race and endorsed Harris. She clinched the Democratic nomination with a majority of votes from delegates, the DNC reported.
Harris has less than 100 days until Nov. 5 to gain voter support against former President Donald Trump. Critics have dug up past articles and clips, including her support for defunding the police in 2020 and praise for a pastor who blamed the U.S. for 9/11.
Harris is expected to announce her running mate soon. Together, they will head to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention later this month.