Vice President Kamala Harris has faced criticism from conservatives over her previous call for everyone to be "woke," with some labeling her a "Communist functionary."
Vice President Kamala Harris has come under fire from conservatives over a 2017 video clip in which she called for everyone to be "woke." The clip, which resurfaced on social media recently, has sparked criticism from the right, who accuse Harris of being too radical to serve as president.
In the clip, Harris, who is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in 2024, says, "We have to stay woke. Like everybody needs to be woke. And you can talk about if you're the wokest or woker, but just stay more woke than less woke."
Kamala Harris's Call for Wokeism Draws Criticism from Conservatives
Harris made the comments during Recode's annual Code Conference in 2017, alongside philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. The conference focused on issues such as immigration and the environment, including Harris speaking out against the Trump administration's drug policies and immigration polices just moments ahead of her call on Americans to be "woke."
"I get upset when we say we're going to shut our door to refugees who are fleeing such atrocities and have been standing in line for two years to qualify for refugee status, and they arrive here, and we turn them away," Harris said. "Yes, I'm gonna get mad about that. I'm gonna get mad when we have an attorney general who's trying to resuscitate the war on drugs. And he thinks the greatest evil that mankind has ever seen is marijuana. … Leave grandma's medical marijuana alone."
Kamala Harris's Call for Wokeism Draws Criticism from Conservatives
Harris doubled down on her comment in a message posted to Twitter a day later, which read: "We have to stay active. We have to stay woke."
The use of the word "woke" grew in popularity in 2017, when dictionaries such as Oxford and Merriam-Webster added the phrase to their lexicons, defining it as people who are attentive to issues such as social justice. It has since become a catch-all word for left-wing issues and agendas.
Kamala Harris's Call for Wokeism Draws Criticism from Conservatives
Conservatives have criticized Harris for her use of the term, accusing her of being too radical to serve as president.
"Kamala is a low-level Communist functionary, and I'm tired of being told we have to pretend she's not," tweeted conservative author James Lindsay.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment on the clip and criticism, but did not immediately receive a reply.
The clip comes after President Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race late last month, which was shortly followed by him endorsing his vice president to pursue winning the White House in his place.
Harris officially clinched her party's 2024 presidential nomination on Friday, earning more than a majority of votes from convention delegates, the DNC reported.
Harris now has fewer than 100 days ahead of Nov. 5 to court voters ahead of facing off against former President Donald Trump at the polls. As Harris builds up her campaign, critics have unearthed a bevy of news articles and video clips of the presumptive Democratic nominee, such as her voicing support to the defund the police movement in 2020, and her praise of a pastor who blamed the U.S. for the 9/11 attacks.
Harris is anticipated to announce her running mate in the race this week, who will head with her to Chicago later this month for the Democratic National Convention.
In addition to the criticism from conservatives, Harris has also been criticized by some on the left for not being progressive enough.
Some progressives have criticized Harris for her support of the death penalty and her record as a prosecutor.
Harris has defended her record, saying that she believes in equal justice under the law and that she has always fought for the rights of victims.
However, her critics argue that her record does not match her rhetoric on racial justice and that she has not done enough to address systemic racism in the criminal justice system.
Despite the criticism, Harris remains the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in 2024. She will face off against former President Donald Trump in the general election on Nov. 5.
