October 18, 2024 • 60 mins
Charlamagne Tha God sat down with Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday (October 15) for a live interview, billed as "We The People: An Audio Town Hall with Kamala Harris." Charlamagne hosted the Democratic candidate for president in Detroit, Michigan, for an hour-long interview that was broadcast on iHeartRadio stations across the country.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We the people In the audio town hall with Vice
President Kamala Harris in conversation with Charlemagne the God, live
from Detroit, Michigan and exclusively on iHeartRadio. We'll tackle the
tough questions, the pressing issues, and the future of our nation.
Now here's your house, Charlemagne the God.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yes, peace of the planet. Charlamagne the God here with
Madame Vice President Kamala Harris.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
How are you very well, Charlemagne? How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Listen? We got twenty days in sixty minutes, so we
just need to get to it.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm with you all. It was twenty one day.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
How are you because you did just walk in.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
You was kind of la well, I try to be
on time. Well apparently I'm forty seconds late.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
You're right, well, you are black. Now. You know one
thing they've been saying, a lot of your press hits
get criticized. You know, folks that you come off as
a very scripted. They say you like to stick to
your talking points, and some media says you have.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
That would be called disciplined.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Ooh, okay, okay. Some people say you have an inability
to fearlessly say who you are and what you believe.
I know that's not true, But what do you say
to that criticism? And is it fair for s and
now to make fun of it?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Hasn't Maya Rudolph been wonderful? Yes, I think I have
nothing but admiration for the comedy, and I think it's
important to be able to laugh at yourself and each
other in the spirit of obviously comedy, and not belittling
people as my opponent would do.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
But what do you say to people who say you
stay on the talking points?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I would say you're welcome. I mean, listen, here's the thing.
I love having conversations, which is why I'm so happy
to be with you this afternoon. And the reality is
that there are certain things that must be repeated to
ensure that I have everyone know what I stand for
and the issues that I think are at stake in
this election, and so it requires repetition. You know, some
(01:50):
people say that until someone has heard the same thing
at least three times, it just doesn't stay with you.
So repetition is important. And for that reason, Yes, at
my rallies, I say the same thing when I go
to Detroit, as I do in Philly, as I do
wherever I am. To make sure that people here and
receive what I think are some of the most critical
(02:11):
issues that are at taking the selection.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
There has to be a high level of anxiety too
when you have these conversations, though, because you are running
for president.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I mean, you know what, there is certainly a lot
of I feel the weight of the moment and my role.
I feel an extraordinary weight of responsibility right now to
do everything I can. I'm telling you, Charlemagne, when I
go to bed at night, I I almost every night,
(02:40):
in addition to my prayers, will ask have I done
everything I could do?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Today?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
This is a margin of era race. It's tight. I'm
going to win. I'm going to win, but it's tight,
and you know, what is at stake is truly profound
in historics, many would say, and it's about you know,
some people would say this lofty notion of supporting and
(03:09):
preserving our democracy, but it is about real issues that
affect people every day, like whether we're going to maintain
a thirty five dollars cap on insulin for our seniors,
whether we're going to continue to allow Medicare to negotiate
drug prices to bring them down, whether we are going
to have as my opponent would have a formalized stop
(03:29):
and frisk policy, for which he has said if a
police department does not do it, they should be defunded
or not. There is so much at stake, whether America
is going to stand on its principles around the importance
of sovereignty and territorial integrity and stand with our allies
around the world, or whether we're going to admire dictators
and send during the height of COVID in the pandemic,
(03:52):
COVID tests that nobody could get to the President of
Russia for his personal use, when black people were dying
every day by the hundreds during that time.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, I feel like that one has gone over people's head,
the fact that he was sending COVID test to putin.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I mean, you know, I invite, I don't your listeners,
the people we know the number of people who lost
their grandparents and parents, remember what that was like during
the height of COVID and a lot of it. People
were scrambling for the resources and needed tests. And Donald
Trump during that time secretly sent COVID tests to the
(04:30):
President of Russia, who, by the way, do not forget
in the twenty sixteen election, because I was a member
of the Senate Intelligence Committee when we investigated it targeted
black voters in twenty sixteen with missing disinformation to discourage
black people from voting in that election. And this is
(04:53):
just another of the very many examples of who Donald
Trump really is and the danger he presents. Yeah, real people.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Sending COVID test to Russia. That doesn't sound very America
first at all. But it's not just you versus Trump,
is U versus misinformation. Yes, that's true, right, And one
of the biggest pieces of misinformation. One of the biggest
allegations against you is that you targeted and locked up
thousands of black men in San Francisco for weed. Some
say you did it to bus your careers, some say
you did it out of pure hate for black men.
(05:21):
Please tell us the facts. What's the facts of that situation.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
It's just simply not true. And what public defenders who
are around those days will tell you. I was the
most progressive prosecutor in California on marijuana cases and would
not send people to jail for simple possession of weed.
And as Vice President, have been a champion for bringing
marijuana down on the schedule so instead of it being
(05:46):
ranked up there with heroin. We bring it down, and
my pledge is, as president, I will work on decriminalizing
it because I know exactly how those laws have been
used to disproportionately impact certain populations and specifically black men.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Before we get into the talk back feature and take
some questions from the audience, I do want to talk
to you about the legalization the weed, because you're saying
you want to legalize it. Now, what steps did the
Biden administration take to get closer to that reality?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So we had to work with the DA and it's
there's a certain level of bureaucracy that exists in the
federal government that slows things down. But essentially to bring
down how weed's classified, how marijuana is classified, to make
it classified as a lesser harm and so that took
(06:37):
some time. There's a whole process around that. But that's
the work that we have done, in addition to work
that we have done writ large on criminal justice reform.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Okay, let's take some calls. Let's take some when I call,
let's go to the talkback feature.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
My question for Kamala is why are we and I
say we because my tax dollars is sending the money.
Why are we sending money to other countries when we
desperately need in our own country for homeless housing resources
for whatever. That is my determining factor if I vote
(07:14):
were COMMA or not.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
That's one of the reasons the America for US rhetoric
resonates because nobody in America would complain about where money
was going if American citizens every day needs were being met.
So what do you say to.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
That we can do it all? And we do so.
First of all, I maintained very strongly America should never
pull ourselves away from our responsibility as a world leader,
and that is in the best interest of our national
security in each one of us as Americans, and our
(07:45):
standing in the world. That being said, we also have
an obligation to American citizens obviously and people who are
here to meet their everyday needs and challenges, which is why,
for example, we have done the work in the last
four years of bringing down the cost of prescription medication,
whether it be thirty five dollars a month for seniors
(08:06):
for insulin or two thousand dollars a year cap on
prescription medication. What we have done that has been about
putting seventeen billion dollars in our HBCUs. I am proud
to be the first HBCU Vice President of the United States.
I intend to be the first HBCU President of the
United States. Those resources are about sending them to centers
(08:27):
of academic excellence that I know them to be. The
work that I continue to do is about increasing access
to capital for our small businesses. It is about increasing
the opportunity for home ownership. Knowing that Black people are
forty percent less likely to be homeowners in America. We
have a history of legal and procedural obstacles to that
(08:49):
home ownership, starting with the fact nobody got forty acres
in a mule, to redlining, to issues that this Detroit
area and people around the country know to be real.
So part of my plan is that we're going to
give people a twenty five thousand dollars down payment assistance
to get their foot in the door to buy a
home for first time home buyers. The work that I'm
going to do to increase housing supply in America, knowing
(09:12):
that that's one of the reasons that rents and housing
prices are jacked up, and to work with the private sector,
cut through the red tape and work to build more
housing three million before the end of my first term.
