The Truths We Hold: An American Journey

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses anti-gay bias, anti-trans bias, and violence.

Back on Track was a program initiated by Kamala Harris when she was the San Francisco District Attorney. It was designed as a reentry program for nonviolent first-time offenders, aiming to reduce recidivism rates. The program provided participants with job training, education, GED courses, community service, parenting and financial literacy classes, as well as drug testing and therapy, to help them successfully reintegrate into society and avoid future criminal behavior.

The California Homeowner Bill of Rights was legislation proposed by Kamala Harris to make permanent the protections for homeowners that were established in the national mortgage settlement. This bill aimed to prohibit banks from engaging in predatory practices and gave individual homeowners the right to sue when banks broke the rules. Harris describes the challenging process of getting this bill passed in the face of strong opposition from banking lobbyists.

DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program discussed extensively in The Truths We Hold. It was created in 2012 by the Obama administration to protect eligible undocumented youth from deportation and allow them to obtain work permits. In the book, Harris emphasizes the importance of DACA and the plight of its recipients, often referred to as “Dreamers,” under the Trump administration’s efforts to terminate the program.