The racial dimension is now central to the American presidential campaign, after the Republicans’ attacks on Kamala Harris’ Afro-Indian origins. Much remains to be done for the vice-president to remobilize the African-American electorate, which is more abstaining.
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Since the arrival of Kamala Harris, Joe Bien’s replacement for the Democratic camp, her Republican detractors have multiplied attacks on her gender, but especially on her Afro-Indian origins. The one who presents herself as the outsider of the November election will nevertheless have a lot to do to bring the black electorate, more abstentionist, back to the polls. Example in Philadelphia, a city where more than 40% of the population is African-American.
“I was disappointed by the United States”Lawrence confides, cap on his head. This American veteran, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, speaks of years of division in his country, because of gender, because of race, because of sexual orientation. “Since last week, and Kamala Harris started her campaign… Guess what? I found the hope that America can come together.” Lawrence calls Kamala Harris’s career: first attorney general in California, then vice president of the United States. For him, it’s an American success: “She represents a certain demographic, which is important. It just reinforces what makes America great.”
“She has already proven something that most of us already know: that your gender, your race, does not hold you back.”
Lawrence, a Philadelphia resident and Kamala Harris supporterto franceinfo
However, it is not certain that Kamala Harris’ candidacy will encourage more people to vote, in a country where only 58% of black citizens voted four years ago, compared to 71% of whites. The candidacy of a woman of Afro-Indian origins will not be enough, assures Kalia. Police violence against blacks or the return of Donald Trump encourage her to vote more. “I think people around me have always been interested in the presidential race because there’s a fear of what might happen if Trump were to become president again,” she worries.
The Harris vote may be a vote against, rather than a vote for. In the poor neighborhood of Walnut Hill, with its century-old homes and dilapidated arches, the anger is palpable. “Look around you, the streets are bad. Crime is bad, the economy is bad.”lists Yusef.
“There is not one thing in America that is better than it was seven years ago.”
Yusef, a resident of Philadelphiato franceinfo
According to the local resident, Harris’ candidacy is a cover-up. “The false symbol, the false representation really doesn’t help us at all. If I have a problem and I bring it to you, I want you to do everything you can to solve it. I don’t want anything else, I don’t want representation.” If he votes, it will be for Trump for economic reasons, he says. But he concludes, defeatist: “We are only interested in during elections”.