US Vice President Kamala Harris lost all patience with a loud protester at a Detroit Democratic fundraiser on Saturday night, June 8, and told her, quite aggressively, that it was Harris’ turn to speak.
To defuse tensions that pro-Palestinian demonstrators might have aroused, the vice president opened the $200-per-plate Michigan Democratic Party Legacy Dinner by publicly discussing the violence in Gaza.
Harris’s efforts were unsuccessful because, during the Vice President’s speech, a number of pro-Palestinian shouts broke out in the audience, with a woman repeatedly exclaiming, “It’s genocide!”
Harris interrupted herself to say she didn’t like the heckler. “President Biden and I have been working daily to bring this conflict—I’m speaking right now—for the past eight months. She responded, “I value and respect your voice, but I’m speaking right now,” as security removed the demonstrator from the room.
“It’s time for this war to end,” she said into the microphone, adopting the wording that Biden has been utilizing more and more recently.
The situation was a significant gut check for both Biden and Harris, even though she was able to finish the speech after these words seemed to calm the audience.
Michigan is home to a sizable Arab American population, especially in and around Detroit. Almost 300,000 people of Arab descent live in the state; a large portion of them are from Gaza.
They consider the war between the terrorist forces of Hamas and Israel, an ally of the United States, to be grave. They have parents, friends, and family in the military, despite the fact that they are citizens of the United States.
