JUST IN: Vice President Harris Delivers Keynote Speech At Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc.’s Grand Boulé
On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris attended Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc.’s Grand Boulé in Indianapolis, IN.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Dr. Stacey N.C. Grant.
00:20My name is Dr. Stacey N.C. Grant, and I am the International President and CEO of Zeta
00:27Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated.
00:31We are a 104-year-old service organization founded on the campus of Howard University
00:39January 16, 1920.
00:43Our founders were young college co-eds who were bold enough to speak out against the
00:49societal ills of that time and advocate for equity and opportunity for our communities.
00:56In 2024, we are carrying that vision forward as we embrace the extraordinary power of SHE,
01:06advocating for social justice, health justice, and economic justice in over 900 chapters
01:13globally.
01:14As a nonpartisan organization, we educate and mobilize our members, as well as the communities
01:20we serve, on issues that affect their access to equity, safety, and growth.
01:28Members exercise their individual rights to make both personal and political choices.
01:34Today, we will get to hear from the sitting Vice President of the United States on how
01:41this administration is addressing the issues that matter most to us, like affordable health
01:50care, Black maternal health, and small business opportunities.
01:55Our Vice President is a proud member of the Divine Nine family, as a sister of Alpha Kappa
02:01Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, and all nine of our organizations stand in unity with an
02:08unprecedented outreach for voter registration, education, and mobilization to get coordinated
02:17efforts to get out the vote.
02:20We are stronger together.
02:24Since its inception, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated has chronicled a number of firsts.
02:31We were the first Black Greek sorority to charter a chapter in Africa in 1948 to form
02:37adult and youth auxiliary groups, to centralize its operations in a national headquarters,
02:43and be constitutionally bound to a fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated.
02:51And after today, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated will be the first D9 Black Greek lettered
02:59organization to host the first Black woman presidential nominee.
03:08My first opportunity to meet and start building a relationship with Vice President Kamala
03:16Harris confirmed what I observed as I watched her from afar.
03:21She is a leader that is thoughtful.
03:23She is a woman who is strong, brilliant, and compassionate.
03:28Her love for this country is unmatched, and her faith guides her actions.
03:34She is truly America's number one lady and my dear friend.
03:39And now it is my honor to introduce the first woman to be elected Vice President of the
03:47United States, Kamala Harris.
03:58Kamala Harris.
04:08Good afternoon.
04:18Good afternoon, everyone.
04:34Good afternoon.
04:35Please have a seat.
04:36Good afternoon.
04:37I was just saying to your most glorious president, Stacey N.C. Grant, she and I talked about
04:46this visit months ago, sitting together, having a meeting in the Oval Office.
04:52And she invited me then to attend today, and I just want to, if I can, I just want to thank
05:00you in front of all of the sisters who are here.
05:09She has provided years of support and friendship, and she always, like everyone here knows,
05:14she always shows up, and I am so, so deeply grateful.
05:20And to everyone here, it is so good to be with you, to the former presidents who are
05:25in attendance, to the International Board of Directors, and to all of the fine members
05:32of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated.
05:41It is my great, great honor to be with you today, and I love you back.
05:48And also, on Air Force Two, joining me is Congresswoman Sidney Kamlager-Dove.
05:59And I know here is also our dearest Mrs. Opal Lee, the grandmother of Juneteenth.
06:10And to all of the distinguished ladies, I thank you so very much for this warm welcome.
06:16And I will begin by saying a few words about our President Joe Biden.
06:21So tonight, yes, thank you, yes.
06:27So tonight, our President will address the nation about his decision to step down as
06:32a candidate.
06:34And he will talk about not only the work, the extraordinary work that he has accomplished,
06:42but about his work in the next six months.
06:45And so before he does, and while I'm here with you, I want to just share with you a
06:49little bit about him, based on what I know, based on personal experience.
06:54Joe Biden is a leader with bold vision.
06:59He cares about the future.
07:01He thinks about the future.
07:03He has extraordinary determination and profound compassion for the people of our country.
07:11And I say that because I know that we are all deeply, deeply grateful for his service
07:17to our nation.
07:24And to the sisters of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated, I thank you for your incredible
07:33service to our nation as well.
07:36You know, I know who we all are.
07:40I know who is here.
07:41And I know, therefore, that we share a vision for the future of our nation, a future where
07:49every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead.
07:56A future of social justice, health justice, economic justice, just as you have laid out
08:05in this year's theme.
08:08Ours is a vision of a future in which we realize the promise of America.
08:16And I deeply believe in the promise of America, a promise of freedom, opportunity, and justice,
08:27not for some, but for all.
08:31And for generations, the finer women of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated have fought
08:39to build that brighter future.
08:43From the Civil Rights Movement, you marched for voting rights, economic justice, and an
08:49end to segregation.
08:52For more than 50 years, you have worked with the March of Dimes to lift up the urgent issue
08:59of maternal health.
