This Chief-to-Chief interview with Vice President Kamala Harris was conducted at the 2024 ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans in early July, 122 days ahead of the presidential election. Subsequent events have made it all the more crucial to hear from the Vice President, who at press time was the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Caroline Wanga: Who is Kamala Harris?
Vice President Kamala Harris: The Vice President of the United States of America. And I am a wife. We have children. I am a godmommy. I am an auntie. I am a best friend. I am a good cook. I am a fighter for the people. I care about the people.
Wanga: Will you share a little bit more about why you said that twice? What does that mean to you?
Vice President Harris: I am a child of parents who met when they were active in the Civil Rights Movement, marching and fighting for justice. I grew up in a community where an extended family of people told all of us, as children, that we are young, gifted and Black—that we could do anything, that there was no boundary or border to what we could pursue or believe, and that we have a duty. It’s not about that you have the charity—it’s about duty to give back to your community. To know that you’ve been pulled up, and each one must then pull one. And so, living a life of service is something I was raised to feel a sense of responsibility to do—as do all of us, in various ways. And for me, it’s in elected office.
Wanga: Your journey started in the Bay Area, in this life of public service. Where does that start for you? You talked about it being important for your parents—but what led you to stay on that path?
Vice President Harris: Well, there are a number of things. An extended family—our second mother, Ms. Regina Shelton, my Louisiana family, is here. As we grew up, we lived in the apartment above the nursery school ran by Ms. Shelton. She ran the school, and she was part of that flow of folks from the South that moved to California. We lived in the apartment on top, and she was a matriarch for the community. And we would work at the nursery school as young people.And I would watch Ms. Shelton, as she would nurture and advise a young mother. I would watch her as she would counsel young parents on how to get through when times were rough. And I saw in my mother the same type of person. My uncle’s the same type of person. My Uncle Sherman, who was one of the first Black graduates of Berkeley Law School. Who every time anybody in the community had a problem, they’d say, “Call Sherman. Sherman will help you figure that out.” So I was raised by and among a bunch of people who really felt a responsibility to give and to serve. And it was expected of all of us that we would do the same. And that is the life I’ve chosen to live.
Wanga: One of the things we are hearing a lot in this season is about how consequential this election season is. That is a word that’s being used a lot, but it means something different as we look at what this particular season will leave us with, if this community doesn’t participate in the way it needs to participate. Tell us a little bit about what consequential means in this time—and it is very different than any other one we’ve had in recent history.
Vice President Harris: Caroline, for you and everybody here, this is probably the most significant election of our lifetime. We have said it every four years, but this one is it. On one side you have the former president, who is running to become president again. Who has openly talked about his admiration for dictators and his intention to be a dictator on day one. Who has openly talked about his intention to weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies. Who has talked about being proud of taking from the women of America a most fundamental right, to make decisions about your own body. And then last week, understand —sadly the press has not been covering it in proportion to the seriousness of what just happened—when the United States Supreme Court essentially told this individual who has been convicted of 34 felonies that he will be immune from, essentially, the activities he has told us he is prepared to engage in if he gets back into the White House.Understand what we all know: In 122 days, we each have the power to decide what kind of country we want to live in. There has been a full-on intentional attack against hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights. When I talk about the family that raised me—yes, they took me in a stroller as they were marching and shouting for justice, knowing that justice will not be achieved unless we are prepared to march and shout and fight for it. And one of the ways we do that is through our vote. This here election—let’s think about the significance of the United States Supreme Court. Two years ago and some days now, we commemorated a decision by the United States Supreme Court, the Dobbs decision, that undid the protections of Roe v. Wade. Understand how that happened.The former president, who wants to be president again, hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade. And they did as he intended. The court of Thurgood [Marshall] and R.B.G. [Ruth Bader Ginsburg] took away a most fundamental right: the right to make decisions about your own body. And on this subject, I think we all believe and know—one does not have to abandon one’s faith and deeply held beliefs to agree that the government should not be telling a woman what to do with her body. If she chooses, she will talk with her priest or her pastor, her rabbi, her imam. But the government should not be telling her what to do. Understand that the former president, who is up for re-election, has said he is proud of what has happened. Proud of the fact that our daughters will have fewer rights than their grandmothers—that in state after state, they’re passing laws punishing health care providers, with Texas advocating prison for life for a doctor or nurse who provides reproductive care. Understand these laws being passed and proposed make no exception for rape or incest. Caroline, you asked me about the things that have influenced my career.
Wanga: That’s exactly right.
Vice President Harris: Many of you know I was a prosecutor. You may not know one of the reasons why. When I was in high school, I learned that my best friend was being molested by her stepfather. And when I learned, I said to her, “You have to come live with us.” I called up my mother, and my mother said, “Of course she does.” And she came and she lived with us.So I decided at a young age I wanted to take on what I could do to protect women and children against violence. The idea that these so-called leaders would be passing laws that make no exception for rape and incest—that are essentially telling a survivor of a crime of violence to her body, a violation of her body, that she has no right to make a decision about what happens to her body next. That’s immoral, and that’s what’s happening in our country right now. You look at the taking of fundamental freedoms and rights. In Georgia, they passed a law to make it more difficult for people to have freedom to access the ballot. They passed a law that makes it illegal to essentially give people food and water for standing in line to vote. The hypocrisy abounds. What happened to “Love thy neighbor”? Look at what they’re doing. And all of this is at stake.
Wanga: You’ve been on an economic tour. You’ve been on a reproductive-freedom tour. Somewhere in this audience or on the Internet is my niece, Ayo—known as Yo-Yo to me. And she is somewhere between 8 and 32 years old. And one of the things that happened when you became Vice President is, Ayo told me that when she becomes president, her platform is going to be ice cream.As I look at the upcoming election, I’m looking at Ayo. And I’m trying to prepare myself to have a conversation with her—that her doctor may not think her health care is important, that she may not be able to make a minimum wage or aspire to achieve work or an occupation that matches her intelligence.I am worried that I have to have a conversation with Ayo about why her brother, Xavier, may not be safe—and it’s a conversation I didn’t have to have with my little brother. How do I make sure that Caroline doesn’t have to have that conversation with Ayo in 122 days?
Vice President Harris: There are many ways— but in 122 days, it’s your vote. I mean, here’s the thing about elections—and this is maybe the inside deal that my former colleagues at the Congressional Black Caucus [CBC] can tell you. The people who make decisions at that level often will pay attention to either who’s writing the checks or who votes. That’s a cold, hard reality. And so when we vote—that is in a democracy, as long as we can hold onto it—the power that we have as individuals is to weigh in on who is making decisions, based on what we value and care about. I’ll give you an example of why elections matter—there are many. But one issue is Black maternal mortality.
Wanga: Let’s talk about that.
Vice President Harris: I have been working on that issue for years—with my colleagues from the CBC when I was in the Senate, and now as Vice President. Why? Because Black women in the United States of America are three to four times more likely to die in connection with childbirth than other women. And we know that there are a variety of reasons for that. But we also know that this is a health care crisis of the highest order, and it has received very little attention proportionate to the seriousness of the matter. So, I worked with my colleagues when I was in the Senate. We passed a number of bills. When I came in as Vice President, I continued to work on it. And one of the things I found is this: For women on Medicaid, which states can provide for postpartum care for two months up to 12 months—and I realized when I came in as Vice President, only three states would extend Medicaid coverage for postpartum care from two months to 12 months.I don’t have a problem shaming people sometimes, so I challenged the states to extend it. And now 46 states have extended Medicaid coverage for postpartum care. There is a direct connection between this and Black maternal mortality. But back to the other point about freedom of choice. The majority of Black women in America live in the South. You know that in the South, we have some of the highest rates of Black maternal mortality. In the South, except for the state of Virginia, every state has an abortion ban. And what I find hypocrisy upon hypocrisy, by some of these extremists, is that the same ones saying they’re passing these abortion bans because they care about women and children have been completely silent on the issue of Black maternal mortality. Don’t come to us, gaslighting us about where you’ve been and where you haven’t been, on important issues that relate to what we know every day affects our sisters, our mothers, our aunties, our grandmothers—and could affect our daughters.
Wanga: I think that part of what we do with this conversation in Chief to Chief is, make sure that folks really walk away with a call to action for what matters to them. So I’m saying: Go, in 122 days, and vote. But what will be different for them if they do—so that those who maybe are considering not voting have a reason to get up that day and do it?
