Vice President Kamala Harris visited Hampton University on the first stop of her Fight For Our Freedoms college tour.
Addressing hundreds of students, she talked about climate justice, gun violence, and reproductive rights.
“I believe there is an intentional, full-on attack against hard-won freedoms and rights,” she said.
“And I'm talking about the freedom to make decisions about your own body, and the choices you will make about your future. Connected with that, the freedom to vote, the freedom to be in love with who you love, the freedom to be free from gun violence.”
Harris is visiting colleges across the country as she gears up for the 2024 presidential election. She said it was imperative the students in front of her — many of whom couldn’t vote in 2020 — turned out next year.
“You vote saying, ‘these are the things I want from my government, I want from my country, I want from my life and my future,’” Harris said.
“Make sure that you vote, because there are a lot of big issues at stake.”
Harris is a graduate of Hampton’s rival, Howard University. She told students there’s a reason she started her tour at a historically Black college.
“The experience you are having right now is going to carry you through your life in ways that you have yet to realize and imagine,” Harris said.
“And so that's why I wanted to start this tour here, because I know what this school, Hampton University, means to the future of our country and our world.”
Student Government Association president Lillian Carr is a senior. She said meeting Harris was the opportunity of a lifetime.
“A lot of the words she spoke today resonated with me,” Carr said. “Never taking no for an answer — and I’m always someone who stands on that — so to be able to hear her acknowledge that and speak to that was absolutely outstanding.”
Carr is taking her LSATs next month, preparing to follow Harris’ footsteps as an attorney.
The Vice President continues her college tour at North Carolina A&T Friday.
