'That little girl was me': Kamala Harris confronts Joe Biden over his troubling record on race with powerful personal story

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) on Thursday confronted former Vice President Joe Biden over his troubling record on racial issues, specifically calling out his efforts to oppose busing by the Department of Education in the 1970's.

The moment followed a back and forth between Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg over the recent fatal shooting of a black man by a white police officer in Buttigieg’s hometown. When the moderators tried to ask Biden a question, Harris cut in.

“As the only black person on stage, I would like to speak on the issue of race,” she said to applause.

“So on the issue of race: I couldn’t agree more that this is an issue that is still not being talked about truthfully and honestly,” Harris said. “There is not a black man I know, be he a relative, a friend or a coworker who has not been the subject of profiling or discrimination. Growing up, my sister and I had to deal with the neighbor who told us her parents said she couldn’t play with us because we were black.”

She continued:

I will say also that in this campaign we have also heard, and I will direct this at Vice President Biden, I do not believe you are a racist, and I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground. But I also believe, and it’s personal, and it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who is built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country. It was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing.

“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bussed to school every day,” Harris told Biden. “That little girl was me. So I will tell you that on this subject, it cannot be an intellectual debate among Democrats. We have to take it seriously, we have to act swiftly. As Attorney general of California, I was proud to put in place a requirement that all my special agents would wear body cameras and keep those cameras on.”

In response, Biden called Harris' line of attack a “mischaracterization” of his position “across the board.”

“The fact is that in terms of busing: the busing — you would have been able to go to school the same way because it was a local decision made by your city that’s fine,” Biden said. “That’s one of the things I argued for that we should be breaking down the lines. The bottom line here is, look. Everything I have done in my career... I ran because of civil rights and continue to think we have to make fundamental changes and those civil rights, by the way, include not just African-Americans, but the LGBT community.”

“But do you agree today that you were wrong to oppose busing in America then?” Harris asked. “Do you agree?”

“I did not oppose busing in America,” Biden replied. “What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education. That’s what I opposed.”

“There was a failure of states to integrate public schools in America,” Harris explained. “I was part of the second class to integrate Berkeley, California public schools almost two decades after Brown V. Board of Education.”

“Because your city council made that decision,” Biden retorted. “It was a local decision.”

“And that’s where the federal government must step in," Harris insisted. "That’s why we have the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. That’s why we need to pass the Equality Act. That’s why we need to pass the ERA. There are moments in history where states fail to preserve the civil rights of all people.”

Watch the video below: