XPost: alt.crime, alt.politics.democrats, alt.news-media   
   XPost: misc.survivalism   
   From: jthomq@gmail.com   
      
   In addition to the growing pandemic, 2020 will be remembered for   
   the call for massive civil rights protests, as thousands across   
   the country marched in the name of Black Lives Matter that   
   ramped up after George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis   
   police.   
      
   In October, now-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was   
   interviewed in Elle Magazine about her fight for justice.   
      
   Overnight, the contents of the interview resurfaced on Twitter.   
   In her interview, Harris recounts a story about a civil rights   
   protest she attended with her parents as a toddler. Users on the   
   app began to question the validity of her story after citing a   
   resemblance to an anecdote from the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther   
   King Jr.   
      
   After the story gained traction among conservatives on Twitter,   
   it was picked up by news outlets such as Fox News, The Daily   
   Wire and Daily Caller.   
      
   The Claim   
   On Monday night, conservative pundit David Rubin shared side-by-   
   side screenshots of the Harris and King interviews.   
      
   His tweet accuses Harris of stealing her story about demanding   
   rights as a toddler at a protest from an anecdote King shared in   
   a 1965 Playboy interview.   
      
   The accusation first gained traction Monday night after an   
   interaction on Twitter between users Andray Domise and   
   @EnglesFreddie showed similarities between Harris' story and one   
   from a King interview decades earlier.   
      
   In the Elle interview, Ashley C. Ford leads with a story about   
   Harris' lifelong activism.   
      
   "Senator Kamala Harris started her life's work young," she   
   wrote. "She laughs from her gut, the way you would with family,   
   as she remembers being wheeled through an Oakland, California,   
   civil rights march in a stroller with no straps with her parents   
   and her uncle.   
      
   "At some point, she fell from the stroller (few safety   
   regulations existed for children's equipment back then), and the   
   adults, caught up in the rapture of protest, just kept on   
   marching. By the time they noticed little Kamala was gone and   
   doubled back, she was understandably upset."   
      
   I looked up to her and my father with bright eyes and uttered my   
   first full sentence: 'Fwee at last, fwee at last, thank God   
   almighty, we're fwee at last.'   
   Candace Owens   
   Then Harris shares, "My mother tells the story about how I'm   
   fussing and she's like, 'Baby, what do you want? What do you   
   need?' And I just looked at her and I said, 'Fweedom.'"   
      
   This story also appears in Harris' 2010 book, "Smart on Crime"   
   and her 2019 book "The Truths We Hold: An American Journey."   
      
   Harris' story shared similar details to this moment in King's   
   interview with Playboy:   
      
   "I never will forget a moment in Birmingham when a white   
   policeman accosted a little Negro girl, seven or eight years   
   old, who was walking in a demonstration with her mother. 'What   
   do you want?' the policeman asked her gruffly, and the little   
   girl looked him straight in the eye and answered, 'Fee-dom.' She   
   couldn't even pronounce it, but she knew. It was beautiful! Many   
   times when I have been in sorely trying situations, the memory   
   of that little one has come into my mind, and has buoyed me."   
      
   As #Fweedom trends on Twitter, many conservative pundits shared   
   their opinion on Harris' story. Candace Owens mocked Harris by   
   joking about her first words.   
      
   Harris' running mate, now-President-elect Joe Biden, has faced   
   plagiarism accusations in the past.   
      
   Reports that Biden used parts of speeches from other   
   politicians, exaggerated his past activism and plagiarized   
   papers in law school derailed his first presidential run in 1988.   
      
   During the vice presidential debate in October, Vice President   
   Pence accused Biden of copying parts of President Trump's   
   coronavirus response plans.   
      
   King's son, Martin Luther King III, declined to comment on the   
   accusation, instead bringing focus to the importance of protests   
   in the fight for civil justice.   
      
   "We need to ignore noise and political attacks and focus on what   
   is really important. African American families have been   
   marching for freedom for generations," he said. "As we march we   
   must continue to focus on the ultimate goal of eradicating   
   racism, poverty, and violence, which are central to achieving my   
   father's dream."   
      
   The Ruling   
   Unknown.   
      
   From the evidence gathered since this accusation was made, it is   
   clear that Harris' story bears similarity to King's, but that in   
   itself does not warrant a plagiarism ruling.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)