Former Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on Thursday at the Leading Women Defined Summit in California.
The summit has been described as an “empowerment conference for female leaders of color across multiple industries” and had about 100 people in attendance, according to reports. Harris’s presence was one of her only live events since the failed Democratic presidential candidate lost the election on Nov. 5.
Harris used her speech at the event to criticize President Donald Trump’s time in office since his second term began on Jan. 20. Without mentioning him by name, the former vice president spoke of living in a time of fear and said courageous people were needed in such times.
“When a few stand with the courage, that is the courage exhibited by the leaders in this room every day, to have the courage to say, ‘I feel fear,’ the courage to say, ‘what is happening is wrong,’ the courage to say, ‘there is a way we must chart to get through this,’” Harris said. “Understanding our power in the democracy we still have if we hold on to it. Courage is contagious.”
She elaborated that those in attendance had a duty to lift each other and the country. She also said that since 2016, the nation has seen a rollback of progress, echoing the rhetoric and sentiments from her presidential campaign, which ended in defeat.
“Our commitment to lifting each other up, lifting up our community, lifting up our country has not changed,” Harris said. “Now, what has changed since 2016: We are in the midst of seeing progress being rolled back. Policies that we birthed being rolled back, the terms that we used for what is progress in America being turned into a pejorative. Intended to deny the facts. And to deny smart policy by the way, effective policy by the way, policy by the way that has been proven to yield a great return on that investment.”
She claimed, without evidence, that there was a “sense of fear” currently taking place in the country, and it was due to events that had been happening since Trump took office.
“There is a sense of fear that is taking hold in our country, and I understand it,” Harris said somberly. “These are the things that we are witnessing each day in these last few months in our country, and it understandably creates a great sense of fear. Because, you know, there were many things that we knew would happen, many things.”
“I’m not here to say, ‘I told you so,’” Harris said, before bursting into her famous cackle. “I swore I wasn’t going to say that.”
Harris did not say what her next political move would be. It has been rumored that the former vice president is considering a run in the next California gubernatorial election. However, she stated she would continue in politics without specifying what that would entail.
“I’ll see you out there,” Harris insisted. “I’m not going anywhere.”