And I give these examples, and there are many more
which I will offer. So, for example, the work that
I will do to extend the child tax credit to
six thousand dollars for young families during the first year
(09:34):
of their child's life. Because, as you and I both know,
our families all have a natural desire to parent their
children well, but not always the resources. So by expanding
the child tax credit to the first year of child's
life to six thousand dollars, that gives that young family
the ability to buy a car seat, or a crib
or clothes, the things that are so important during that
(09:55):
critical phase of that child's development, so that they can
get on the road and add actually have a chance
at succeeding.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
You know, you said we can do it all, but
can we because you know Tupac famously said, you know,
we got money for war, but can't feed the poor, right,
And I saw President Obama say last week that you know,
you really shouldn't expect, you know, a president to rid
the world of all of its problems. So is it
fair to tell people, hey, we can do it all,
Because that's when people get disappointed when things don't happen.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
But I think President Obama is absolutely correct. But it
doesn't mean we can't do anything that's right. So when
I talk about extending the child tax credit, as when
I was Vice president, I pushed that we would do
it during our first year, and we reduced child black
child poverty in America by fifty percent. We did that.
We can do that. My plan that is about building
(10:47):
up home ownership in the black community, we can do that.
My work that has been about increasing access to capital,
bringing billions more dollars into our community banks, which I've
done as Vice president through cooperation and partnership with some
of the big banks and tech companies to get more
access to capital for our entrepreneurs, for our businesses. We've
done that. So we should never sit back and say, Okay,
(11:10):
I'm not going to vote because everything hasn't been solved.
I share a desire that everything should be solved by
the way I think it is what we should all want,
but that that shouldn't stand in the way of us.
Also known we can participate in a process that's about
improving things. And by voting in this election, you have
(11:32):
two choices, or you don't vote, but you have two
choices if you do. And it's two very different visions
for our nation. One mind that is about taking us
forward and progress and investing the American people, investing in
their ambitions, dealing with their challenges. And the other Donald Trump,
is about taking us backward.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
The other is about fascism.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Why can't we just say it, yes, we can't say that.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
A Reverend Solomon can Locke Jr. I want you to
meet him. He is the senior pastor of Triumph Church.
Speaker 5 (12:04):
Luck.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Oh, he's here on tell secret service, move out the way.
It's okay, it's just the reverend. All right, what's up? Reverend?
Speaker 6 (12:11):
Madam Vice President Charlemagne, thank y'all for being in Detroit tonight.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
Recently, a Madam Vice President by one of Trump's surrogates
from the black faith based community, you've been criticized by
him and others for your lack of engagement to the
Black church. Knowing that the black church is an unrivaled
place in the heart of black people.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
What could you speak to.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
As it relates to a future a Harris administration, how
you would partner with the Black church to address some
of the urgent needs of the black community. Doctor King
talked about a fierce urgency of right now and as
a church, Triumph Church is in that place.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
So first of all, that allegation, of course, is coming
from the Trump team because they are full of missing disinformation,
because they are trying to disconnect me from the people
I have worked with and that I am from, so
that they can try and have some advantage in this election,
because otherwise they have nothing to run on. I grew
(13:15):
up in the black church I grew up. I grew
up attending twenty third Avenue Church of God in Oakland, California.
Yes church, Yes, that is church. My pastor is Amos C. Brown,
a third Baptist church in San Francisco, California. Yes, I
have throughout my career and as vice president and recently
(13:37):
been actively engaged in the church and church leaders, not
only so we can share in fellowship, but so we
can share in what we can do together. That is
about supporting the community, the strength of the community, the
cohesion of the community, and it is my long standing
work and therefore my pledge going forward, I will always
(14:00):
closely with the church because I understand who our church
leaders are and who the congregation is we are talking
about people who are driven by faith and the ability
to see what is possible by faith. Where I was
raised and I know many of us were understanding that
our God is a loving God, that our faith propels
(14:22):
us to act in a way that is about kindness
and justice and mercy, that is about lifting one another up.
And let's talk about the contrast here. Donald Trump and
his followers spend full time trying to suggest that the
measure of the strength of a leader is based on
who you beat down, which is absolutely contrary to the church.
(14:43):
I know.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
He sells bibles though, where our.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Church and my church is about saying true leadership, the
measure of that is based on who you lift up
and right, and then he's selling sixty dollars bibles or
tennis shoes as and and trying to play people as
though that makes him more understanding of the black community.
(15:06):
Come on good every day, all the time.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
There you go to make sure you get that right. Now.
Have you seen the clip, Madam Vice President from the Grill.
It's it's a clip that's kind of out of context
and it says that you won't do anything specifically for
black people. Have you seen that I've not seen that.
It's a clip that has you saying that you're not
going to do anything specifically for black people.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Well, that's just not true. And listen again, you said
it at the beginning of this visit Charlemagne. One of
the biggest challenges that I face is missing disinformation, and
it's purposeful because it is meant to convince people that
they somehow should not believe that the work that I
(15:56):
have done has has occurred and has meaning. My work
from the beginning of my career through today has been about,
for example, we've talked about it, whether it be on HBCUs,
whether it be on healthcare, black maternal mortality. I am, singularly,
many would say, one of the highest level leaders in
(16:16):
our country to bring the issue black maternal mortality to
the stage of the White House to address it. The
work that I've done that has been about focusing on
my knowledge and my experience in my life, experience of
knowing the entrepreneurship that we have in the community, the ambition,
the aspirations, the dreams, and then tapping into that so
(16:38):
that not only has my work been about ensuring that
we have some of the lowest black unemployment ever in
our country. But that also knowing that that should be
a baseline, that everybody has a job, and what we
should be invested in is also building wealth in the
community and intergenerational wealth. And I have many, many examples
of that. But again, part of the challenge that I
(17:01):
face is that they are trying to scare people away
because they know they otherwise have nothing to run on.
Ask Donald Trump what his plan is for Black America.
Ask him what you know. I'll tell you what it is.
Look at Project twenty twenty five. Project twenty twenty five
(17:22):
tells you The plan includes making police departments have stopping
frisk policies. The plan includes making it more difficult for
workers to receive overtime pay. The plan includes ending the
ability of Medicare to negotiate drug prices. You know what
we have done, he said he would. We did, which
(17:42):
means that that's how we brought down the cost of
prescription medication. His plan includes making it more difficult for
working people to get by and to destroy our democracy.
You know what he says he'll do, terminate the Constitution
in the United States. Let me remind folks, you know
what's in the Constitution of United States, the Fourth Amendment,
(18:05):
which protects you against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Fifth Amendment,
the Sixth Amendment, the fourteenth Amendment, and he's going to
terminate the Constitution of the United States, which in most
of those amendments, one thing or another was about a
movement spurred by black people to ensure that we would
be equally protected under the law.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Come on, let's take a question from talking about HI.
Speaker 7 (18:27):
My name is Joshua Fisher, aged thirty one years old,
African American male from Las Vegas, Nevada. I'd like to
ask Madam Vice President what laws does she have planned
to make sure that there's a stop to police brutality
and murders that have been going on viciously.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
So again, the work that I have done through my
career and the most recently, even when I was in
the United States Senate to help write the George Floyd
Justice and Policing Act, Cory Booker and I work very
closely on that.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Could you tell people why that didn't pass? To get
folks a quick civic.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Plus, we couldn't get the votes in Congress. There's a
clip somewhere of me fighting with a Republican Center senator
to actually write to actually get it passed. We couldn't
get it passed. But what we did when we came
in office and during the time that I've been Vice president,
(19:21):
is we passed an executive order. So whereas we were
trying and I have been trying to make these things
national so that everyone would have to do it, an
executive order by the President in our administration says that
for federal law enforcement, the following things have to happen,
which we for the first time put in place no
knock warrants, barring chokeholds, a national database. Now it's for
(19:43):
federal law enforcement, but a national database for us to
collect information and track police officers who have broken the law.
