VP Kamala Harris says the Supreme Court took rights from the people of America

Transcript

ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:

Vice President Kamala Harris says recent Supreme Court decisions indicate that there's a, quote, "national movement afoot to attack hard-won and hard-fought freedoms," end quote. It's a message she delivered in New Orleans at the Essence Festival of Culture last week. Our co-host, Michel Martin, got a chance to speak to some festivalgoers before sitting down with the vice president.

MICHEL MARTIN, BYLINE: Yes, we went to one of the biggest halls at the convention center. And anywhere you turned, people were open and excited. And I realized it's something they've come to expect at the Essence Fest, where people gather from all over the country to meet up with friends, to make new friends and really build community. And on the day that we were there, jazz was playing as seats started to fill up.

One of the first people we met was Jame Jackson. She told us she works in tech. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. And frankly, she exudes self-confidence with golden dreadlocks and bright pink dress. And she told me she identifies with Kamala Harris because like her, she went to an historically Black college or university. And she's interested in moving people forward through activism and politics.

JAME JACKSON: It's been an interesting transition, though, to see how the Biden-Harris administration has covered - especially for BIPOC rights. I'm really interested in today's conversation, specifically with the canceling of affirmative action and what that's going to look like, not just for people in the HBCU environment, but all across in colleges and universities. And then also we've had a lot of attacks - first of all, this was, like, one of the worst Pride months on record as far as, like, attacks against the LGBTQIA+ community. So I'm really interested to see what her thoughts are and how we can continue to cultivate and also support marginalized voices.

MARTIN: Vanessa Rice, who also is from New York, got our attention with some eye-popping bling, signifying her membership in Alpha Kappa Alpha, the same sorority as the vice president. Now, Vanessa Rice told us that she is independent, but she leans conservative and says she supports the vice president, but she believes that the Biden-Harris administration has just not done enough for the people who put them into office.

VANESSA RICE: I feel like for the Black community, until that voting rights, like, certain key positions that we need is done - I'll tell you what disappointed me. When the Asians were being attacked in the country, there was a swift policy move to protect them - swift. And when it comes to our issues, it's not swift. It's always something. And I understand the politics around it, but it just seems like other groups' matters get handled faster than ours.

MARTIN: But Dwayne and Camille Hodges told us that they like what they've been seeing from the vice president, and they particularly like the fact that they've been seeing the vice president. They host a show in Davenport, Iowa, called Wake Up in Praise.

CAMILLE HODGES: I like her because I feel like she's getting out there. She's not sitting behind a desk. She's getting out in the communities and, you know, finding out what's going on and meeting people and talking to them.

DWAYNE HODGES: I believe she's starting to touch base with a lot of different issues, and she addresses the issue. She's not shying away and not talking about them.

MARTIN: Issues like student loan relief, which is top of mind to Tomayia Colvin from Houston. She is a photographer who specializes in senior class portraits. She also has a doctorate in educational leadership.

TOMAYIA COLVIN: I have three degrees. I come from a home where I did not have 500K. I did not have parents paying for my education. So we took out these loans - right? - with the idea that having a college degree would give us a better life. And we did not have, like, credit counseling. We didn't have any of those things to say, well, you know, maybe you shouldn't take out the max amount - maybe just enough for classes or, you know, enough for books.

And so now I'm looking at, like, where do I go? As someone with a doctorate, I have the highest level of education in the United States. How is the United States now going to help me back?

MARTIN: Well, I got a chance to put some of these issues raised by these voters to the vice president after her panel, which was supposed to focus on reproductive rights and maternal mortality. But the latest Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action, student loan debt and LGBTQ rights were clearly top of mind for everyone.

Madam Vice President, thank you so much for inviting us to speak with you here at Essence Fest.

KAMALA HARRIS: Thank you, Michel. It's good to be with you. Thank you.

MARTIN: It seemed like you were having a good time.

HARRIS: Yeah, I...

MARTIN: What does an event like this mean to you or do for you?

HARRIS: Well, it's very uplifting. And it's a convening. It's coming together under one roof for a variety of reasons that are about fellowship, about sisterhood, about having joyful moments, having reflective moments, having moments where we confront the biggest issues of the day and some of them being the most challenging issues. And it's all of that. It's really no false choices. It's all of those things in one place at one time.

