Part of what is wrong right now with what is happening in our country is there is some perverse kind of suggestion that the strength of a leader is measured based on who you beat down instead of who you lift up.
From Putro Media and PRX. It's Latino USA. I'm Mariao Hoosa Today, Kamala Harris, we revisit my one on one interview with the VP, the presumptive presidential nominee for the Democratic Party. Dear Latino USA listener, Well, the last few weeks in US politics have been quite a worldwin, to say the least, from President Joe Biden's disappointing debate performance against Donald Trump in late June.
Right now as we speak, there is a deep, a wide, and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic.
Party to the assassination attempt against former President Trump.
Had new details tonight on the suspect here, sources now telling ABC News that he looked up Donald Trump.
To the mounting calls asking for President Biden to step down as a candidate.
We've got up to twenty House Democrats now calling for the president to step aside two out of three voters according to a lot of both Democratic voters.
And then we reached a major flashpoint. On Sunday afternoon of July twenty, first.
President Biden has just announced that he is ending his reelection bid. Just moments ago, the President tweeted out, it has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president.
Well it has been now a presidential candidate stepping out so close to an election is something that hasn't happened since nineteen sixty eight, when then President Lyndon me Johnson said he would not seek reelection. President Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place at this November's presidential election.
We loved in jail, We really do. They truly are like family to n and we did.
Everybody hear that.
Tool.
I know you're still there.
You're not going anywhere, Joe.
I love you, Joe.
At fifty nine years old, Harris has often called herself a child of the civil rights movement, and that's because she attended protests with her family when she was just a toddler. She's also known as the first of many. In two thousand and four, she became the first woman district attorney in San Francisco and the first black person and first South Asian woman in all of California to
hold that office. In twenty ten, Harris became the Attorney General for her home state of California, becoming the first woman in the state to do so. And when in twenty seventeen, Harris was sworn in as a United States Senator, she became the first South Asian person and only the second black woman to achieve that. In twenty nineteen, then Senator Harris competed to become the Democratic presidential nominee, but
after a lackluster performance, she dropped out. Then, when Joe Biden became the nominee, he asked her to be his running mate, and the two won the twenty twenty election with the support of more than eighty one million votes. Now Vice President Harris is bound to make history again if she officially becomes the Democratic presidential nominee and ends up defeating Donald Trump. Within twenty four hours of President Biden's historic announcement, Harris raised a record eighty one million
dollars for her campaign. Latino, a grassroots organization, pledged forty four million dollars. The Vice President also started to rake in endorsements and has already secured enough delegates to become her party's nominee, but what about the voters? So we hear at Latino USA. Decided to reach out to you, dear listeners to hear what you had to say, and we got responses from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, California, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida,
and New York City. So let's take a listen to what you had to say.
I do feel relief in having Biden decide not to continue running for presidents, although I am extraordinarily worried about people inside his administration.
Who concealed his cognitive issues.
Not really a Kamala fans, but I do believe it's better than voting for Trump. I want to see if the patriarchy of the United States is actually going to finally vote for a woman.
I am very happy that mister Biden stepped away. My only trouble with Kamala is that I wish that it had been under other circumstances, because otherwise she feels absolutely imposed by Biden. Yes, I am proud of being a woman, but that is not enough. I need to hear how are you different from Trump? What is the plan with a nation I mean, I hope that Kamala, because she is an incredibly smart woman, shows us what a president should do.
As someone whose grandparents came to this country from Mexico, I'm very excited that Vice President Harris is now the candidate you see in Mexico, a woman as president. I can't that happened here in the US.
As a woman from the Islands, as a mother of African American trojan Also, I am so proud of her, and this just gives me more enthusiastm to vote. And I tell my grandchildren who are at the age of voting, that you must vote her in because she is a positive force for all people.
The fact that Kamala is a woman of color, she's a feminist, he believes in the human rights for everyone. I'm glad to be voting for her, donating and volunteering for her campaign.
I was planning on voting for Joe Biden. Like I wasn't super thrilled, but it was going against you know, Trump, and I just do not agree with anything that he has said and anything that he believes in. But after the announcement, I suddenly became very excited and what a hairs presidency could look like she's just nothing like any other president we've seen before, all of the barriers that she's had to overcome. That is also very inspiring, and the nod to like the American dream.
The nomination of Kamala Harris definitely makes me very happy and I'm definitely going to vote for her. Before that, I was even hesitant to vote for Biden as a protest for his actions in Zaza, and I just feel excitement again.
