Kamala Harris in 2024 FactCheck

On Crime: Don't defund police; reimagine public safety

In a June 2020 radio interview, one host asked Harris, "Where do you stand on defund the police?"

Harris said, "Defund the police, the issue behind it is we need to reimagine how we are creating safety. When you have many cities that have 1/3 of their entire city budget focused on policing, we know that is not the smart way. For too long, the status quo thinking has been you get more safety by putting more cops on the street. Well, that's wrong."

Harris said suburban communities "don't have police walking those streets," but what they do have is well-funded schools & thriving small businesses. "This whole movement is about rightly saying we need to take a look at these budgets and figure out whether it reflects the right priorities," Harris said.

On Principles & Values: FactCheck: Yes, has always claimed Black identity

Harris has always identified as a product of a multicultural family, being born of Jamaican and Indian immigrants. Her single mother, a Hindu adherent, embraced Black culture. Harris went on to study at Howard University, a historically Black university, where she joined Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc., one of the nation's preeminent historically Black Greek-letter organizations.

"Today's tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump's MAGA rallies this entire campaign," a Harris Campaign spokesman said. The White House press secretary [reacted], "What you just read out to me is repulsive. It's insulting. No one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify," she said.