Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Kamala Harris Says She Was Waving At Detained Children In Viral Waving Meme

Kamala Harris Says She Was Waving At Detained Children In Viral Waving Meme
ALEX EDELMAN / Contributor / Getty Images

A GIF of presidential candidate and California Senator Kamala Harris waving has become a popular reaction GIF on social media.

Harris' wave, followed by a hand over her heart, has been interpreted by many as a patronizing gesture, but that doesn't take into account what was going on when the video was recorded.


Harris wasn't just doing the usual politician thing and trying to look sincere and caring. She was witnessing a heartbreaking scene and doing her best to be supportive of the people she could not help.

The GIF in question:

Giphy

This clip was taken during Harris' visit to the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children outside of Miami, FL. Homestead is one of the many privately owned detention centers where immigrant children are being held.

The tweet that seems to have started the trend was posted by @DewaynePerkins.

Others soon followed.






Without context, lots of folks read completely different meanings in Senator Harris' expressions and actions in the clip.

Harris has since talked about what was going on, and what was running through her head, when the video was taken. It definitely wasn't the snark that many are using the GIF for.

She called the moment "heartbreaking" in an interview with BuzzFeed News:

"It's been sort of strange to see it become a meme because of how heartbreaking the actual moment was."

She then moved on to where she was and why she was there:

"I was standing on a ladder outside Homestead juvenile immigration detention center outside Miami, looking over the fence, and I saw children lined up like prisoners."
"They had been separated from their families and put in this private detention facility. It was horrible."

Harris and other members of congress had been denied entry to inspect the facility, despite positions on oversight committees.

Harris continued:

"I sit on the Homeland Security Committee and they wouldn't let me see this facility where children are being detained."

She then revealed another heart wrenching detail:

"Here were parents outside the fence who are crying because they can't get to their children who were inside."

Harris also went on to condemn those responsible for this treatment of children:

"it was awful and I was just heartbroken to see it all. What this administration is doing is a human rights abuse."

So it turns out Harris was feeling genuine emotion when the video clip was taken, and wasn't being sarcastic or fake in the slightest, as many had believed.

This is a great example of how we can sometimes read more into someone's facial expression and body language than was really there. Video recordings can only tell us so much when we don't have the context of where the video was taken to inform our assumptions.

Kamala Harris wrote a children's book, Superheroes Are Everywhere, available here. And to learn more about Harris, her book The Truths We Hold: An American Journey, is available here.

More from Trending

Screenshots from Department of Homeland Security's video
@DHSgov/X

Pastor Gives Homeland Security An Epic Bible Lesson After Video Misuses Well-Known Bible Verse

After the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shared a video on X featuring the “send me” phrasing of the Bible verse Isaiah 6:8 while showing border patrol searching for migrants, Pastor Zach W. Lambert called out the agency's hypocrisy, noting how it is twisting Scripture to suit the Trump administration's ends.

The agency shared the video that includes the following narration:

Keep ReadingShow less
Jenna Bush Hager
TODAY/YouTube

Jenna Bush Hager Gets Emotional Speaking About Camp Mystic, Where Mom Laura Was A Counselor

Central Texas faced tragedy over the weekend when flash floods overtook the central part of the state, with at least 110 people killed and 160 still missing.

One impacted location was Camp Mystic, a private Christian summer camp for young girls, and 27 of the lost victims were either girls attending or young women counselors at that camp.

Keep ReadingShow less
School Principal Goes Viral After Cameras Catch His Sweet Interactions With Students
@zbauermaster/Instagram

School Principal Goes Viral After Cameras Catch His Sweet Interactions With Students

A Pennsylvania school teacher has had a video of him at work go viral, for positive reasons only.

Zac Bauermster, an elementary school principal in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, shared a video to his Instagram that was a montage of hallway security footage moments of him high-fiving, hip-bumping, hugging, and otherwise celebrating the children under his care with enthusiasm for each one.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sarah Jessica Parker
Marc Piasecki/WireImage

Sarah Jessica Parker Claps Back At Conservative Critics Who Want Her To 'Shut Up' About Politics And 'Act'

Nothing seems to get conservatives' goats quite like celebrities having political opinions—well, liberal and leftist celebrities, anyway.

They seem to love it when weird right-wing celebs like Kevin Sorbo get on the internet and say bizarre, usually counterfactual nonsense, or when JK Rowling does her darnedest to make her legacy not about Harry Potter but about her weird obsession with trans people.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ann Coulter
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Ann Coulter Faces Fierce Backlash After Saying 'We Didn't Kill Enough Indians' In Deleted Post

Far-right provocateur Ann Coulter is facing fierce criticism after she made a genocidal remark in a now-deleted post on X in response to University of Minnesota professor and Navajo Nation member Melanie Yazzie's speech about colonization.

Yazzie, in a speech at last year's annual Socialism Conference, said "decolonization is the only thing that is going to save us as a species" during a panel hosted by Red Nation, a Native American nonprofit that advocates for Palestinian and Native American rights. She also said that the United States is the "greatest predator empire that has ever existed" and said it should be dismantled.

Keep ReadingShow less