While Kamala Harris has an opportunity to really inspire our generation, it is yet to be seen if she will take a serious position and what her vision for our peace and security will be, starting with continuing to ignore and be complicit in abuses of power like we've seen overseas and like we continue to see at home by the same police and surveillance apparatus.
I'm happy that Biden is stepping down, but my fears for this election haven't necessarily gone away. Knowing Kamala has stepped in, it still kind of feels like I just have to vote to make sure Trump doesn't win, and I'm not necessarily voting for someone that I feel like represents me or will protect the communities I care about.
I feel excited about the election, and I wasn't feeling it before.
She's invigorating, you know, you could just see the spark in her eye.
I think it's a promising thing and you've got God, Please God let her win.
We want to thank all of you for taking the time to call in now, dear listener, wherever you might stand on your views of Vice President Kamala Harris as a potential candidate, we thought it was important to revisit my one on one interview with the VP. It's actually how we kicked off our ongoing political coverage, which we've
called the Latino Factor How we Vote. Last September, myself and Latino USA producer Renaldo Leans Junior flew with the Vice President on Air Force two from just outside of DC all the way to Miami, and there I sat down with Harris at Florida International University, where we talked about everything from immigration, to critiques about the Democratic Party,
to outreach for Latino voters and much more. But the one topic you won't hear us talking about is the war on Gaza, and that's because this interview took place just before the crisis erupted. So without any further ado, here's my twenty twenty three conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris. Madame Vice President, thank you for speaking with us, sitting down with us.
It is my pleasure and honor. Thank you. I'm glad to be with you. How you doing. I'm good.
So tell me about what you were feeling out there. Just give me a sense because you're on this tour. This is a predominantly Latino institution. What's your what's your vibe? How'd you feel?
So this is my sixth stop on my tour, which we have named the Fight for Our Freedom's Tour, and I decided to do this.
What we've been told is that this entire idea of visiting historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, community colleges, and apprenticeship programs across the country was all Kamala Harris's idea. She wanted to travel from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, to here in Florida, to Northern Arizona University and Flagstaff all just to name a few, all of this during the months of September and October, with the goal of mobilizing young voters.
I am very optimistic about the future of our country. And one of the main reasons is because when I look at these young leaders, when I look at gen Z for example, they are stepping up.
They are not waiting around.
For other people to create solutions. They are acutely aware of what is at stake. They are acutely aware of the clock ticking and the need for urgent action. And so I decided to embark on this tour as a way to one let them know that I see them, but also so I can hear from them. And I
purposely decided to focus on college age people. So it's universities and colleges, it's community colleges, and it's apprenticeship programs, trade schools, and so today being here at an HSI, the largest Hispanic serving institution in the country, was just reinforcement of the importance of lifting up the voice of America's leadership currently and future leadership.
The topics the students brought up to the Vice President were wide ranging.
Here are a few of those questions.
With the election approaching upon us, we understand how important and how pivotal it is for our voices to be heard and for our votes to be casted. What strategies can we the people employed to empower and engaged marginalized communities to ensure voting rights are respected and that our voices.
Mentioned earlier, there have been detrimental changes to reproductive rights. Switch in turn has caused a woman's right to abortion and a decision to make the choices about her own body go under attack. What do you think about this issue, it's impact, and what can we do to address it?
First of the recent advance I'm here in the state of Florida. What advice do you have for students looking to learn those raw on, you know, uncensored truths about our social issues that we face here in the country. And what advice would you have for educators looking to teach those topics while navigating through all of the roadblocks that are currently in stated.
As each student came up to the mic to ask their question, Vice President Harris listened intently, sitting back in her chair, her legs crossed, very focused on each student as they spoke.
I was raised in a community that believed in nurturing the children and the young people, and so this is very familiar to me as something one does as part of your responsibility and duty.
According to the Brookings Institute, thirty one percent of all Latino eligible voters are between the ages of eighteen and twenty nine, and these voters are more supportive towards progressive policies. That's something elected officials and aspiring twenty twenty four candidates are talking about and taking notice. So it's not all too surprising that the Biden Harris administration is here today in Miami trying to mobilize the vote. But will it work.
When we come back, we get into what exactly the Biden Harris administration is doing to foster the Latino vote in Republican leaning Florida, and later we're going to hear her thoughts on abortion, immigration and more. Stay with us, not yes, welcome back to Latino USA. When we left off, we heard Vice President Harris begin to talk about the administration's outreach to young voters across the country, especially Latinos and Latinas. It's part of the college tour that the
Vice President designed. Let's go back to my conversation with the Vice president now, So when we were on the plane, you were very clear when I asked you about Latino and Latina voters, and you were like, yep, I know. And your answer was they're the future, right. You were just like, so, yeah. A lot of people are like, wait, what are you talking about Latinos and Latinas?