And this is no small issue, this piece in addition
everything else, because as we know, we've seen plenty of
examples of a police officer who committed misconduct and one
jurisdiction and then goes to another jurisdiction and gets hired
(20:05):
because there's no place that's tracking their misconduct. So these
are the sum of the things that we've done. And
then listen, I'm still going to always work on getting
the Judge George Floyd Justice and Policing Act.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
PACK.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Part of the work that I'm doing as a candidate
for President of the United States includes lifting up those
candidates who are running either for reelection or for the
first time to Congress, who are supportive of what we
need to do on all of the issues we've been discussing,
whether it be freedom to vote in passing the John
Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, whether it be freedom to
(20:39):
make decisions about your own body, whether it be the
freedom to just be and be free from any brutality,
including police brutality when and where it occurs.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I think a lot of the frustration comes from people
who will say, sometimes politicians volunteer lives because you know, yes,
it's great to try to pass the George Floyd Policing Act,
but you probably know you can't get the vote. So
why push that? Why push that on people?
Speaker 3 (21:03):
I don't I don't subscribe to that approach, And I'm
going to tell you why. Look, it took a long
time for the Voting Rights Act to get done. It
took you know, it took the brutality of of of
what happened when when John Lewis and all those were
trying to cross the Edmund Pettis Bridge. It took it
(21:24):
took a lot of work over our history to do
what we have accomplished thus far, and we have to
remain committed.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
How do you convince Republican centers, as you just said, but.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
But well, part of it is that their constituents are
part of this. I mean, we have plenty of folks
who want this, who live in districts where they serve.
And this is the point. This gets back to the
earlier point about you can't let anybody take you out
of the game by not voting. You got the solutions,
(21:57):
And maybe this is the point you're making about what
President Obama's The solutions are not going to happen just overnight,
and the solutions that we all want are not going
to happen in totality because of one election. But here's
the thing. The things that we want and are prepared
to fight for won't happen if we're not active, and
if we don't participate, we cannot allow circumstances to take
(22:21):
us out the game. Because then basically what we're saying
is all those people who are obstructionists who are standing
in the way of change. They're winning because they're convincing
people that it can't be done. So take yourself out,
don't participate. Look at that circle, look at that vicious
circle then, so let's not fall for it.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Zeke. This is my man, is Zeke. He's the president
and CEO of New Era Detroit. He wants to talk
to you about your blackmail agenda for the black community,
just your agenda for the black community period. Zeke, what's up? Brother?
What up?
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Do?
Speaker 2 (22:57):
What up do?
Speaker 8 (22:59):
Madam Vice Prayerident Charlotte Magne the God what up? Don't
Welcome to Detroit. I like to say the real Detroit
because I'm up in here. My name is Zeke Newer,
founder and CEO. I've worked on the ground here in
Detroit and the black communities all across the country for
(23:19):
over the past ten years. Actually celebrating our tenth year
this past August. In my ten years of organizing, we
played a major role in the resurgence of pride and
the change of mindset in Detroit neighborhoods across the city.
We are not only known for the work that we
do here in Detroit, but across the country and black communities.
(23:41):
I'm having worked in over thirty five cities of the
blackest cities in America. I'm saying all that to say
I'm extremely qualified to sit in front of the current
vice president and which can be the next president of
the United States of America. As I opposed my question
to you, I would first like to make it known
that I don't have any emotional connections to politicians. I
(24:04):
believe that this is one of our biggest flaws in
the current political process. I view politics as a business,
and America is one of the biggest corporations in the world.
With that being said, I'm here on behalf of the
business of the black community. With all that Black Americans
have been through and contribute to the success of America,
(24:25):
I feel that there should be an in depth investigation
or evaluation of the lack of resources and current living
conditions in black communities nationwide. My caution to you is
what's your stance on reparations. We all know that America
became great, you know, off the backs of free black labor.
(24:48):
How progressive are you on making it a priority and
right in America's wrongs. It's understood that you are running
for president for all people of America, asking for specifics
for black communities, doesn't mean don't do for others. But
Black Americans are heavily asked to vote Democrat in every
(25:09):
election for over half a century, with very little in return.
What are your plans to address these very important issues
and change that narrative?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Make you, Zeke?
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I appreciate that, thank you, and thank you for your work.
So to your point, yes, I am running to be
a president for all Americans. That being said, I do
have clear eyes about the disparities that exist and the
context in which they exist, meaning history. To your point,
(25:42):
so my agenda, well, first of all, on the point
of reparations, it has to be studied, There's no question
about that, and I've been very clear about that position.
In terms of my immediate plan, I will tell you
a few of the following one as it relates to
the economy, which is a lot of what you have addressed. Look,
I grew up in the middle class. My mother, you know,
(26:05):
worked hard, raised me and my sister, and by the
time I was in high school, she was able to
afford our first home. I know what it means for
an individual and a family to have home ownership. I
also know in the context of history. Nobody got forty
acres and a mule. We have a history of a
number of things, including redlining. Detroit knows it well, a
(26:27):
history of, for example, something that still exists that I've
worked on to address, which is racial bias and home appraisals.
And we know home ownership is Black families are forty
percent less likely to be homeowners than others, and that
home ownership is one of the surest ways to build
intergenerational wealth. Right because when you own a home, that's
(26:48):
when if your child says, Daddy, I want to go
to college, you can say, sweetheart, don't have to take
out a loan. I'll take some equity out of the house.
Or if your child says I want to start a
same a small business, same point. Right. So my includes
making sure that for first time home buyers they have
a twenty five thousand dollars down payment assistance to just
(27:08):
get their foot in the door, because we know folks
will work hard, they'll save and pay that monthly mortgage.
Second point is to bring down the cost of housing generally,
because one of the issues is we have a housing
supply shortage, and so that's about working with the private
section in terms of our small businesses, which are part
of the backbone of the economy of the Black community
(27:30):
and part of the backbone of America's economy. Writ large.
My second mother, woman who helped raise us, was a
small business owner. I know who our small business owners are,
and I have convened black small business owners way before
I was running for president in my official office at
the White House, to talk with young entrepreneurs, mostly young
(27:50):
about the work that they are doing that is about
clean energy, work, technology, as well as the traditional you know,
whether it be a barbershop or arrest. One of the
big issues facing black entrepreneurs and black small businesses is
access to capital. Because unlike my opponent who got handed
four hundred million dollars on a silver platter and then
(28:11):
file bankruptcy six times, don't forget that calls himself a businessman,
not everybody has access to the capital they But we
know in the community we do not lack for ambition, aspirations, dreams,
hard work, ethic and so my work has been as
vice president to increase billions of dollars into community banks,
(28:33):
and as vice president, part of that work will also
be to change the tax deduction for startup small businesses
from five thousand dollars to fifty thousand dollars because nobody
can start a small business on five thousand dollars, and
if you don't otherwise have intergenerational wealth, how are you
going to be able to do it? Second point on
small business is this I'm going to do. Basically, it's
(28:56):
a program that is about a twenty thousand dollars unrefundable
loan to a certain to basically businesses that don't have
access to wealth and don't have those relationships, which is
going to directly impact a lot of small, black owned
small businesses. That twenty thousand dollars non refundable loan is
(29:18):
what would help somebody if they need to buy equipment,
right if they need to buy an extra chalk, depending
on what that business is, which we know that's a
big part of what holds back our small businesses, just
having enough capital to actually pay for the things that
allow you to then put your hard work into play
to actually grow your business. The other piece, and this
(29:38):
is something that is critically important, is to see black
folks and in particular black men, as a whole human
being and understand that we are talking about sons. We
are talking about fathers, we are talking about grandsons, we're
talking about grandparents, we're talking about uncles. And so I
say that as a preface to say to other things,
(30:00):
and then I'll keep going one to deal with. I
mean you like that, you got that. To deal with
health care for black people and black men in particular,
we know that we still have a lot of work
to do to increase, for example, the high risks that
we have for calling cancer for prostate cancer right, and
(30:25):
to increase screenings and to make sure that people are
actually going to get the screenings, not to mention the
higher risk for sickle cell. So part of my agenda
is about what we will do to deal with and
highlight what we've got to do to focus on black
men's health. And then a similar point is this of
(30:47):
caregivers are men, and we know culturally we take care
of our elders, and we have a lot of men
in the community who are in the Sandwich generation who
are trying to take care of their young kink kids
and take care of an elder parent or relative. And
it's overwhelming for people to be able to do both,
and a lot of people have to end up thinking
(31:08):
about leaving their job to just do it. So my
plan is this one. In order for people to then
afford assistance for hiring health care home health care, they
basically have to go broke to be eligible for Medicaid.
