It's important to have people in your life who will applaud your ambition.
Kamala HarrisRead
I did not learn the flaws of the criminal-justice system in law school or college or by reading about it. I grew up knowing the flaws and how it was disproportionately impacting the black community. It's not academic for me.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Kamala Harris emphasizes her lived experience with the criminal-justice system's flaws rather than theoretical knowledge gained through education.
In this quote, Kamala Harris reflects on her deep understanding of the criminal-justice system, which is shaped not by academic study but by her personal experiences and observations of its impact on the black community. She underscores the importance of recognizing systemic injustices that many may learn about only in a classroom, while for others, these issues are apparent and lived realities that inform their perspectives and advocacy.
Themes
JusticeCriminal JusticeSystemic FlawsBlack CommunityExperience
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about criminal justice reform.
More from Kamala Harris
All quotes →We need to incorporate that age-old concept of redemption into the work that we do in the criminal justice system in California.
Kamala HarrisRead
History has proven that each generation of Howard graduates will forge the way forward for our country and our world.
Kamala HarrisRead
My mother... would give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, 'I don't know what's wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?' You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.
Kamala HarrisRead
I was born realizing the flaws in the criminal justice system.
Kamala HarrisRead
My mother was and will always remain my greatest hero.
Kamala HarrisRead
Similar quotes
What does the Negro want? His answer is very simple. He wants only what all other Americans want. He wants opportunity to make real what the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights say, what the Four Freedoms establish. While he knows these ideals are open to no man completely, he wants only his equal chance to obtain them.
Mary Mcleod BethuneRead
People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty.
Ruth Bader GinsburgRead
Evil never goes unpunished, Monsieur. But the punishment is sometimes secret.
Agatha ChristieRead
But I really think it's a very unfortunate part of our judicial system and I would feel much, much better if more states would really consider whether they think the benefits outweigh the very serious potential injustice, because in these cases the emotions are very, very high on both sides and to have stakes as high as you do in these cases, there is a special potential for error. We cannot ignore the fact that in recent years a disturbing number of inmates on death row have been exonerated.
John Paul StevensRead
Enforcement priorities and arrest patterns must not lead to disparate treatment under the law, even if such treatment is unintended. And police forces should reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.
Eric HolderRead
The legal system is designed to protect men from the superior power of the state but not to protect women or children from the superior power of men. It therefore provides strong guarantees for the rights of the accused but essentially no guarantees for the rights of the victim. If one set out by design to devise a system for provoking intrusive post-traumatic symptoms, one could not do better than a court of law.
Judith Lewis HermanRead