Do they vote?
Aren't they all immigrants? Aren't they takers? You know, this whole kind of very confusing narrative that is not true. But you were like, I see the future and you're talking like data, but you're also talking hard.
I'm talking life experience.
I mean, I'm a kid who was raised by parents who are actors the civil rights movement in California. I've grown up in the community, under standing the community as part of an extension of the neighborhood and the folks who raised me, and it's natural then for me to hopefully be informed about who people are, the history and also the future of any group of people. So I am very clear about what we're talking about and on
a variety of subjects. If you look at it in terms of the student body here at the school, if i u if you look at it in terms of some of the work that I've been doing that is really a labor of love for me, focusing on small businesses and that the fastest one of the fastest growing groups of small business owners are Latinas. That the last numbers I saw, one in four new small businesses are
are Latino or Latino owned. Right, So you're talking about it in terms of young people in the future of our country and leadership, You're talking about the future of our economy. You're talking about just the fact that we are a nation that is a diverse nation, and all people must be recognized and given the dignity and respect they deserve.
My mantra is Latinos and Latinas are the second largest voting cohort in the United States, the second largest voting cohort, not a block. Yeah, And people are just like, wait, they are and the connection has not been made. There are Latino activists that I've been speaking to and they're just like, we think the Democratic Party and Biden Harris get that. So you're having a big impact on.
This, Oh, we all are.
But I will say that I feel very strongly about it, and for a number of reasons. You know, I'm look on this college tour, I'm engaged in real talk everywhere I go. I talk about, for example, the attacks on dei diversity, equity and inclusion, which was born that attack was born here in the state of Florida, and an attempt by these extremists, so called leaders, to diminish the significance of diversity and equity and inclusion.
Right.
So back to the point about the state of Latinos in America, and of course we know that this is not a monolith either. Only two percent of venture capital investment go to Latino owned businesses. You look at the disparities across the board, and so I'm focused on issues like equity. Understand that people don't all start at the same base, but they have ambition and aspiration and we have to pay attention to the differences to make sure
people have equal opportunity for success. This is how I think about things, and so it's not just only about voting. It's about my investment in the strength and the prosperity and the security of our nation.
It's not just about winning election.
As my point, my dad may he rest in peace was the big dream when he was born in Dampico in Mexico. He was like, I want to help to create something that will have people who were born deaf here again. So he came to this country hired by the University of Chicago, helped to create the cochlear implant, Like your mom had a vision and my mom, like your mom took me out to the protests when I
was eight years old. So the nub is that that you're like, You're like, well, I was in an a stroller, and I'm like, well, I'm a little bit older.
Age is more than a chronological fact, It's a state of mind, you know.
So I was actually out there, but none of us could vote. Only my dad could vote. Right, So this notion of democracy as something that goes beyond the vote.
That's a great point. That's an excellent that's an excellent point. And I think your point is and certainly the way I think of it, it's about participation, and there are many ways to participate, right, But the alternative is unacceptable, which is to be passive and watch things as they happen, invariably, knowing they will happen to you if you're not active and standing for the things you believe in.
It is a criticism of the Democratic Party, though, you know, which is that you know you don't fight enough, you don't stand up for yourselves enough. You don't push back against the Republican Party and all of that kind of authoritarian push And it's kind of like, why don't the Democrats come on you guys.
You've heard that before.
Yeah, And I will tell you that we've got some real fighters and the party who are fighting. But we let me I feed on mind. I'm going to just step back for a moment. What I'm seeing among these extremists, so called leaders, is they are intent on dividing and distracting, and they want to divide our country, and they want to distract people from the fact they're not getting a thing done.
They're not getting anything done, So that's their game.
And I say everywhere, let's not be distracted by what they're up to.
Right.
They want to create unnecessary debates. They want to create a debate about whether enslaved people benefited from slavery. No, no, I will not get distracted from the things that we need to deal with, such as the fact that you're proposing that women and people don't have a right to
make decisions about their own body. So we are fighting, but we're going to fight the fights that are worth having, right, and the most important thing is that we have been able to achieve things that are actually moving the needle, like the climate issue, like capping insulin at thirty five dollars a month, like allowing Medicare for the first time to negotiate drug prices on behalf of Medicare recipients, so that we're going to bring down the cost of prescription
medication cap it at two thousand dollars a year for seniors. That's a big deal. How many people in our country are suffering from medical debt which is messing up their credit score, not to mention, you know, putting them on the verge of bankruptcy. So we're fighting four things for the people right and we're going to have a fight in front of us in this election to make sure that folks vote. And that's one of the reasons I'm doing this college tour to remind people they've got to vote.