My plan is this, let's have Medicare, and this is
(31:29):
I've mapped it out and we can make it work.
Medicare cover the cost of home health care for seniors,
which means that you are looking at individuals in the
context of their whole family. Because what we know is
again understanding culture, understanding the reality lots of people are
having to leave work in order to do that. So
(31:50):
these are some examples of my agenda, and overall, it
is an agenda that understands, by the way, because we've
talked already a lot about criminal justice, that the needs
of the black community are not just about criminal justice.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
We need that money.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
It's about yeah, because here's the thing. We have brought
down black unemployment. I said this earlier to the one
of the lowest levels in history. But I'm very clear
the community is not going to stand up in applaud
just because everybody has a job. That should be a baseline.
My agenda is about tapping into the ambitions and the aspirations,
(32:25):
knowing that folks want to have an opportunity. If they want,
they should have a meaningful opportunity to build wealth, including
intergenerational wealth, and that's my agenda.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
You know a couple of things that you said, appreciate you,
thank you, thank you. Think there were a couple of
things that you said that people would say, we're talking points,
but it's really just your story, even though they are
becoming your greatest hits when you talk about the middle
class and your godmother being a small business owner. But
that's just your story.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
It's my story. Look, I've been in this race seventy days.
Some people are just getting to know me. Other people
have known me, and I owe it. Listen. I feel
very strongly I need to earn every vote, which is
why I'm here having this candid conversation with you and
your listeners. I have to earn people's support and I
am working to do that.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Before we go to another talk back call, I want
to say they were the time I had a politician
tell me once that if you're running for a national election,
it's bad electoral strategy to say you are going to
do things specifically for black people, which is why a
lot of politicians don't speak directly to their plans for
black people. Is that a thing?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
I don't know that that's true. I think that what
is true is that I am running to be a
president for everybody. But I am clear eight about the
history and the disparities that exist for specific communities, and
I'm not going to shy away from that. It doesn't
mean that my policies aren't going to benefit everybody, because
they are. Everything I just talked about will benefit everybody.
(33:55):
Small business owners, whatever their race, their age, their gender,
their geographic location, are going to benefit from the fact
that I'm going to extend tax deductions to fifty thousand dollars.
Every first time homeowner, wherever they are, whatever their race,
will benefit. If they are a first time home buyer
with a twenty five thousand dollars down payment of sixes.
Everyone is going to benefit from my plan to extend
(34:17):
the child tax credit to six thousand dollars for the
first year of their child's life. That's going to benefit everybody.
But I do realize again that on the issue of
home ownership, for example, black people are forty percent less
likely to own a home.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
So do you you know, do you feel like President
Obama stepped on your roll out because I know you've
been working on this blackmail agenda for a long time
and you've been doing the outreach, you know, which was
the Opportunity Economy tour and things like that. But then
he made the statements that he made last week. So
everybody thinks this is a reaction to that.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Oh no, no, no, no, I mean you just have
to no, obviously not. I've been doing this for quite
some time, including before I was running for president.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Let's go to talk about Geddy.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Hi.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
I'm Bobby from Georgia and I have a question for
Kabl Harris. Could you please respond to Trump's claim that
he's going to use the Alien Enemies Act of seventeen
ninety eight to round up immigrants if he wins the election.
This law was last used to put Asian Americans in
internment camps during World War Two, and I have a
(35:18):
sneaking suspicion that if Trump wins, He's going to use
this law to put anyone that doesn't look white in camps.
Speaker 9 (35:25):
And I'm scared.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Yeah, So you've hit on a really important point and
expressed it, I think so well, which is he is
achieving his intended effect to make you scared. He is
running full time on a campaign that is about instilling fear,
not about hope, not about optimism, not about the future,
(35:53):
but about fear. And so this is yet another example.
Look what he did and saying that those legal imgrants
in Springfield, Ohio were eating their pets. He and by
the way, the hypocrisy of it abounds because on the
issue of immigration, let's be clear, some of the most
(36:16):
conservative members of the United States Congress, working with others,
came up with a border security bill which was the
strongest toughest border security bill in a long long time.
It would have put fifteen hundred more border agents at
the border. It would have reduced the flow of fentanyl
into our country, which is killing people all over our
country of every race and background. It would have allowed
(36:38):
us to do more work on prosecuting transnational criminal organizations,
which I have done in my career. Trump got word
that that bill was afoot, knew it would fix a problem,
and told his buddies in Congress to kill the bill.
And you know why, because he would prefer to run
on a problem instead of fixing a problem, and he's
running his campaign in a way that he does these
rallies where people by the way, and does these rallies
(37:03):
to try and and still fear around an issue where
he actually could be part of a solution, but he
chose not to because he prefers to run on a
problem instead of fix a problem. And we've got to
call it out and see it for what it is.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
But doesn't the Biden administration have to take some blame
for the border though a lot of the blame, because
I mean, the first three years, y'all did get a
lot of things wrong with the border.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Charlemagne, within hours of being inaugurated, the first bill we passed,
before we did the Inflation Reduction Act, before we did
the bipart is An Infrastructure Act, before we did the
Safer Communities Act to deal with gun violence, first thing
we dropped was a bill to fix the broken immigration system,
(37:46):
which by the way, Trump did not fix when he
was president, and you can look at every step along
the way. We then tightened up the asylum application process.
We then worked with what we needed to do to
secure ports of entry. We did a number of things,
including what we did to try and get that border
(38:06):
security bill passed, and then also an executive order that
has actually reduced significantly the number of illegal crossings and
tightened up what needs to happen in between ports of entry.
But no, we've been working on it ever since. But
but here's here's here's what what has to happen. Congress
(38:28):
has to act to fix the immigration system, and it
has been broken for a long time. Congress has to act.
But it does not help. When finally a bipartisan group
got together to fix it and Donald Trump told them,
hold on, don't do that because it won't It won't
help me politically.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Why do you allow him to call you the borders
are when that's not even your.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
I'm not giving him permission for that, But.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
I mean, you don't push back on it because that
wasn't you. That's not that wasn't your role.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
With fact checkers have made that clear. Look, if I
responded to every name he called me, I wouldn't be
focused on the things that actually helped the American people.
And that's my focus.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
That is true. Before we go to talk about I
want to say something else. I don't feel like the
Biden administration has treated Trump like a real threat to democracy.
And that's why America doesn't realize how much of a
threat he is. It's one thing to say it, but
you have to act on it. Don't you believe Merrick
Garland should have moved faster to put Donald Trump in
prison for leading an attempt to cool his country.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
The Department Justice, it has independence in terms of how
they make those decisions, as they should. And let's also
be very clear, don no, well, no, Donald Trump has
been very clear that he would weaponize the Department of
Justice against his political lanemies. He has been very clear
that he would take out the independent folks who are
(39:48):
in there and put in there instead his loyalists. So
I understand again you talk about because this brings it
back to exactly your point about threats to our democracy.
Donald Donald Trump would go into the Department of Justice
and manipulate it in such a way that it would
be used as a weapon against his political enemies.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Yeah, he's gonna lock y'all up if he gets back
and over.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
Well, by the way he's gonna you should look at
his words. I don't think that you, as a journalist
should feel so so about the journalists judges others, And
you know who does that. Dictators do that, Other countries
do that, Which is say that you're gonna send as
he has the military to go and and suppress peaceful protesters.
(40:38):
That happens in other countries. That's not supposed to happen
in America. So do understand when this man says what
he says, how that would play out in real time?
Speaker 2 (40:49):
So why is it okay for him to say he'll
lock up his political opponents, but it's not okay for
y'all to say he should be in prison when he's
actually committed crimes.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
Oh, I have been very clear. I think that the
court should handle that, and I'm gonna handle November.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
The court should handle that. Okay, let's go to talkback, Eddie.
What'll we got.
Speaker 9 (41:12):
Our men and women in the military are sent to
foreign countries to fight for their freedom, win or lose.
Donald Trump has promised to seek revenge. My question is
will our military be there to fight for our freedom
after the election? Should Trump start another insurrection?
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Well, you raise a profound point that is very much
a part of this election cycle in terms of what
the American people have a choice right now. So January sixth,
Donald Trump incited a violent mob to try and undo
(41:55):
the will of the people and undo the results of
a free and fair election. That violent mom attacked the
United States Capital. Over one hundred and forty law enforcement
officers were injured, some of them were killed, and he
has said since then that there will be a bloodbath
after this election. He has, on your point about the military,
(42:18):
referred to members of our military as suckers and losers,
which is why, by the way, do see the number
of military leaders who worked under his administration who are
supporting me. And I will point out what everyone knows,
which is that the people who worked the closest with
(42:38):
Donald Trump when he was president, worked with him in
the oval office, saw him at play in the situation room.
His chief of staff, two secretaries of Defense, is national
security advisor, and his former vice president have all said
he is dangerous and unfit to serve. Mark Milly, the
former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, most recently
(43:00):
articulated exactly that point. And again, you know, here's Charlemagne.
One of the things that I think is really ironic,
but at play Donald Trump, through his his his way
of trying to name call and demean and divide, tries
(43:21):
to project as though those things are a sign of strength,
when in fact the man is really quite weak. He's weak.
It's a sign of weakness that you want to please
dictators and seek their flattery and favor. It's a sign
of weakness that you would demean America's military and America's
(43:42):
service members. It's a sign of weakness that you don't
have the courage to stand up for the Constitution of
the United States and the principles upon which it stands.
This man is weak and he is unfit.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
So why is everybody sitting around acting like Donald Trump
isn't going to a plan to steal this election if
you lose, like, you know, Republican officials won't certify the
results of the election. We know is Donald Trump Supreme Court?
Why are people acting like this is going to be
a free in fair election and he won't try to
steal it.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Well, but those are two different points, Okay, So it
will be a free and fair election if we the
American people stand up for that. You know, I see
it as this. I think that their democracy has its
like two points of nature. One, there's a fact about
a democracy that when it is intact, the strength that
(44:34):
it possesses in terms of the protection of people's individual
rights and liberties. When a democracy is intact, we protect
your rights and your liberties. Strength democracy is also very fragile.
It will only be as strong as our willingness we
the people to fight for it, and not as much
(44:55):
as anything is what's that plan in this election? Fight
for our democracy? Flawed though it is imperfect, though it
may be because there are very two real paths right now.
The man has told you he has to terminate the Constitution.
The man has told you all these things about his
(45:15):
disregard and disrespect for your freedoms and liberty, including the
right of a woman to make decisions about her own body.
And he hand selected three members of the United States
Supreme Court with the intention they would do exactly what
they did. One out of three women in America lives
in a state with the Trump abortion band. You know,
every state except Virginia in the South has an abortion band.
(45:36):
You know where the majority of black women live in
the South, in those same states that have some of
the highest rates of black maternal mortality. And they want
to strut around talking about this is in the interest
of women and children, and they've been silent on an
issue like black maternal mortality. But I know that people
are aware and clear eyed, and I do believe that
(46:01):
on election day and early voting in Michigan starts in
four days, people are going to go to the poems
and they're going to vote to stand up for these
principles and to stand up for their rights to freedom
and liberty and to live and just be free to be.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
I believe that I want to bring in my guy
Ice weear vessel. He's very politically engaged. I want to
ask you a question why he's coming in this quick question.
There's a room in that Janet Jackson is mad at
you because you prosecuted her brother, the late Great Michael Jackson.
That's that's on the internet. Cleared that up for people.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
That's just not true on either account. She's I mean,
I don't know, I don't know. I have not talked
to her, but it's certainly it's not true about her brother,
that's all.
Speaker 10 (46:48):
Charlotte Manne, what's up, madam Vice President? How are you
doing today? As with Sandy Troit?
Speaker 6 (46:53):
What up?
Speaker 11 (46:53):
Though?
Speaker 10 (46:54):
So yesterday I read that there's a new opportunity agenda
a plan for Black men, which includes a proposal of
forgivable loans up to twenty thousand dollars for one million
black entrepreneurs. What would you say to the people that
will consider the timing of this proposal as political timing,
And how would you speak to the sentiment that support
(47:16):
for black men is only sought out during election cycles
and feels that building trust requires consistent engagement and genuine
investment into the community outside of election periods and political
benefits for politicians, and may view that some people in
the Democrat Party use Black Americans to play identity politics.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
So, first of all, thank you for your question for
being here. I've been in this race about seventy days.
You can look at all my work before those seventy
days to know this. What I'm talking about right now
is not new and is not for the sake of
winning this election. This is about a long standing commitment,
including the work that I've done as Vice president and
(48:00):
when I was Senator and before that. In fact, a
lot of what I'm doing that is about my economic
agenda and opportunity economy was born out of the work
I did as Vice president before that as Senator. More
most recently, to get access to capital for our entrepreneurs.
The work that I did in the Senate was about
(48:20):
getting a couple billion more dollars into our community banks,
and then building on that. When I became Vice President,
I created it. It's called the Economic Opportunity Council, bringing
in some of the biggest banks and technology companies to
put more into the community banks. And I'm going to
tell you one of the reasons why, because I have
been aware for years black entrepreneurs only get one percent
(48:42):
of venture capital funding. Of all the venture capital funding,
only one percent goes to black entrepreneurs. We don't have
the same rates of access to capital, be it through
family or through connections. Which is why I've done the
work of put billions more dollars and working to put
billions more dollars into community banks, which go right directly
(49:05):
to the community. My work around the twenty thousand dollars
is building on that and understanding that you know, I convened,
for example, I said this earlier a group of black entrepreneurs,
way before I was running for president, in my official
office at the White House, to hear some of the
obstacles that they were facing. And one of them was
(49:27):
what we need to do around getting folks the help
to just be able to buy the equipment they need
to run their business. And oftentime, we find that when
black entrepreneurs and black people apply for credit, they're denied
at a higher rate than others. We have also seen
(49:47):
and the data proves this that all of those the
realities also tend to dissuade black folks and black entrepreneurs
in particularly from even applying for credit. So my point
is to work on every way that we can approach
the issue to encourage people and to invest in their ambition,
(50:14):
because I know the ambition is there, I know the
talent is there, I know the innovation is there, and
certainly the hard work ethic. So this is not new
work for me.
Speaker 2 (50:25):
And just speak to the American Rescue Plan too, because
I mean tens of millions of dollars. I know small
businesses in North Carolina, that small black businesses that got
tens of million dollars because of that. You speak to that, that's.
Speaker 3 (50:35):
Right, and that was from the first time, from when
we first came in the American Rescue Plan, the work
that we have done, that the Infrastructure Bill, I mean
part of that is, we made a decision that we
were going to increase the number of federal contracts that
go to historically underrepresented businesses. This was way before I
(50:55):
was running with this years ago, so this is not
new work.
Speaker 2 (50:59):
Let's go to feature.
Speaker 11 (51:01):
On several occasions recently, John Lemon has stated that there's
a large group of black men who believed Donald Trump
sent them a personal check during COVID because his name
was on it versus it coming from the government as
a stimulus check. Can you provide some clarification on this.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
I'm so glad you raised that. So so here's what happened.