09:02And from the 1980s, you inaugurated Zeta Days.
09:08And I will tell you, when I was a United States Senator, I would see this group of
09:14powerful leaders walking through the halls of Congress in white and blue.
09:21And I always knew I was looking at some of the most powerful advocates for justice in
09:26America, truly.
09:32And of course, your leadership continued in 2020, when during the height of a pandemic,
09:39you helped elect Joe Biden, President of the United States, and me as the first woman Vice
09:47President of the United States.
09:51And I thank you.
09:54And now, in this moment, our nation needs your leadership once again.
10:02In this moment, I believe we face a choice between two different visions for our nation,
10:12one focused on the future, the other focused on the past.
10:19And with your support, I am fighting for our nation's future.
10:25And let us be clear about what that future looks like.
10:31I know the leaders in this room, and I know the future we believe in and we fight for.
10:38We here believe in a future where, for example, everyone has affordable health care, which
10:48is why our administration capped the cost of insulin for our seniors at $35 a month.
10:57We believe in a future where no child has to grow up in poverty, which is why I helped
11:03pass the child tax credit, which cut child poverty in half and cut black child poverty
11:10even more.
11:14We believe in a future where the economy works for working people.
11:21That is why we forgave student loan debt for more than 5 million Americans.
11:32And if you or anyone you know benefited from that, please testify.
11:43And we are finally making it so that medical debt can no longer be used against your credit
11:49score.
11:55And it is because of our collective vision for the future that we continue to fight for
12:01affordable child care, affordable elder care, and paid family leave.
12:10We here believe in a future where all women and all mothers are safe.
12:17That is why, as Vice President, I have elevated and took on the issue of maternal mortality,
12:25knowing that women in America die at a higher rate in connection with childbirth than women
12:33in any other wealthy nation in the world.
12:36And black women are three times more likely to die in connection with childbirth.
12:42And for too long, this has been a crisis in our country.
12:46And it is time that we recognize the crisis it is.
12:51In fact, when I took office, I challenged every state in our nation on this issue.
12:55Because you see, I said, look, we need to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage from a
13:02measly two months to a full year.
13:06And I'm proud to report, whereas when I issued the challenge, only three states offered a
13:12full year of coverage, now 46 states do.
13:22So I say, as we work to build a brighter future and to move our nation forward, we must also
13:30recognize there are those who are trying to take us backward.
13:36You may have seen their agenda.
13:38Part of it is called Project 2025.
13:40Now, can you believe they put that in writing, 900 pages of it?
13:49Project 2025, a plan to return America to a dark past.
13:56They intend to cut Medicare, to repeal our $35 cap on insulin, to eliminate the Department
14:04of Education, to end programs like Head Start, which would take away preschool for hundreds
14:12of thousands of children in our communities.
14:16Let's be clear.
14:18This represents an outright attack on our children, our families, and our future.
14:26These extremists want to take us back, but we are not going back.
14:32Ours is a fight for the future, and ours is a fight for freedom.
14:47Across our nation, we are witnessing a full-on assault on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms
14:55and rights, the freedom to vote, the freedom to be safe from gun violence, the freedom
15:02to live without fear of bigotry and hate, the freedom to love who you love openly and
15:07with pride, the freedom to learn and acknowledge our true and full history, and the freedom
15:13of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government telling her
15:20what to do.
15:25And in the face of these attacks, we must continue to stand together in defense of freedom.
15:34We who believe in the sacred freedom to vote will make sure, then, that every American
15:41has the ability to cast their ballot and have it counted.
15:46We who believe that every person in our nation should be free from gun violence will finally
15:54pass universal background checks, red flag laws, and an assault weapons ban.
16:03We who believe that every person in our nation should be free from bigotry, discrimination,
16:10and hate will continue to fight for equality and justice for all.
16:15And we who believe in reproductive freedom will fight for a woman's right to choose because
16:23one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government
16:31should not be telling her what to do.
16:38You know, when he was president, Donald Trump, former president, handpicked three members
16:42of the United States Supreme Court because he intended for them to overturn Roe v. Wade,
16:48the United States Supreme Court, previously the court of Thurgood and RBG.
16:54And as he intended, they did.
16:57Well, let me tell you something.
16:59When I am president of the United States and when Congress passes a law to restore those
17:07freedoms, I will sign it into law.
17:17We are not playing around.
17:22So in conclusion, to the incredible members of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated, I
17:30say there is so much at stake in this moment.
17:36There's so much at stake.
17:39And again, then, in this moment, our nation, as it always has, is counting on you to energize,
17:49to organize, and to mobilize, to register folks to vote, to get them to the polls, and
17:58to continue to fight for the future our nation and her people deserve.
18:06And we know when we organize, mountains move.
18:12When we mobilize, nations change.
18:16And when we vote, we make history.
18:20So let us continue to fight with optimism, with faith, and with hope, because when we
18:30fight, we win.
18:32God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
18:35God bless you.