MARTIN: Do you see a throughline of all the decisions that have recently come from the Supreme Court?

HARRIS: I - there is a bit of a throughline indeed, which is that there - it is about an attack on foundational freedoms and on the access to opportunity.

MARTIN: A lot of your meetings with people have been in the context of the Dobbs decision, and a lot of them have been focused around the issue of reproductive rights. Has there been a story that's really touched you or stood out to you over the course of the year that you've been traveling and having meetings about this?

HARRIS: You know, the challenge on this subject is that the stories are so difficult to imagine and speak about and for people to hear. People don't want to hear these stories because they don't want to think about these things. But the stories are women having miscarriages in toilets. The stories are women who are in the process of a miscarriage who are being denied care at an emergency room and going back to the emergency room and being denied again, and only the third time, when she has sepsis, being given care. These stories are the woman and her husband who have prayed to get pregnant, and she gets pregnant. And at 18 weeks in her pregnancy, she is diagnosed as having fatal fetal situation and then is basically aware that either she goes through nine months or she has a procedure, knowing that the outcome of this pregnancy is pretty much - has been determined. And she can't get care in the place where she lives, so she has to get on a plane, go through TSA, get on a plane full of strangers, to go from where she lives in the South to Washington state to get care. These stories are horrendous.

MARTIN: Given that the range of action possible for the administration is fairly narrow in this area, one could make the argument that you've done - the administration has done what it can do through administrative - through executive action. OK? And that also speaks to the question of the student loan debt issue - right? - that as we are speaking today, the president has spoken about this back in Washington, and he's laid out what steps that the administration is prepared to take. But the range of things that you can do is fairly narrow. Given all that, what's your message?

HARRIS: Well, the message is - it's not a slogan. The message is, first, on an issue like student loan debt, to first speak to the issue itself and the importance of understanding the issue, which is so many of our young people in particular are experiencing debt that is at a proportion that it is weighing them down to the extent that they are wondering if they can ever have a family, if they can ever buy a home. We are looking at a policy that we believe in, that if implemented, if the court hadn't acted as it did, would have meant that 90% of the recipients of student loan debt relief make under $75,000 a year and are barely able to make it through the month with the other bills that they have. When we - and so we are going to be creative in the way that we can provide some relief to this population that we have front of mind on this issue.

On the issue of of reproductive care and access to reproductive care, through not only the Department of Justice, where litigation is happening where it is appropriate, through Health and Human Services, what we are doing to make clear that no one should be denied access to emergency care. There is a law in that regard, and doing what we need to do to enforce that law, doing what we can and need to do to inform people of their privacy rights on an issue like abortion. So there is work that we can do.

But ultimately, for a lot of these issues - look, we have three branches of government. The court took rights from the people of America. Congress can put those rights back in place. We cannot through executive action. Congress can. So part of the point, including when I was talking on the stage here in New Orleans, is reminding people of the power of their vote to elect people into the United States Congress who care about the importance of putting back in place in law the protections of Roe v. Wade.

MARTIN: So your job in part is to tell people you need to vote for Democrats because Democrats will restore these rights, defend these rights, and will expand the range of options that are available to people in policy. That's basically sort of the message. So here's my question...

HARRIS: Well, no, but let me just say that it's because Democrats are the ones standing for these rights.

MARTIN: I get it.

HARRIS: So I'm saying...

MARTIN: That Republicans are responsible...

HARRIS: ...If you care about these rights...

MARTIN: Right.

HARRIS: ...Then these are the folks who are going to deliver them.

MARTIN: The question I have for you, Madam Vice President, is, is that enough for you, as a sort of a political actor, to establish yourself in the minds of the American people as a credible successor, if need be, to President Biden?

HARRIS: Right now, we are focused on doing everything we can, and we will continue to focus on doing everything we can, to deliver for the American people, including - we are running for reelection. The president is running for reelection as president. I am running for reelection with him as vice president. And that is my focus. I'm traveling around the country to make sure that people know, not only what they have received because they stood in line for hours during the height of a pandemic in 2020 demanding these things, but also what is yet to come. And that includes what we will do to continue to fight to make sure that people's freedoms and rights are protected. And we will do the work of continuing to deliver.

SCHMITZ: That's Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking with our co-host Michel Martin. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.