Tears flow as Harris joins Oprah Winfrey for star-studded event

A star-studded virtual event hosted by media personality Oprah Winfrey on the night of Sept. 19 to build enthusiasm for US Vice-President Kamala Harris' campaign was marked by teary moments and celebrity endorsements, drawing hundreds of thousands of viewers across social media.

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Ms. Winfrey hosted the Unite for America event with activist group Win With Black Women. The event aimed to register voters and bolster Ms. Harris in states such as Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan, which are set to decide the Nov. 5 election.

Ms. Shanette Williams, the mother of Ms. Amber Nicole Thurman, a 28-year-old Georgia woman who died in August 2022 after a hospital treatment delay related to the state's restrictive abortion laws, told the audience: "You are looking at a mother that is broken, the worst pain ever that a mother, that a parent can ever feel."

Ms. Harris responded: "I am just so sad. And the courage that you all have shown is extraordinary."

Many in the studio audience of about 400 were in tears.

Natalie Griffith, a 15-year-old student from Apalachee High School in Georgia who was shot twice while in mathematics class two weeks ago, sat with her parents in the front row.

"What are we doing?" asked Natalie's mother, Ms. Marilda Griffith. "We have a job, that job is to protect our children. We have to stop it," she said, as she and some in the audience, virtual and in-person, cried.