A majority Democratic Congress fought to get those stimulus checks out,
fought against resistance by the Trump administration, and one because
we had a majority of Democrats in Congress, and that's
(51:42):
why those checks went out. As we all know and
grew up learning, Congress holds the purse strings. It was
Congress that made that decision, and then Donald Trump, never
being one to pass up an opportunity to give himself
credit when no credit is due, put his name on
those checks, and sadly, it resulted in people thinking Donald
Trump was responsible for and directly responsible for putting money
(52:05):
in their pocket, when in fact it was a Democratic
majority Congress that was responsible for those checks going out.
Speaker 2 (52:13):
Why is it hard for Democrats to message their wins
on the economy? Like since World War Two, the economy
has done better under a Democrat president. This is just
a historical fact. But for some reason, the narrative is
that the economy does better under Republicans. Why do people
believe that and why don't Democrats push back on that
narrative more?
Speaker 3 (52:29):
Well, you know, we I think that part of the
issue is that Democrats probably talk about it more in
terms of what we are doing for people rather than
the economy, when in fact, when you do for people,
the economy grows. And you are absolutely right, Charlemagne, you
(52:51):
will look at the growth of the economy under in
compare democratic and Republican administrations, Democrats have been accelerated economic
growth my plan, for example. Okay, so some of the
smartest economists in the country have reviewed and compared my
plan to Donald Trump's plans for the economy, from Goldman
(53:13):
Sachs to Moody's to sixteen Nobel Laureates and even most
recently the Wall Street Journal, and in comparing our two plans.
The net result is my plans will strengthen the economy.
His plans will weaken the economy. Their reports come back
and include the fact that Donald Trump's plans for the
economy would accelerate inflation and invite a recession by the
(53:35):
middle of next year. My plans would strengthen the economy
as a whole. You look at under what we've been doing.
You look at the stock market is one of the
strongest it's ever been, Wages of outpaced inflation. Inflation is
going down to I think it's now the most recent
numbers two point four percent. So but those you know,
nobody wants to hear an econ one on one lecture, right,
(53:57):
But the reality of it, to your point is that
under democratic rule, the economy gets strengthened. And certainly when
you look at my plan for my presidency, it will
strengthen the economy and it will help people. And as
per the conversation we've been having today, perhaps the issue
(54:19):
is that I'm gonna always think about it in the
context of how am I helping working people? How am
I helping families? How am I helping people in the
middle class, How am I helping people who have been
without access having access. That's how I talk about it.
But my plan is about strengthening the economy. And I
know when you strengthen the economy, that's how you do it.
(54:40):
You do it by investing in the middle class. Let
me tell you the contrast. Donald Trump thinks about the
economy based on what he has done and will do.
Cutting taxes for billionaires in the biggest corporations. That's how
he thinks about the economy. He thinks about the economy,
not about middle class people trying to not just get
by but get ahead. No, he wants to to stop
(55:01):
Medicare from being able to negotiate drug prices down from
the big pharmaceutical companies.
Speaker 2 (55:06):
We got a couple more questions. I want to get more,
man Eric Thompson here, because we only got like a
few more minutes. But I do want to say President
Obama was out there last week waving his finger at
black men. When are Liz Cheney and Hillary Clinton going
waveday finger at white women? Went up, Bill Clinton and
Joe Biden going wave their finger at white men. Because
fifty two percent of white women voted for Trump in
twenty sixteen, fifty five percent voted for Trump in twenty twenty.
(55:28):
They all voted against their own interests when their finger
waving gonna start at them.
Speaker 3 (55:34):
Well, thank you for highlighting that I do have the
support of over two hundred Republicans who worked for various administrations,
including everyone going back to Ronald Reagan to the Bushes,
to John McCain and Mitt Romney, and including Liz Channing.
I'm very proud to have her support. And I believe
(55:54):
that they who many of them who may have voted
for Trump before, are supporting me because, as they know,
the stakes are so high in terms of our very
democracy and rule of law, and.
Speaker 2 (56:07):
So the finger wagon should start today a tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (56:10):
Well, I think what is happening is that we are
all working on reminding people of what is at stake,
and that is very important.
Speaker 2 (56:20):
Eric, real quick. We only got a few minutes, only.
Speaker 12 (56:23):
Got a few minutes. Thank you, Madame Vice President for
having me. Thank you, Charlotte and the god h So.
As an employee of a mission driven nonprofit bank, I
appreciate the efforts in that bank I work with investor Trade,
but as chief storyteller to City Detroit, I spent a
lot of time dispelling information about the city of Detroit.
And so I'm sure for those of us who are
like me, if Donald Trump doesn't like the trade so much,
(56:44):
he's not welcome back now.
Speaker 3 (56:47):
But okay, I don't want to interrupt. I don't know
what you're talking about. Okay, go on, but you.
Speaker 2 (56:53):
Can get into it.
Speaker 12 (56:54):
I just wanted to say that we know that there's
been a lot of conversation about growing the middle class,
but black men have been taking out of workforce for
a myriad of systemic reasons, from mass in corporation to
racial bias, fear mongering. We know that black men are
not criminals, they are criminalized, and that has taken black
men out of the home, has taken wealth out of
the home. And so because especially in the city with
such high poverty, I've heard a lot about middle class,
(57:16):
but I would love to hear more about stare stepping
from poverty into middle class so they can take advantage
of the opportunities and the policies you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (57:24):
That's right, and that's real. So, for example, the child
tax credit, when we did it when I first became
Vice president, we cut black child poverty by half. And
you know, when you deal with poverty for a child.
That's about the whole family. Right. When you look at
(57:46):
the work that we have done that has been about
dealing with prescription medication for our seniors, Black people are
sixty percent more likely to get diagnosed with diabetes and
have And when you look at what people are in
terms of on the or to bankruptcy because of medical
bills and medical debt, that's very real. So us capping
(58:06):
the cost of something like insulin and prescription medication, not
to mention the work that I've been doing to ensure
that medical debt does not get included on your credit score.
Because medical debt comes about because of a medical emergency,
nobody invites it upon themselves. And back to the point
about history and the reality of life. We also know
the real disparities around access to meaningful health care, which
(58:29):
are more likely to result in people facing chronic illness
and in medical emergency. So my work has been and
included working to get medical debt not beyond your credit
score so that that thing you did not invite upon
yourself would not be the reason that you can't get
a lease on an apartment or anything else. We have
(58:50):
to deal with child poverty. We have to deal with poverty, period,
and there are many specific ways to do it, including
dealing with getting resources into the community that alleviate the
burdens that hold people down. But back to Detroit, can
so can you imagine you go to a city and
(59:11):
you say you want the votes of those people, and
then you disparage the city. And that's what he did
in Detroit. And he has a tendency to mention cities
that either have a historically black majority population or a
black mayor.
Speaker 2 (59:24):
That's right, and that's what he did. He only did
that to Detroit because Detroit is seventy eight percent black
and he doesn't want America to look like that. Madam
Vice President. Thank you. We gotta do this again.
Speaker 3 (59:33):
We're done.
Speaker 2 (59:34):
We only according to iHeart. I just want to keep going.
I got more questions for you, but thank you.
Speaker 3 (59:40):
I appreciate you man, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (59:44):
This has been Iheartradios. We the people in audio town
hall with Vice President Kamala Harris. Remember your voice matters,
stay informed, stay engaged, and most importantly, make sure to vote.
Thank you for joining us and
We the people In the audio town hall with Vice
President Kamala Harris in conversation with Charlemagne the God, live
from Detroit, Michigan and exclusively on iHeartRadio. We'll tackle the
tough questions, the pressing issues, and the future of our nation.