They have to vote.
The elections make a difference. And let's not forget where we were just a couple of years ago and what we were dealing with.
So for the first time that we know of reproductive right now, abortion access have ended up in the top five issues that Latino and Latino voters care about.
Can you talk a little.
Bit about that particular issue of reproductive rights and why it matters so much for Latinas and what you're going.
To say to them.
Well, first of all, it goes back to your point about the stereotypes about who cares about and thinks about what, because what I know is the majority of Latinos and Latinas support the right of the individual to be able
to make that decision and not the government. And so contrary to some stereotypes about based on religious beliefs that there would be a different perspective now and especially depending on who you're talking about and when they arrived in the country and from where they also know personally a history of a government taking their rights from them, right, So this is a big issue for a lot of reasons. And when you look at the impact, of course, the
impact is significant. You're looking at, you know, states like Texas, states like Florida with huge Latino Latina populations who are now being restricted in terms of their access to essential reproductive health care. You're looking at when you still look at disparities around income and then what that means to a woman in Texas or in Florida who has the majority of women who seek abortion care have children, right, So what that means, god willing, she has a job
that gives her paid sick leave. God willing she has affordable childcare because she's got have to leave the state and think about childcare, think about the day she's going to miss from work and what that's going to mean in terms of her ability to pay rent or buy groceries.
So the thing is that I think that there are lots of stereotypes about where Latinas are on this issue, but the reality is that, like anyone else, I think that that Latinas and we're all clear, the governm it should not be telling her.
What to do with her body.
I spent the last six months since January basically in Uvalde. I know you did, you know.
I know you did. That must have been heart rending.
But also hopeful because there's a generation of young activists. Yes, yes, from Uvalde, like from here in Parkland. Yeah yeah, I mean, shouldn't there be a federal assault weapons ban?
Period? Yes? Period?
Congress has the ability to do it, and we And this is why I'm saying to these young leaders here and around the country, when they start voting in their numbers this is going to change because every Maria, every college that I'm going to, I ask the students, and they're showing up by the thousands each place. I asked the students, raise your hand if you ever had to have from kindergarten through twelfth grade an active shooter drill at school.
I mean, you see all those hands. Honestly, I had a moment.
My heart just clinched because ninety percent of the students raised their hands.
And the point that I make every time is older adults have no idea what these kids have been through. They have no idea that these kids like the story I tell about this young student who, when I'm talking with about this, said to me, yeah, and then and because of all that, I don't like to go to fifth period. And I said, sweetheart, why, And I was told because in fifth period that classroom has no closet,
which means the child has nowhere to hide. And they're acutely aware of that when they're sitting in a classroom where their minds should be open to the wonders of the world, and half of them is concerned about whether someone's going to come bust through the door with a gun. And so I say on this issue that as it relates to what I'm doing in terms of traveling the country to speak to young leaders. When they start voting in their numbers, this is going to change because they
are practical. They understand false choices to say you're either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone's guns. I'm in favor of the Second Amendment, and we need an assault weapons ban, we need background checks, we need red laws.
On the issue of immigration, yeah, and I thought about this a lot, Madame Vice President, and I was like, you know what the issue of denial of due process? Because your mother, your father, me, who was not born in this country, you know that every single night, every single day, people are being denied that due process. And I don't know as a lawyer how you can sit with that, knowing that just because we weren't born in this country, our country denies those people any kind of due process.
So let me start with this.
As you and I both know from personal experience and just understanding who our country is. This is a nation that was founded by immigrants. Immigration makes our country stronger. When we came into office, Joe Biden and I were looking at a situation where the previous administration I believe
intentionally tried to break our immigration system dismantle it. Let's not forget before we came in family separation policies, what they were trying to do to end DAKA, what they were trying to do to NTPs, the Muslim ban, right, and we undid a lot of that. We are still fighting for DACA in the courts. We expanded Temporary Protected
Status TPS, and most recently we announced for Venezuelans. And we are trying to fix a broken immigration system in terms of the process by which people can come in. So that's the state of affairs. There is a lot of work to be done on the issue. I think it's really important to also deal with the fact that the first bill, Maria, that we dropped, the first bill,
and I'll never forget the day it was. The first day, I think, the day one that we entered after the inauguration, the first bill we dropped was a Pathway for Citizenship, an immigration bill that Joe Biden sent over to Congress. These and I don't like to just so simply characterize Republicans versus Democrats, but on this issue, there are especially among the Republican leadership there is it's pure politics right now.
