Kamala Harris Makes First Post-VP TV Appearance With Invigorating NAACP Image Awards Speech

Former Vice President Kamala Harris had the audience cheering at the 56th NAACP Image Awards as she rallied Americans to fight for justice, equality, and opportunity in her first TV appearance since leaving office.

Accepting the organization’s Chairman’s Award at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Saturday night, Harris began by saying she’s been inspired by the NAACP her entire life. And one of her credos is a quote from NAACP cofounder W. E. B. Du Bois: “It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year.” Those words resonate with Harris in the fight for America’s future, she said.

“This organization came into being at a moment when our country struggled with greed, bitterness, and hatred,” Harris explained. “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. 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?’ But we know exactly what to do because we have done it before and we will do it again.”

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She went on: “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. And while we have no illusions about what we are up against in this chapter in our American story, this chapter will be written not simply by whoever occupies the Oval Office nor by the wealthiest among us. The American story will be written by you, written by us, by we the people.”

Big winners at the awards show on Saturday night included Abbott Elementary, which won Outstanding Comedy Series while star Quinta Brunson won Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, and Poppa’s House, for which father-son team Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. won Outstanding Actor and Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, respectively. Ghosts’ Danielle Pinnock, meanwhile, won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

On the drama TV side, Cross won Outstanding Drama Series, Power Book II: Ghost’s Michael Rainey Jr. and Method Man won Outstanding Actor and Supporting Actor, respectively; The Equalizer’s Queen Latifah won Outstanding Actress; and The Chi’s Lynn Whitfield won Outstanding Supporting Actress.