Vice President Kamala Harris on gun control and abortion

WHITE HOUSE

Vice President Kamala Harris was interviewed at the White House AANHIPI Forum.

In a recent interview Vice President Kamala Harris outlined what she and President Biden's positions ARE on two key issues high on the list of concerns of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders: reproductive rights and gun control.

Pollsters and Republicans like to point out that AANHPI voters are "turning right" based on recent elections driven about concerns for equity in justice and education, which translates to crime and affirmative action.

A survey by APIA Vote found that the AANHPI communities are much more complicated than those generalizations suggesting that nationally, when push comes to shove, voters from those communities will align themselves with Democrats.

“Political parties need to cease their views that Asian Americans only care about crime, or only care about education-related issues, as this is clearly not the case,” said Christine Chen, Executive Director of Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote)

Another survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found about three-quarters of Asian respondents said abortion should be legal, the most of any racial group.

After the mass shootings in Atlanta, Monterey Park and Allen, Texas, targeting AANHPI, gun violence concerns have moved up among the top concerns of AANHPI communities.

During the an indepth interview at the White House AANHPI Forum held earlier this month at George Washington University, Harris talked about her Indian heritage and also discussed gun violence and reproductive rights. 

Following is the part of the interview on gun violence and reproductive rights as conducted by Poorna Jagannathan from Never Have I Ever, and Jerry Won, the Founder & CEO of Just Like Media. It has been edited for length:


MS. JAGANNATHAN: And with the, you know, Roe vs. Wade being overturned, we’re seeing unprecedented attack on the reproductive healthcare system. I was delighted to know from your team that 74 percent of Asian Americans surveyed said abortion should be legal in all or most cases. And I would love to know what is the administration doing to address those needs.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, first of all, thank you for being so courageous to tell your story. This is an issue that I think is some — is something that demands and requires all leaders to speak up. And we all need to build on the movement that started before and led to Roe v. Wade being decided. And we must pick up to move forward and get a United States Congress who has the courage and the willingness to pass legislation that would put the protections of Roe v. Wade into law at a national level. (Applause.)

And, again, I come at this being raised by a mother who — who fought for women’s health rights and fought for the dignity that women should have and deserve to have in the healthcare system, and fought against the inequities that were present there.

And so, this issue of fighting for women’s reproductive care — for me, it’s just something that is very personal in terms of just a lifelong acknowledgement and understanding about the disparities and the unfairness and the indignities that women can face in the healthcare system.

And, you know, if you compound race, if you compound language barriers, profound impacts result. And so, on this issue, let’s look at where we are.

The United States Supreme Court, the highest court in our land, just took a constitutional right, that had been recognized, from the people of America, from the women of America.

And what we then saw is: In states around our country, extremist so-called leaders started proposing and passing laws that would criminalize healthcare providers — literally laws that provide for jail time for doctors and nurses and healthcare providers; passing laws that make no exception for rape or incest.

And many of you know: A majority of my career was as a prosecutor. And as a prosecutor, I specialized in crimes of violence against women and children.

The idea that you would say to an individual who has survived an act of violence and violation to their body — to say to that person that, after that, you will also be deprived and we will take away your ability to make the next decision about what happens to your body — that’s immoral. That’s immoral.

And that’s what’s happening in our country with these people who puff and huff, and they’re so big and bad, and they beat their chests. They’re supposed to be strong; we’re supposed to just be in awe of their intelligence. And what they’re doing is absolutely unconscionable.

And, on this point, let’s also recognize that for women of color, women with immigrant background, women who may have language barriers, the impact on them is even more severe in terms of where can they go, where will they have the ability to be in a safe place to address one of the most personal issues that a person can face?

And the concern I have — and we have so many leaders here that I would ask us to all be also thoughtful about on this issue — is: There is also underlying this a centuries-old issue of judging women based on their sexuality. And so, an environment that on this issue is also intended, and certainly has the effect, of making these individuals feel embarrassed, ashamed — as though they’ve done something wrong.

And what that means in terms of compounding their sense of isolation and, in that way, suggesting to them that they are alone and that they’re not seen and that we don’t care about supporting them and their voice and their autonomy and their independence.

So there’s a lot at play on this issue. And, ultimately, I think that the way that this is going to be resolved is we have to keep voting, and we have to vote people in office who have the courage to stand up and agree that this is about foundational principles that are about freedom and liberty.

And I want to say this point also. Let us also agree and speak loudly: One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body. (Applause.)

