Macon event organized by Harris campaign calls for racial equality, abortion rights & jobs
Local politicians and labor leaders came out Thursday in Macon to support Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, highlighting how she would support reproductive rights, labor unions and racial equality in Middle Georgia.
Speakers at the event, held at the Harriet Tubman African American Museum, included Georgia District 26 Sen. David Lucas; his wife, Macon-Bibb County Commissioner Elaine Lucas; Macon native and State Rep. Miriam Paris, and Carlos Brooks, local chapter president of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers union.
David Lucas compared former President Donald Trump’s track record as a convicted felon to Harris as a former attorney general for California.
“Are we for real? The Supreme Court makes it where the president can do anything he wants, and then you tell Black folks that we ought to be proud of him …” David Lucas said.
Lucas criticized racist and misogynistic attacks made by Republicans against Harris, the de facto Democratic presidential nominee. U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tennessee, called Harris a “DEI vice president,” in a post on the social media platform X. DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Let’s represent the people of this country, and Vice President Kamala Harris. She’s not a DEI, she is a person who understands the law,” David Lucas said.
David Lucas emphasized voters, regardless of race or age, should vote for Harris to avoid seeing roots of segregation.
“What I’m hoping is young folks as well as older folks who knew what segregation was all about … we get a sense of pride that we got to get up, get out of bed, and go do what we got to do. And that’s what this election is about,” David Lucas said.
Paris said there are multiple issues at stake in the coming election.
“(Harris) is the best-qualified to prosecute the case, or should there be cases, against Donald Trump,” she said, subliminally referring to the 34 felony convictions against Trump in New York for fraud, election subversion and obstruction.
Elaine Lucas referred to Trump running mate J.D. Vance’s stance on making abortion illegal nationally.
“Vance opposes exceptions for rape and incest, and said he would like abortion to be illegal nationwide,” she said. “He even suggested women should stay in violent marriages, can you imagine that?”
Brooks, who leads the boilermakers manufacturing and industrial trade union, said the country’s workforce would dramatically decline if Trump and Vance were to take office.
“You saw what happened last time Trump was in office. You had a lot of union jobs that were lost, United Steel Workers for one,” Brooks said, noting North America’s largest industrial union. “It’s been an ongoing thing trying to undo things that Trump and his administration did the last time they were in office.”
Trump imposed a 25% tariff on imported steel in March 2018, which dented the demand for steel from foreign consumers, and caused thousands in the industry to lose their jobs.
The U.S. lost 2.7 million jobs during Trump’s presidency, according to Politifact. Defenders of Trump note the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.
“We have the opportunity now to elect somebody that feels like we do, that can associate with us and talk to us out on the street, not in a closed room,” David Lucas said. “That’s the opportunity we have as a nation — to talk about democracy.”
This story was originally published July 25, 2024 at 3:13 PM.