Remarks by Vice President Harris at Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated’s 60th International Biennial Boule

George R. Brown Convention Center

Houston, Texas

7:17 P.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Good evening, everyone.  Good evening.  (Applause.)

Oh, it is so good to be with all the leaders who are here.

I want to thank the International president, Rasheeda S. Liberty.  I thank you for your friendship and your leadership and for the warm welcome this evening.  Thank you so very much. 

And to the International Board of Directors, to the Council of Presidents of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, and to Congresswoman Robin Kelly, it is my — (applause) — it is my great honor to be with everyone this evening.

And I th- — please have a seat.  I thought everyone one was standing.  (Laughter.)  If you have a seat, please have a seat.  Thank you all.

And to all the members of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated —

AUDIENCE:  Ee-yip!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — it is so good to be with you this evening, and I say that as a proud member of the Divine Nine.  And when I look out at everyone here, I see family. 

And, you know, we all — we share a vision for the future of our nation.  Ours is a vision of a future in which we realize the promise of America.  And aren’t so many of us empirical evidence of the promise of America?  A promise of freedom, opportunity, and justice not for some but for all. 

Since 1922, the members of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated —

AUDIENCE:  Ee-yip!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — have helped realize that promise.  Generation after generation, the members of this sorority have shown that greater service brings greater progress.  (Applause.)  I know.

In the 1920s and ‘30s, you created college scholarships for young Black women.  In the 1960s and ‘70s, you launched a nationwide program to help folks get a job.  In the 1990s, you formed a partnership with St. Jude to fight childhood cancer.  And in 2020, you continued your leadership when, during the height of a pandemic, you helped elect Joe Biden president of the United States — (applause) — and me as the first woman vice president of the United States.  (Applause.)

And for all of those reasons, I am here to thank you for your long-standing service to our nation and to declare, in this moment, that our nation needs your leadership once again.  In this moment, we face a choice between two very different visions for our nation: one focused on the future, the other focused on the past. 

And we in this room are fighting for the future — (applause) — a future with affordable health care, affordable childcare, and paid leave.  And we fight for a future with equal pay for women, because we know when we lift up the economic status of women, we lift up the economic status of children, of families, and all of society benefits.  (Applause.)

We here work for a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead — to build a business, to own a home, and to build intergenerational wealth. 

We here see a future where we bring down the cost of living for hardworking Americans, which is why we are fighting to ban more of those hidden fees and surprise late charges that banks and other companies use to pad their profits, to take on corporate landlords and cap rent increases, and take on Big Pharma and cap the cost of prescription drugs for all Americans.  (Applause.)

All of this to say, we are working to build up — to build up, not tear down — and to build up America’s families and America’s middle class, because we know when our middle class is strong, America is strong. 

But as we work to move our nation forward, let us be clear: There are those who are trying to take us backward.  You may have seen their agenda.  They call it “Project 2025.”

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Right.  And it is a 900-page agenda of extremism. 

Project 2025 would raise taxes on middle-class families and cut taxes for billionaires; eliminate the Department of Education; and end programs like Head Start, which, of course, would take away preschool from hundreds of thousands of our children.  All of this to build on what Donald Trump did in his first term.  

When he was president, he gave tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations.  He tried to cut Social Security and Medicare every single year.  And he and his allies have tried more than 60 times to end the Affordable Care Act and to take us back to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with preexisting conditions. 

Remember what that was?

AUDIENCE:  Yeah.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Denying children with asthma, breast cancer survivors, grandparents with diabetes. 

And, you know, America has tried these failed policies before.  And we are not going back.  (Applause.)  We are not going back.

We all here remember what those four years were like.  And today, we were given yet another reminder.  This afternoon —

AUDIENCE:  (Inaudible.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — Donald Trump spoke at the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists, and it was the same old show — the divisiveness and the disrespect. 

And let me just say: The American people deserve better.  The American people deserve better.  (Applause.)

The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts.  We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us.  They are an essential source of our strength.  (Applause.) 

So, I say to Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated, ours is a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom.

Across our nation, we are witnessing a full-on attack on hard-fought, hard-won fundamental freedoms and rights: the freedom to vote, the freedom to be safe from gun violence, the freedom to live without fear of bigotry and hate, the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride, the freedom to learn and acknowledge America’s true and full history, and the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do.  (Applause.)  A fight for our most fundamental freedoms.

And to this room of leaders, I say: Bring it on.  (Applause.)  Bring it on, those who would dare to attack these fundamental freedoms. 

Because we here — we love our country.  We love our country.  And I believe it is the highest form of patriotism to fight for the ideals of our country. 

So, we who believe in the sacred freedom to vote will finally pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.  (Applause.)

We who believe that every person should be free from gun violence will finally pass universal background checks, red flag laws, and an assault weapons ban.  (Applause.)

And we who believe in reproductive freedom will fight for a woman’s right to choose — (applause) — because we know one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do — (applause) — because we know faith and freedom can coexist. 

And understand, when he was president, Donald Trump handpicked three members of the United States Supreme Court — the court of Thurgood and R.B.G. — because he intended for them to overturn the protections of Roe v. Wade.   And as he intended, they did. 

And now, in the South, where the majority of Black women live, every state except for Virginia has an abortion ban, many with no exception even for rape and incest. 

And now, he intends to pass a nationwide abortion ban to ban access to fundamental health care in every state. 

But I will not let that happen.  I promise you, when I am president of the United States — (applause) — and when Congress passes a law to restore reproductive freedoms, I will sign it into law.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Thank you!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  So, in this — you’re — you’re welcome.  (Laughter.)

So, in this moment, our fundamental freedoms are on the ballot and so is our democracy. 

This month — and it really bears, just with all that’s been happening, to just — to — for a moment pause and think about it.  This month, the Supreme Court basically just told the former president, who has been convicted of fraud, that, going forward, he will be immune for activity we know he is prepared to engage in if he gets back into the White House. 

Recall, Donald Trump has openly vowed, if reelected, to be a dictator on day one, that he will weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies, that he will round up peaceful protesters and throw them out of our country, and even, quote, “terminate” the United States Constitution. 

So, in conclusion, I say to the incredible members of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated —

AUDIENCE:  Ee-yip!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — there is so much at stake in this moment.   Election Day is in 97 days.  And in this moment, once again, our nation is counting on you to energize, to organize, and to mobilize; to register folks to vote and get them to the polls. 

Because when we organize, mountains move.  (Applause.)  When we mobilize, nations change.  And when we vote, we make history.  (Applause.)

So, let us continue to fight with faith, with optimism, and with hope. 

And when we fight, we win.

AUDIENCE:  We win!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  God bless you.  And God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

Thank you, thank you.  (Applause.)

END                 7:30 P.M. CDT