Ta-Nehisi Coates this week warned Democrat presidential hopefuls Sen. Kamala Harris and former Vice President Joe Biden that they will have to deal with their criminal justice “baggage” in the 2020 election campaign.
In an interview with New York magazine, the author of The Case for Reparations was asked to discuss “both politicians who embraced some version of ‘tough on crime liberalism’ earlier in their careers.”
Coates acknowledged that Harris and Biden both “have some of that baggage” and was skeptical they can sustain their popularity with black voters when their criminal justice records get scrutinized.