They believe they are politically profiting from the chaos that they are intent on creating on this issue of immigration, intent on creating on the issue of the border. Instead of taking control of the solutions in a productive way. They are politically benefited and this is what they've been doing.
Gone are the days of you know, you.
Know, we can criticize the other stuff, but Bush or you look at John McCain who said, you know, as Republicans, we know we need to deal with this and let's figure it out our policy as we want a safe and orderly and humane system and we're going to keep fighting for that.
A few days after our interview with the Vice president, it was announced that the Biden administration would begin deporting Venezuelan's at the border. There was also news about more construction of twenty miles of border wall in South Texas, despite Biden's campaign promise not to build another single inch of the wall. The money comes from dollars that were appropriated during the Trump administration. President Biden says he had to use the money in this way, and when asked
if he thought the border wall would be effective. The President said no, okay, back to my interview now with the Vice president. So finally, and this is a hard one because it's such an emotional issue, right, and politics and campaigning, there's a lot of emotion. So I was like, well, you know, people would love to hear the vice president apologize for I mean, you said once at one point, don't come.
I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous track to the United States Mexico border, do not come.
Do not come.
The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border.
You said, don't come from Central America, and people were really shocked. And then I thought, well, Joe Biden actually has been covering and on the issue of immigration since I've been a journalist. He's really the one that should apologize to every immigrant that has been mistreated or badly treated in the country. And I'm like, well, will the Vice president even ask the president? Because if you apologize, if you said, look, we are sorry for the mess.
We didn't create it. We didn't create the mess, so we.
Are sorry for what it's doing.
Now, well, listen, let me just be very clear.
My heart aches for anyone who has to flee their home, especially those who flee harm to themselves or their family, much less those who have to leave a place they love because they just simply can't take care of the basic necessities of their family if they stay. In fact, that is why I have taken on the issue of the root causes of people leaving and what we are seeing in terms of migration that is happening in particularly
from the northern part of Central America. I have now raised over four billion dollars to focus on what we can do to support people in their natural desire to stay and not have to leave. The majority people. You and I both know this. There majority people don't want to leave home. They don't want to leave their grandmother, they don't want to leave the church where they pray, they don't want to leave the neighborhood they grew up in and the own only reason they do.
Usually it's one of two reasons.
They are escaping and fleeing some harm or they can't satisfy their basic needs. So at the core of what you are talking about is the importance of humanity and having an approach that is humane and understands the condition of people.
And are not worry that they're worried that they're not feeling that from Joe Biden and from you.
That's why I'm pressing you on it. How do you push through on that?
Well, I hope that they see in terms of the approach that we are taking. For example, the work that I am doing on the root causes not to mention the history of my work on this issue to no, I care deeply. I've been working on this issue for years. You talk about children, you know, when I was Attorney General, I pull the legal community of California together to represent
unaccompanied children who are coming across the border. So there's a history and a body of work that I have that I think is evidence of something I feel very strongly and very deeply. It is important to understand the experience of people and to have some level of empathy.
And in fact, i'll end this on this point. Part of what is wrong right now with what is happening in our country is there is some perverse kind of suggestion that the strength of a leader is measured based on who you beat down instead of who you lift up. I believe one of the characteristics of strong leadership is the ability to have some level of curiosity, concern and care for the suffering of other people. That's called empathy.
No one can ever question whether Joe Biden possesses that important quality, and I believe that people who know me know I do as well.
That was my one on one interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. This episode was produced by Rinaldo Leanos Junior. It was edited by Andrell Lopez Cruzado. It was mixed by Stephanie LAbau, Julia Cruso, and gabriel A Biez. The Latino USA team also includes Jessica Ellis, Victoria Strada, Ruis Luna, Lonimir Marquez, Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent, Nour Saudi, and Nancy Trujillo. Peti Lei Ramidez is our co executive producer I'm Your Host and co executive producer Marienno Posa. Remember join us
again on our next episode. In the meantime, look for us on all of your social media. I'll see you there and remember mate, maayas Chao.
Latino You is made possible in part by the Heising Simons Foundation, Unlocking knowledge, opportunity and possibilities. More at Hsfoundation Dot org, the Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide, and the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation