PHILADELPHIA — Vice President Harris sat for an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists on Tuesday, fielding a host of questions on matters of domestic and foreign policy as well as her appeal to Black voters.
Harris spoke of obstacles impeding the ability of Black Americans to build generational wealth, whether she would institute any policy changes regarding Israel and the war in Gaza and condemned former President Trump’s rhetoric when it came to elevating false claims.
The interview with Politico’s Eugene Daniels, TheGrio’s Gerren Gaynor and WHYY’s Tonya Mosley follows a controversial interview the association held with Trump in July that became contentious from the start when the GOP nominee took issue with the questions he was being asked.
Here are five takeaways from Harris’s interview Tuesday.
Appeals to Black voters
Daniels asked Harris about polls showing a growing number of Black men supporting Trump, and as a result, what her message may be to Black men who are growing disillusioned with the Democratic Party.
Harris at first sought to dissect the construction of the inquiry.
“I think it's very important to not operate from the assumption that Black men are in anybody's pocket,” Harris responded. “Black men are like any other voting group. You gotta earn their vote. So I'm working to earn the vote, not assuming I'm going to have it because I am Black.”
She added that she plans to address the economic barriers preventing Black Americans from building wealth.
Later, Gaynor asked Harris how she plans to move H.R. 40 forward if she becomes president. The legislation, which Harris supported as a senator, would create a commission to study the history of slavery and reparations. Advocates including former Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) have pressed President Biden to take executive action on the matter.
Harris refused to say if she would take executive action but instead said Congress ultimately must do the work.
But Harris did speak to attempts to limit the teaching of certain aspects of Black history in her response.
“We need to speak truth about the generational impact of our history, in terms of the generational impact of slavery, the generational impact of redlining, of Jim Crow law — I could go on and on and on,” Harris said.
She added that issues that disproportionately affect Black Americans — such as student loan debt, medical debt, bias in home appraisals, and maternal mortality — must be addressed now as part of looking into reparations.
Harris pressed on Gaza
The moderators pressed Harris about her policy on Israel as it relates to the war in Gaza and how that squares with her backing of a cease-fire deal and a two-state solution.
Harris was careful in her answers not to stray from what she has said in recent weeks since replacing Biden atop the ticket. She stressed that Israel has a right to defend itself, but that Palestinians deserve dignity and a right to self-determination. And she called for the war to end immediately and for all hostages to be released.
But the vice president also offered that she was supportive of the White House’s decision to temporarily pause the shipment of 2,000 pound bombs to Israel in May as Israel was making plans for an assault on Rafah, a city that was housing millions of people who had fled their homes in other parts of the territory.
Asked what she would say to frustrated voters who worry she would not implement policies any differently than Biden, whose approach to the war has splintered Democrats and cost him thousands of primary votes, Harris argued officials are working to pressure all sides to come to the table and get a cease-fire deal done.
“Right now, the thing we need to get done is this hostage deal and this cease-fire deal. We need a cease-fire. We need a hostage deal,” she said.
Harris weighs in on Springfield controversy
Harris ridiculed Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), for amplifying false claims in recent weeks about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.
“It’s a crying shame, literally, what's happening to those families, those children in that community,” said Harris.
Schools in Springfield have faced more than 30 bomb threats since last week’s presidential debate, when Trump elevated false claims about migrants and pets, which local police say has no merit.
Still, Harris added, such rhetoric is not new.
“This is not new in terms of these tropes; this is not new in terms of where it's coming from. Whether it is refusing to rent to Black families, whether it is taking out a full page ad in The New York Times against five innocent Black and Latino teenagers — the Central Park Five — and calling for their execution, whether it is referring to the first Black president of the United States with a lie, the American people deserve more and better.”
She concluded with a direct message to Trump.
“I know that people are deeply troubled by what is happening to that community in Springfield, Ohio, and it’s got to stop. And we’ve got to say that you cannot be entrusted with standing behind the seal of the President of the United States of America engaging in that hateful rhetoric that, as usual, is designed to divide us as a country,” she added.
Harris on gun ownership, curbing handgun use
Mosley noted that Harris has said publicly that she is a gun owner while then segueing into a question about how to curb the proliferation of handguns, noting their use in crimes in Philadelphia. Harris was adamant in noting that she and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) were “not trying to take anybody’s gun away from them.”
Harris then largely leaned on the work of the Biden administration and called for congressional action to curb gun violence when questioned on what she would do to restrict the use of handguns.
Harris in her answer called for an assault weapons ban and universal background checks, which Biden has long called for, but such legislation would need a wide Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress to pass.
When moderators stressed that they wanted to know a plan for handguns specifically, Harris said universal background checks apply to handguns and stressed the need to close the "gun show loophole" that the Biden administration has worked to eliminate.
“We must take it seriously, in every way, understanding it’s not just about a sound bite, it’s about a comprehensive approach that deals with the tragedy of ... everyday gun violence in America,” she said.
Harris argues voters are better off without Trump
The first question Harris faced was whether voters are better off economically than they were four years ago. The vice president sought to make the case that they are, and that they should look to turn the page on Trump for good in November.
Harris laid out what she has branded as her “opportunity economy” agenda, which includes an expanded child tax credit, help for first-time homebuyers and a federal ban on price gouging. She also cited the Biden administration’s works to bring down the cost of prescription drugs and get the economy back on track after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The vice president more broadly presented her pitch to voters as one of optimism and a chance to move on from Trump, who she argued has been a divisive figure whom she blamed for state-level abortion bans in GOP states across the country.
"Is the price of groceries still too high? Yes. Do we have more work to do? Yes,” Harris said.
“I do believe that I offer a new generation of leadership for our country that is about, in particular, turning the page on an era that sadly has shown us attempts by some to incite fear, to create division in our country, and to do the work that is about bringing about some level of optimism and dare I say ambition, about what I know is possible in our country,” she added.