Now here's your house, Charlemagne the God.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yes, peace of the planet. Charlamagne the God here with
Madame Vice President Kamala Harris.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
How are you very well, Charlemagne? How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Listen? We got twenty days in sixty minutes, so we
just need to get to it.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm with you all. It was twenty one day.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
How are you because you did just walk in.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
You was kind of la well, I try to be
on time. Well apparently I'm forty seconds late.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
You're right, well, you are black. Now. You know one
thing they've been saying, a lot of your press hits
get criticized. You know, folks that you come off as
a very scripted. They say you like to stick to
your talking points, and some media says you have.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
That would be called disciplined.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Ooh, okay, okay. Some people say you have an inability
to fearlessly say who you are and what you believe.
I know that's not true, But what do you say
to that criticism? And is it fair for s and
now to make fun of it?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Hasn't Maya Rudolph been wonderful? Yes, I think I have
nothing but admiration for the comedy, and I think it's
important to be able to laugh at yourself and each
other in the spirit of obviously comedy, and not belittling
people as my opponent would do.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
But what do you say to people who say you
stay on the talking points?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I would say you're welcome. I mean, listen, here's the thing.
I love having conversations, which is why I'm so happy
to be with you this afternoon. And the reality is
that there are certain things that must be repeated to
ensure that I have everyone know what I stand for
and the issues that I think are at stake in
this election, and so it requires repetition. You know, some
(01:50):
people say that until someone has heard the same thing
at least three times, it just doesn't stay with you.
So repetition is important. And for that reason, Yes, at
my rallies, I say the same thing when I go
to Detroit, as I do in Philly, as I do
wherever I am. To make sure that people here and
receive what I think are some of the most critical
(02:11):
issues that are at taking the selection.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
There has to be a high level of anxiety too
when you have these conversations, though, because you are running
for president.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I mean, you know what, there is certainly a lot
of I feel the weight of the moment and my role.
I feel an extraordinary weight of responsibility right now to
do everything I can. I'm telling you, Charlemagne, when I
go to bed at night, I I almost every night,
(02:40):
in addition to my prayers, will ask have I done
everything I could do?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Today?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
This is a margin of era race. It's tight. I'm
going to win. I'm going to win, but it's tight,
and you know, what is at stake is truly profound
in historics, many would say, and it's about you know,
some people would say this lofty notion of supporting and
(03:09):
preserving our democracy, but it is about real issues that
affect people every day, like whether we're going to maintain
a thirty five dollars cap on insulin for our seniors,
whether we're going to continue to allow Medicare to negotiate
drug prices to bring them down, whether we are going
to have as my opponent would have a formalized stop
(03:29):
and frisk policy, for which he has said if a
police department does not do it, they should be defunded
or not. There is so much at stake, whether America
is going to stand on its principles around the importance
of sovereignty and territorial integrity and stand with our allies
around the world, or whether we're going to admire dictators
and send during the height of COVID in the pandemic,
(03:52):
COVID tests that nobody could get to the President of
Russia for his personal use, when black people were dying
every day by the hundreds during that time.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, I feel like that one has gone over people's head,
the fact that he was sending COVID test to putin.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I mean, you know, I invite, I don't your listeners,
the people we know the number of people who lost
their grandparents and parents, remember what that was like during
the height of COVID and a lot of it. People
were scrambling for the resources and needed tests. And Donald
Trump during that time secretly sent COVID tests to the
(04:30):
President of Russia, who, by the way, do not forget
in the twenty sixteen election, because I was a member
of the Senate Intelligence Committee when we investigated it targeted
black voters in twenty sixteen with missing disinformation to discourage
black people from voting in that election. And this is
(04:53):
just another of the very many examples of who Donald
Trump really is and the danger he presents. Yeah, real people.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Sending COVID test to Russia. That doesn't sound very America
first at all. But it's not just you versus Trump,
is U versus misinformation. Yes, that's true, right, And one
of the biggest pieces of misinformation. One of the biggest
allegations against you is that you targeted and locked up
thousands of black men in San Francisco for weed. Some
say you did it to bus your careers, some say
you did it out of pure hate for black men.
(05:21):
Please tell us the facts. What's the facts of that situation.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
It's just simply not true. And what public defenders who
are around those days will tell you. I was the
most progressive prosecutor in California on marijuana cases and would
not send people to jail for simple possession of weed.
And as Vice President, have been a champion for bringing
marijuana down on the schedule so instead of it being
(05:46):
ranked up there with heroin. We bring it down, and
my pledge is, as president, I will work on decriminalizing
it because I know exactly how those laws have been
used to disproportionately impact certain populations and specifically black men.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Before we get into the talk back feature and take
some questions from the audience, I do want to talk
to you about the legalization the weed, because you're saying
you want to legalize it. Now, what steps did the
Biden administration take to get closer to that reality?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So we had to work with the DA and it's
there's a certain level of bureaucracy that exists in the
federal government that slows things down. But essentially to bring
down how weed's classified, how marijuana is classified, to make
it classified as a lesser harm and so that took
(06:37):
some time. There's a whole process around that. But that's
the work that we have done, in addition to work
that we have done writ large on criminal justice reform.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Okay, let's take some calls. Let's take some when I call,
let's go to the talkback feature.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
My question for Kamala is why are we and I
say we because my tax dollars is sending the money.
Why are we sending money to other countries when we
desperately need in our own country for homeless housing resources
for whatever. That is my determining factor if I vote
(07:14):
were COMMA or not.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
That's one of the reasons the America for US rhetoric
resonates because nobody in America would complain about where money
was going if American citizens every day needs were being met.
So what do you say to.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
That we can do it all? And we do so.
First of all, I maintained very strongly America should never
pull ourselves away from our responsibility as a world leader,
and that is in the best interest of our national
security in each one of us as Americans, and our
(07:45):
standing in the world. That being said, we also have
an obligation to American citizens obviously and people who are
here to meet their everyday needs and challenges, which is why,
for example, we have done the work in the last
four years of bringing down the cost of prescription medication,
whether it be thirty five dollars a month for seniors
(08:06):
for insulin or two thousand dollars a year cap on
prescription medication. What we have done that has been about
putting seventeen billion dollars in our HBCUs. I am proud
to be the first HBCU Vice President of the United States.
I intend to be the first HBCU President of the
United States. Those resources are about sending them to centers
(08:27):
of academic excellence that I know them to be. The
work that I continue to do is about increasing access
to capital for our small businesses. It is about increasing
the opportunity for home ownership. Knowing that Black people are
forty percent less likely to be homeowners in America. We
have a history of legal and procedural obstacles to that
(08:49):
home ownership, starting with the fact nobody got forty acres
in a mule, to redlining, to issues that this Detroit
area and people around the country know to be real.
So part of my plan is that we're going to
give people a twenty five thousand dollars down payment assistance
to get their foot in the door to buy a
home for first time home buyers. The work that I'm
going to do to increase housing supply in America, knowing
(09:12):
that that's one of the reasons that rents and housing
prices are jacked up, and to work with the private sector,
cut through the red tape and work to build more
housing three million before the end of my first term.
And I give these examples, and there are many more
which I will offer. So, for example, the work that
I will do to extend the child tax credit to
six thousand dollars for young families during the first year
(09:34):
of their child's life. Because, as you and I both know,
our families all have a natural desire to parent their
children well, but not always the resources. So by expanding
the child tax credit to the first year of child's
life to six thousand dollars, that gives that young family
the ability to buy a car seat, or a crib
or clothes, the things that are so important during that
(09:55):
critical phase of that child's development, so that they can
get on the road and add actually have a chance
at succeeding.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
You know, you said we can do it all, but
can we because you know Tupac famously said, you know,
we got money for war, but can't feed the poor, right,
And I saw President Obama say last week that you know,
you really shouldn't expect, you know, a president to rid
the world of all of its problems. So is it
fair to tell people, hey, we can do it all,
Because that's when people get disappointed when things don't happen.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
But I think President Obama is absolutely correct. But it
doesn't mean we can't do anything that's right. So when
I talk about extending the child tax credit, as when
I was Vice president, I pushed that we would do
it during our first year, and we reduced child black
child poverty in America by fifty percent. We did that.
We can do that. My plan that is about building
(10:47):
up home ownership in the black community, we can do that.
