Kamala Harris Speaks With Jacob Blake

On Monday, Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris spoke with Jacob Blake following his run-in with Kenosha police that left him wrongfully paralyzed from the waist down.

What We Know:

  • On Kamala Harris’ first solo and in-person campaign trip as the vice-presidential nominee, she met with the family and legal team of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin. The meeting was approximately an hour long and Jacob Blake was able to attend by phone.
  • Although not many details about the conversation have been released, Ben Crump recalled a moving moment when Blake told Harris “that he was proud of her,” and Harris said, “she was also proud of him and how he is working through his pain.”
  • Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden also met with the Blake family by phone last Thursday. Both meetings were intended to express concern, although afterward, both nominees seemed extremely impressed with the family’s resilience and positivity.

“I mean they are an incredible family–what they’ve endured, and they do it with such dignity and grace. They carry the weight of a lot of voices on their shoulders.”

-Kamala Harris (after speaking with Jacob Blake and family)

  • Conversely, President Trump has refused to meet with the Blake family if lawyers were present. In a White House interview, the president said, “I spoke with the pastor–wonderful man, the family’s pastor. I thought it would be better not to do anything where there would be lawyers involved… I thought that was inappropriate.”
  • However, Jacob Blake Sr. (father of Jacob Blake) denied these claims saying their family did not have a family pastor. In a CNN interview, Jacob Blake Sr. explained, “First of all I am not going to play politics– this is my son’s life we’re talking about, second of all we do not have a family pastor.”
  • According to a statement made by Benjamin Crump, the family’s lawyer, Kamala Harris encouraged the family to continue using “their voices even through their pain to help America make progress to end systemic racism…”
  • The contrast of the response to the Kenosha shooting by Biden/Kamala and Trump/Pence is very telling on what to expect from each ticket regarding police brutality in the United States.

Kamala Harris spoke to the hospitalized Blake during her touchdown in Wisconsin. During her trip, she was also able to rally Black, Hispanic, and union member voters.