“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” Kamala Harris told the NAACP Image Awards tonight in her first major public appearance since leaving office last month.
“This chapter will be written, not simply by whoever occupies the Oval Office, nor by the wealthiest among us,” the former Vice President and 2024 White House candidate added with a swipe at Donald Trump and Elon Musk without mentioning either of her political foes by name. “The American story will be written by you, written by us, by We the People.”
Accepting this year’s Chairman’s Award on Saturday at the 56th NAACP Image Awards, the ex-VP came on stage to a standing ovation from the star studded attendees at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Resurrecting her campaign mantra of “We the People,” Harris sounded a lot like someone who wasn’t thinking of retiring from public life.
Having shown up at a wildfire relief center, at a Lakers’ game and at the January 30 LA FireAid concerts with her husband Doug Emhoff since returning to California on January 20, the ex-Golden State AG and Senator has been widely anticipated to make a run for the Governor’s mansion when current occupant Gavin Newsom terms out next year.
The former Second Gentleman amplified his spouse’s return to the spotlight.
“This organization came into being at a moment when our country struggled with greed, bitterness and hatred, and those who forged the NAACP, those who carried its legacy forward had no illusions about the forces they were up against, no illusions about how stony the road would be,” Harris exclaimed to the crowd and those watching on the East Coast on CBS and BET. “But some look at this moment and rightly feel the weight of history. Some see the flames on our horizons, the rising waters in our cities, the shadows gathering over our democracy. And ask, what do we do now?”
During a Black History Month that has seen the administration of the former Celebrity Apprentice host openly attack diversity programs, inclusion initiatives and even last night fire the second Black man to hold the post of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the one-time 49th VPOTUS and the first woman and the first person of color to hold that office knew she was even more under the microscope that usual tonight
So, Harris dug in and went on to state to applause: “But we know exactly what to do because we have done it before, and we will do it again. We use our power, we organize, mobilize, we educate and we advocate, because you see, our power has never come from having an easy path. Our strength flows from our faith, faith in God, faith in each other and our refusal to surrender to cynicism and destruction, not because it is easy, but because it is necessary, not because victory is guaranteed, but because the fight is worth it.”
“God bless you and may God bless America,” she concluded
From Civil Rights icons to Oscar winners and poets, Harris joins a prestigious group with the 2025 Chairman’s Award. The award has been given before by the likes of Amanda Gorman, Samuel L. Jackson, John Lewis, Ruby Dee, Danny Glover, Rev. James Lawson, Tyler Perry, then-Sen. Barack Obama, Congressman Bennie G. Thompson and Rep. Maxine Waters among others. The NAACP Image Awards’ Chairman’s Award is handed out to individuals who are dedicated to public service and use their position and platform for social change and justice.