Vice President Harris: What we know is that you can have an idea of what will happen when you look at what has happened. So, I’d ask people in the room to raise your hand if you want student-loan debt relief—because you voted in 2020, and Joe Biden and I came in office and were able to forgive billions of dollars of student loan debt, understanding how it impacts all communities and especially ours. I would ask anyone to think—and you don’t have to tell anybody about this—have you or a family member suffered from medical debt? We are in the process of saying that no longer can medical debt be counted against a credit score. You see, we came into office and we knew this was an issue, because we care about the people—as opposed to the richest billionaires, which is who the former president gave a tax cut to, and then created one of the largest deficits our country has ever seen. We know medical debt comes about because of, most often, a medical emergency—which nobody invites upon themselves or plans for. And it can result in tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses that you did not plan for, and create debt that then would be used against your credit score. What is your credit? Most people know the number of their credit score like you know your weight—especially with all those apps now, right?
“You, we, have extraordinary power, and we can never let anybody take our power from us. Never be shy about our power. We must encourage each other’s ambition. It is good to know one’s power and then to go for what you want, knowing you can achieve it.”
— Vice President Kamala Harris
Wanga: That was shade! We’re going to talk about that later.
Vice President Harris: But the credit score makes a decision, then, about who’s eligible for a car loan or a small business loan or getting an apartment lease. And what’s wrong about medical debt being used in the credit scores? The credit score is supposed to be a measure of whether you’re responsible with money. A medical emergency is not about that. And then there’s what we have done to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month. Raise your hand if you have a family member who has diabetes. Right. And what we know is that Black folks are 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes. We capped the cost of insulin. We have finally allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices with the big pharmaceutical companies, to bring the cost down. So I say, look at what we’ve done, to know that when you voted in record numbers—people voted in record numbers in 2020—this is what was able to happen. And when everyone votes in those numbers again in 122 days, we can see it through. And seeing it through includes what we intend to do to raise the federal minimum wage, and what we intend to do to bring down the cost and make affordable childcare a reality for all families. We have said not more than 7 percent of your income should have to go to childcare. And there’s what we are in the process of doing for affordable housing, both for renters and those who want to be first-time homeowners. We have a plan. We need Congress to agree that if you are the first generation in your family to seek home ownership, you’ll get a $25,000 tax credit to help you with the down payment.
Wanga: One of the things that the ESSENCE brand specifically represents is over five decades of showing, demonstrating and equipping Black women with the power to exercise the influence she has. When she turns her head left, the world turns left. When she decides to do something, other people decide to do it—at a different price than they’re paying her to do it. I’m sorry, that’s a different speech. The value of what she delivers is not always returned at the same value that somebody who mimics what she did gets.For over 50 years, ESSENCE has been teaching this member of the human community called the Black woman that she has a power that just needs to be unleashed. Madam Vice President, you are speaking to the most powerful ballot community.
Vice President Harris: That’s right.
Wanga: Black women are the CEOs of home, culture and community for all. So, if you were talking to them about what their power can do, through the lens of the chiefs they are of their community, and you knew that what you say would make them do the thing that’s right for them—what do you tell these chiefs about what they need to do with that power in 122 days?
Vice President Harris: First, you’ve already said it—but I will repeat it, because it bears repeating all the time. You, we, have extraordinary power, and we can never let anybody take our power from us. Never let anybody take our power from us, and never be shy about our power. We must encourage each other’s ambition. Ambition is a good thing. It is good to know one’s power and then to go for what you want, knowing you can achieve it. That is very important. We do not need to step quietly. And never allow the circumstances or the situation that we know we experience, whether it be pay gaps or anything else, to make us feel small or alone. I’ll say in particular to the younger women who are here: You are, on many occasions in your life, going to be in a room where you will be the only one that looks like you or has had your life experience. And what I demand of you is that you always walk in those rooms with your chin up and your shoulders back, knowing everybody there is in that room with you, expecting that you will carry the strength and power of your voice. I will beseech you: Don’t you ever believe that something can’t be done. People in your life will tell you, “It’s not your time. It’s not your turn. Nobody like you has done it before.” One of the things I love is they’ll say, “Oh, it’s going to be a lot of hard work.” Don’t you ever listen to that. I like to say I eat no for breakfast. I don’t hear no. I don’t hear no. And don’t you hear no either.
The views and statements expressed by the Vice President here are her own and not the views of ESSENCE.
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Photographer: @kjohn_lasoul
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