WASHINGTON _ Kamala Harris of California has been a U.S. senator for less than three weeks, but the prominent speaking role she had at Saturday's Women's March on Washington showed her reputation as a rising star in a Democratic Party searching for a new generation of leaders.
"Even if you are not sitting in the White House, even if you are not a member of the United States Congress, even if you don't run a big corporate super PAC, you have the power," she said to hundreds of thousands of demonstrators whom she summoned to activism comparable to that of the civil rights era.
"This is at that moment in time for our country, when we are collectively looking in the mirror and with furrowed brow asking this question �� who are we?" Harris said.
It was a bold performance for the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India who met as civil rights activists at the University of California, Berkeley, and who is now embracing her role in opposition to President Donald Trump. She's questioned Trump nominees at confirmation hearings, and then told Saturday's crowd that "fight we will do and fight we will win."
"Let's make today a beginning. Let's buckle in because it's going to be a bumpy ride, and then let's go back to Ohio and New York and Florida and California and let's get to work," Harris said.
Many in Saturday's crowd couldn't hear the speakers. Inching toward the stage was an exercise in futility. There were so many people at the event at the marchers could not march on the route that had been set aside; it was already filled with people.
But those who got close enough could see screens set up showing musicians and speakers including activist and director Michael Moore, women's rights activist Gloria Steinem and Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., told the crowd that Trump and his Cabinet nominees are "dangerous for us and all of our families."
Harris was the first among a few female Democratic senators to speak. Flanked on stage by other political figures, Harris said "we are tired as women of being relegated to simply being thought of as a particular constituency or demographic."
"We've got our work cut out for us and it's going to get harder before it gets easier," she said. "I know we will rise to the challenge and I know we will keep fighting no matter what, because we've got the power," she said.
����
(Stuart Leavenworth contributed to this report.)
