Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Vice President Kamala Harris, the nation's first Black woman vice president and a former U.S. senator representing the state of California, spoke at the National Congress of American Indians 78th Convention on Tuesday and addressed what she says is the "shameful past of American explorers."

The featured speaker for the convention, the vice president gave her speech a day after Columbus Day, which has also been formally recognized for the first time this year as 'Indigenous Peoples' Day' by President  Joe Biden

Harris told the convention delegates that "since 1934, every October, the United States has recognized the voyage of the European explorers who first landed on the shores of the Americas but that is not the whole story."

She said that the whole story has never been fully told in America' s K-12 schools, its colleges and universities, and its history books and other academic resources.

"Those explorers ushered in a wave of devastation for tribal nations — perpetrating violence, stealing land, and spreading disease," said Harris while also pledging to make an investment in America's Native-American communities.

Harris, 56, is the first woman of color to compete on a major party presidential ticket in America. Her parents, who divorced when she was five years old, were both immigrants, her mom from Chennai, India, her dad from Jamaica.

A Democrat, she won the election for vice president last November when Biden ousted then president Donald Trump, Biden winning both the popular vote and the  electoral college.

When she accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president relative to the Democratic National Convention in August of 2020 she spoke out on racism, among a number of public policy issues impacting the Black community and others, including the pandemic.

At the time, she blamed the partisan divisiveness in the country on the Trump administration, calling Trump too controversial, and mean spirited.

"The constant chaos leaves us adrift," Harris said of Trump. "The incompetence makes us feel afraid."

With millions of Americans watching across most major television and cable channels, she shined during the vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City, Utah this time last year, and out performed then vice president Mike Pence, polls said.

A former California attorney general, the vice president is a native of Oakland who was elected to the U.S. Senate for the first time in 2016.

When she was chosen by Biden as his running mate, she became the fourth woman to compete on a major party presidential ticket in America behind vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin in 2008 and Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, and Hillary Clinton in 2016, Clinton a presidential candidate that year.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.