You know, but talk about going backwards. Right?

So you look at this moment we’re in where, you know, a lot of the work that we’ve been doing as an administration — I think today demonstrated that — has been to address what we must do in terms of empowerment of communities, but also to fight against injustice. Right?

And when we think about where are we’ve been in the last few years in terms of everything from anti-Asian hate crime, to what we are looking at in terms of attacks on fundamental freedoms like those that — of a woman to make decisions and a person to make decisions about their body, to the attacks we’re seeing on voting rights, to the attacks we’re seeing on — on LGBTQ and trans folks, the attacks we’re seeing where there are literally — can you imagine, in this year of our Lord 2023, book bans? I mean, really, likes — like, what? Book bans.

And what we’re seeing in terms of — in places like Florida, where, literally, teachers who have a — who are in a same-sex relationship and have a spouse and a family are afraid to have photographs of their family in their classroom for fear that it will then evoke a conversation with a student that is basically — this — these so-called leaders are saying “should not be happening in that classroom.”

Talk about these — there are attempts that are happening right before our eyes to roll back all of the hard-won freedoms that we have collectively fought for.

And this is a time for everyone to stand and to speak out and be very active. You know, there’s an old poem about, “They’ll go for, they’ll go for, they’ll go for, and then they’ll come for you. And who will be left?” That’s the moment we’re at right now, and that’s why it’s so important that we renew, always, our commitment to the coalition and to standing together and saying no one should be made to fight alone. (Applause.)

MR. WON: Thank you so much. You know, speaking of coalition’s and allyship, our community have felt that very strongly over the last three or four years as attacks, racist attacks, hate crimes, and even murder against people who look like us in this room have risen. And gun violence is something that we continue to deal with. Can you address what you and President Biden and the rest of the administration are doing to address the continued attacks on our community, particularly with gun violence?


THE VICE PRESIDENT: So we are seeing a rise in hate crimes, period. Right? I mean, my husband — the first Second Gentleman of the United States of America — (applause) — has been doing a lot of work fighting against antisemitism. And so we are seeing, you know, a rise of that. A horrendous rise in in Asian hate crime, where grandmothers are afraid to go to the store, and — and their families are afraid for them to go to the store, which is part of their routine and their social — right? — traditions.

We’re seeing the marginalization. We’re seeing the bullying. We’re seeing a tenor where — where one should be praised for their so-called strength, but they evidence their strength and it’s measured based on who they beat down when, in fact, I think we all agree you measure strength based on who you lift up. Right?

And so there’s a lot of work that we have to do against this moment of this tone and this approach to what does strength look like, what does leadership look like?

And in that regard, on the issue of gun violence then, there are a number of specific things that have to happen.

In terms of to your question — what our administration has done under President Joe Biden — we have passed smart gun safety legislation for the first time in 30 years that moves the ball forward. (Applause.)

But we’ve got more to do. We have more to do. We should have a national ban on assault weapons. These are designed — (applause) — these are weapons of war. There are weapons of war that have no place in the streets of a civil society.

We should have red-flag laws. We should have background checks.

Why should we have background checks? Well, because you might want to know if someone has been found to be a danger to themselves or others before you let them buy a gun. (Applause.) It’s just reasonable.

And we have — and we cannot be seduced into — into perpetuating this false choice that suggests that you’re either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want reasonable gun safety laws. It’s a false choice.

I support the Second Amendment. I also want to see an assault weapons ban. I also want to see universal background checks. I want to see red-flag laws. I want to see that our babies are not sitting in a classroom where they should be able to learn how to read and write and explore their ideas about what the future of the country can hold, but instead they’re sitting there also being taught how to hide in the closet and be quiet if there’s an active shooter in their classroom. That’s what’s happening.

I grew up in California where — you know, I’m going to date myself, but when I grew up, you know, the only thing we had to learn was, you know, ducking under a table if there’s an earthquake. Right?

Now our children are literally afraid.

I have talked to kids who say, “I like this class and I like this, but I don’t like going to fifth period.” “Why don’t you like when a fifth period?” “Because in that classroom there’s no closet.”

So there is so much about this issue that is about saving lives in — on every level. And we need people to have the courage to act, and that is the one thing that is lacking in this United States Congress and in legislatures around the country. And again, we have to step up and we have to demand action. Lives are at stake. (Applause.)

FYI: For the entire interview at the White House AANHPI Forum, click here.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.