my mother was a brilliant 5ot tall brown woman with an accent and as the eldest child as the eldest child I saw how the world would sometimes treat her but my mother never lost her cool she was tough courageous a Trailblazer in the fight for Women's Health and she taught Maya and me a lesson that Michelle mentioned the other night she taught us to never complain about Injustice but do something about it do something about it that was my mother and she taught us and she always she also taught us and she also taught us and never do anything half ass and that is a direct quote a direct quote I grew up immersed in the ideals of the Civil Rights Movement my parents had met at a civil rights Gathering and they made sure that we learned about civil rights leaders including the lawyers like thur Good Marshall and con Constance Baker Motley those who battled in the courtroom to make real the promise of America so so at a young age I decided I wanted to do that work I wanted to be a lawyer and when it came time to choose the type of law I would pursue I reflected on a pivotal moment in my life you see when I was in high school I started to notice something about my best friend Wanda she was sad at school and there were times she didn't want to go home so one day I asked if everything was all right and she confided in me that she was being sexually abused by her stepfather and I immediately told her she had to come stay with us and she did this is one of the reasons I became a prosecutor to protect people like Wanda because I believe everyone has a right to safety to dignity and to Justice as a prosecutor when I had a case I charged it not in the name of the victim but in the name of the people for a simple reason in our system of justice a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us and I would often explain this to console survivors of crime to remind them no one should be made to fight alone we are all in this together and every day in the courtroom I stood proudly before a judge and I said five words kamla Harris for the people and to be clear and to be clear my entire career I've only had one client the people and so on behalf of the people on behalf of every American regardless of party race gender or the language your grandmother speaks on behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely Journey on behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with people who work hard chase their dreams and look out for one another on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America and with this election and and with this election our nation our nation with this election has a precious fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness cynicism and divisive battles of the past a chance to chart a new way forward not not as members of any one party or faction but as Americans and let me say I know there are people of various political views watching tonight and I want you to know I promise to be a president for all Americans you know what else I love about kamla she gets it we need to make life more affordable for working people yeah Donald Trump the Felon has no plans to lower cost for families he doesn't know how and basically he doesn't really care when did he ever fill up a gas tank or worry about a grocery bill the only bills he worries about are from his criminal defense lawyers but comma she cares deep down and she will take on the giant corporations that are squeezing American families in fact it's something she's done before during the California wildfires she went after the price gougers during the pandemic we work together in the Senate to stop price gouging and as president she will lower costs for your family she'll take on the Wall Street firms that buy up millions of houses and apartments and then jack up the rent she'll take on drug companies that charge an arm and a leg for prescriptions she'll take take on corporate monopolies that rip off consumers and billionaires who don't pay taxes and she'll take on rightwing extremists who think they should decide who has access to abortion or IVF Kamala will protect abortion rights Nationwide yeah and there it is groceries gas housing Health Care taxes abortion trust Donald Trump and JD fans to look out for your family shoot I wouldn't let those guys I wouldn't trust them to move my couch I want to now since I was a teenager I was mentored by Reverend Jesse Jackson and Reverend Jackson taught us to fight for what's right and now I want to bring out some young men that I fought for I referred to them then they were known as the Central Park five now they are the exonerated five Raymond Raymond Santana Kevin Richardson Yousef Salam k twice the exagerated [Applause] F we won't go back good evening people my name is Cory wise 35 years ago my friends and I were in impr prisoned for a crime we did not commit our you was stolen from us every day as we walked into cour courtroom people screamed at us threaten us because of Donald Trump he spent 45 $85,000 on the full page ad in the in the New York Times calling for our execution [Applause] we we were innocent kids but we but we all but we serve a total of 41 years in prison Reverend Al shop stood with us now I'm proud to stand with him today vice president commas Harris has also worked to make things fairer I know she will do the same as president now prove that message okay so listen it's come to my attention that there are