Kamala Harris Blake protests, Harris, citing 'sickening' Blake shooting

 Kamala Harris Blake protests, Harris, citing 'sickening' Blake shooting.

A Joe Biden administration would address systemic racism and tackle police reform, Sen. Kamala Harris said on Thursday, invoking the "sickening" shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin as further evidence for the need to address racial injustice in the U.S.

"The reality is that the life of a Black person in America has never been treated as fully human. And we have yet to fulfill that promise of equal justice under the law," Harris said. "We will only achieve that when we finally come together to pass meaningful police reform and broader criminal justice reform and acknowledge, yes, acknowledge, systemic racism."

Harris spoke hours before President Donald Trump is set to formally accept his party's nomination for re-election at the final night of the Republican National Convention, pre-emptively criticizing the president for his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Trump campaign has used the Republican convention to paint his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic as a success, largely depicting the disease as under control. Harris, however, described his response as a failure.

"Instead of rising to meet the most difficult moment of his presidency, he froze. He was scared. He was petty and vindictive," Harris said.

Harris' criticism anticipated that Trump will continue the themes of his convention, including depicting the nation as plagued by mobs and riots in cities led by Democrats.

The country had seen "the pain, hurt and destruction in the aftermath of yet another Black man shot by police," Harris said, adding that Blake's shooting "pierced the soul of the nation," and was "sickening to watch."

Blake, who is Black, was shot in the back by police Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He is now paralyzed from the waist down, his father said. During protests after Blake's shooting, two people were killed and another was injured when someone opened fire.

Police have arrested 17-year-old Illinois resident Kyle Rittenhouse on a first-degree intentional murder charge in connection with those shootings. NBC News has reported that Rittenhouse had posted online numerous photos of himself carrying long guns, along with several photos of the Blue Lives Matter flag.

Harris sought to make a distinction between "peaceful protesters" and "those looting and committing acts of violence" and "a shooter who was arrested for murder."

"Make no mistake, we will not let these vigilantes and extremists derail the path to justice," Harris said.

In an interview with NBC's Craig Melvin after the speech, Harris said Blake's shooting did not appear to be justified.

"I don't have all the evidence," the former prosecutor told Melvin in an interview, but "based on what I've seen it seems the officer should be charged."