some folks who struggle or pretend to struggle with the proper pronunciation of our future president's name so hear me out confusion is understandable disrespect is not so tonight we are going to help everyone get it right here to help me are some very special guests thank you ladies can you tell us your names hello everybody my name is Amara and my name is Lea her little sister and what are you here to do to teach you how to say your Auntie's name okay so how do you pronounce it first you say comma like a comma in a sentence then you say la like la la la la la put it together and it's 1 2 3 comma all right so let's practice let's practice I was born with grit I grew up racing motorcycles McKing stalls and exploring the beautiful desert I fell for an astronaut for five years I served in Congress from a swing District everybody called me a rising star then on January 8th 2011 a man tried to assassinate me he shot 19 people he killed six terrible terrible day I almost died but I fought for my life and I survived I learned to walk again one step at a time I learned to talk again one word at a time so many people helped me as I worked hard to recover including a decent man for Delaware who always checked in in he still does thank you Joe Biden thank you for everything Joe is a great president my friend Kamala will be a great president she is tough she has grit some some if questioned some have questioned why I've taken the stand I have the answer is really simple ladies and gentlemen we must put country first and tonight and tonight as a republican speaking before you I'm putting our country first because the fact is I do belong here I know kamla Harris shares my allegiance to the rule of law the Constitution and democracy and she is dedicated to upold upholding all three in service to our country whatever policies we disagree on pale in comparison with those fundamental matters of principle of decency and of fidelity to this nation listen to my fellow Republicans if you still pledge allegiance to those principles I suspect you belong here too because because democracy knows no party it's a it's a living breathing ideal that defines us as a nation we were both raised knowing that no one was going to hand us anything especially as women that we were going to have to touch every wrong of the ladder to get ahead we were going to have to work really hard now she worked at McDonald's but I worked at Wendy's and look at us now uh you see KLA and I were able to see Beyond the Horizon because our families supported Our Big Dreams well guess what As Americans we're all part of one big family so Familia and as Familia we have to have each other's back we have to support each other's dreams because kamala's success is our success and she supports us to dream big too so let me tell you in the Latino community in our community we have a saying which means yes it means yes we can but tonight I'm here to tell you yes she can so we're going to say she with so when when someone ask you is she ready to lead this country forward we're going to say she s when somebody says is she qualified for the job we're going to say she said with when somebody asks is she going to be the first female president of the United States we're going to say she said with it our voices our vote we're going to decide this election and let me tell you the energy tonight isn't just here in Chicago it's all across the country people are gathered at watch parties everywhere to celebrate kamla har say hello yes all right we know how to work so let's get to work let's turn all of this enthusiasm and joy into action 29 I joined the sandwich generation sandwich between working and raising my newborn and caring for my mom who was dying from brain cancer it was hard but not extraordinary it's life those nights reminded me who I was fighting for people just trying to make it kamla Harris knows who she's fighting for too she took care of her mom who also battled cancer as president she'll fight to lower the cost of healthcare and elder care for every family she's lived a life like ours she knows us Donald Trump doesn't know you at all you think he understands that when your car breaks down you can't get to work no his first word was probably chauffeur [Applause] you think he's ever had to take items out of the cart before checking out hell you think he's ever been to a grocery store that's what the chauffeur is for we are living in a time when some are trying to divide us to separate us in ways that make it difficult for us to come together well look my sister sister rejects that view where others push Darkness comma sees promise where others feel Detachment kamla Fosters connection where others want to drag us back to the past my sister says hold up now we are not going back because kamla understands we have so much more in common than what separates us she knows the measure of our success isn't just winning an election it's about who we bring along and lift up in the process and so as I look out at all of you today and take in this incredible moment I so wish that mommy could be here tonight I can just see her smiling saying how proud she is of kamla and then without missing a beat she say that's enough you got work to do she would tell all of us to roll up our sleeves and get to work to elect a leader who sees the potential in each of us a leader who cares for all of us a leader who fights for every one of us