My work that has been about increasing access to capital,
bringing billions more dollars into our community banks, which I've
done as Vice president through cooperation and partnership with some
of the big banks and tech companies to get more
access to capital for our entrepreneurs, for our businesses. We've
done that. So we should never sit back and say, Okay,
(11:10):
I'm not going to vote because everything hasn't been solved.
I share a desire that everything should be solved by
the way I think it is what we should all want,
but that that shouldn't stand in the way of us.
Also known we can participate in a process that's about
improving things. And by voting in this election, you have
(11:32):
two choices, or you don't vote, but you have two
choices if you do. And it's two very different visions
for our nation. One mind that is about taking us
forward and progress and investing the American people, investing in
their ambitions, dealing with their challenges. And the other Donald Trump,
is about taking us backward.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
The other is about fascism.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Why can't we just say it, yes, we can't say that.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
A Reverend Solomon can Locke Jr. I want you to
meet him. He is the senior pastor of Triumph Church.
Speaker 5 (12:04):
Luck.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Oh, he's here on tell secret service, move out the way.
It's okay, it's just the reverend. All right, what's up? Reverend?
Speaker 6 (12:11):
Madam Vice President Charlemagne, thank y'all for being in Detroit tonight.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
Recently, a Madam Vice President by one of Trump's surrogates
from the black faith based community, you've been criticized by
him and others for your lack of engagement to the
Black church. Knowing that the black church is an unrivaled
place in the heart of black people.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
What could you speak to.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
As it relates to a future a Harris administration, how
you would partner with the Black church to address some
of the urgent needs of the black community. Doctor King
talked about a fierce urgency of right now and as
a church, Triumph Church is in that place.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
So first of all, that allegation, of course, is coming
from the Trump team because they are full of missing disinformation,
because they are trying to disconnect me from the people
I have worked with and that I am from, so
that they can try and have some advantage in this election,
because otherwise they have nothing to run on. I grew
(13:15):
up in the black church I grew up. I grew
up attending twenty third Avenue Church of God in Oakland, California.
Yes church, Yes, that is church. My pastor is Amos C. Brown,
a third Baptist church in San Francisco, California. Yes, I
have throughout my career and as vice president and recently
(13:37):
been actively engaged in the church and church leaders, not
only so we can share in fellowship, but so we
can share in what we can do together. That is
about supporting the community, the strength of the community, the
cohesion of the community, and it is my long standing
work and therefore my pledge going forward, I will always
(14:00):
closely with the church because I understand who our church
leaders are and who the congregation is we are talking
about people who are driven by faith and the ability
to see what is possible by faith. Where I was
raised and I know many of us were understanding that
our God is a loving God, that our faith propels
(14:22):
us to act in a way that is about kindness
and justice and mercy, that is about lifting one another up.
And let's talk about the contrast here. Donald Trump and
his followers spend full time trying to suggest that the
measure of the strength of a leader is based on
who you beat down, which is absolutely contrary to the church.
(14:43):
I know.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
He sells bibles though, where our.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Church and my church is about saying true leadership, the
measure of that is based on who you lift up
and right, and then he's selling sixty dollars bibles or
tennis shoes as and and trying to play people as
though that makes him more understanding of the black community.
(15:06):
Come on good every day, all the time.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
There you go to make sure you get that right. Now.
Have you seen the clip, Madam Vice President from the Grill.
It's it's a clip that's kind of out of context
and it says that you won't do anything specifically for
black people. Have you seen that I've not seen that.
It's a clip that has you saying that you're not
going to do anything specifically for black people.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Well, that's just not true. And listen again, you said
it at the beginning of this visit Charlemagne. One of
the biggest challenges that I face is missing disinformation, and
it's purposeful because it is meant to convince people that
they somehow should not believe that the work that I
(15:56):
have done has has occurred and has meaning. My work
from the beginning of my career through today has been about,
for example, we've talked about it, whether it be on HBCUs,
whether it be on healthcare, black maternal mortality. I am, singularly,
many would say, one of the highest level leaders in
(16:16):
our country to bring the issue black maternal mortality to
the stage of the White House to address it. The
work that I've done that has been about focusing on
my knowledge and my experience in my life, experience of
knowing the entrepreneurship that we have in the community, the ambition,
the aspirations, the dreams, and then tapping into that so
(16:38):
that not only has my work been about ensuring that
we have some of the lowest black unemployment ever in
our country. But that also knowing that that should be
a baseline, that everybody has a job, and what we
should be invested in is also building wealth in the
community and intergenerational wealth. And I have many, many examples
of that. But again, part of the challenge that I
(17:01):
face is that they are trying to scare people away
because they know they otherwise have nothing to run on.
Ask Donald Trump what his plan is for Black America.
Ask him what you know. I'll tell you what it is.
Look at Project twenty twenty five. Project twenty twenty five
(17:22):
tells you The plan includes making police departments have stopping
frisk policies. The plan includes making it more difficult for
workers to receive overtime pay. The plan includes ending the
ability of Medicare to negotiate drug prices. You know what
we have done, he said he would. We did, which
(17:42):
means that that's how we brought down the cost of
prescription medication. His plan includes making it more difficult for
working people to get by and to destroy our democracy.
You know what he says he'll do, terminate the Constitution
in the United States. Let me remind folks, you know
what's in the Constitution of United States, the Fourth Amendment,
(18:05):
which protects you against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Fifth Amendment,
the Sixth Amendment, the fourteenth Amendment, and he's going to
terminate the Constitution of the United States, which in most
of those amendments, one thing or another was about a
movement spurred by black people to ensure that we would
be equally protected under the law.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Come on, let's take a question from talking about HI.
Speaker 7 (18:27):
My name is Joshua Fisher, aged thirty one years old,
African American male from Las Vegas, Nevada. I'd like to
ask Madam Vice President what laws does she have planned
to make sure that there's a stop to police brutality
and murders that have been going on viciously.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
So again, the work that I have done through my
career and the most recently, even when I was in
the United States Senate to help write the George Floyd
Justice and Policing Act, Cory Booker and I work very
closely on that.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Could you tell people why that didn't pass? To get
folks a quick civic.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Plus, we couldn't get the votes in Congress. There's a
clip somewhere of me fighting with a Republican Center senator
to actually write to actually get it passed. We couldn't
get it passed. But what we did when we came
in office and during the time that I've been Vice president,
(19:21):
is we passed an executive order. So whereas we were
trying and I have been trying to make these things
national so that everyone would have to do it, an
executive order by the President in our administration says that
for federal law enforcement, the following things have to happen,
which we for the first time put in place no
knock warrants, barring chokeholds, a national database. Now it's for
(19:43):
federal law enforcement, but a national database for us to
collect information and track police officers who have broken the law.
And this is no small issue, this piece in addition
everything else, because as we know, we've seen plenty of
examples of a police officer who committed misconduct and one
jurisdiction and then goes to another jurisdiction and gets hired
(20:05):
because there's no place that's tracking their misconduct. So these
are the sum of the things that we've done. And
then listen, I'm still going to always work on getting
the Judge George Floyd Justice and Policing Act.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
PACK.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Part of the work that I'm doing as a candidate
for President of the United States includes lifting up those
candidates who are running either for reelection or for the
first time to Congress, who are supportive of what we
need to do on all of the issues we've been discussing,
whether it be freedom to vote in passing the John
Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, whether it be freedom to
(20:39):
make decisions about your own body, whether it be the
freedom to just be and be free from any brutality,
including police brutality when and where it occurs.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I think a lot of the frustration comes from people
who will say, sometimes politicians volunteer lives because you know, yes,
it's great to try to pass the George Floyd Policing Act,
but you probably know you can't get the vote. So
why push that? Why push that on people?
Speaker 3 (21:03):
I don't I don't subscribe to that approach, And I'm
going to tell you why. Look, it took a long
time for the Voting Rights Act to get done. It
took you know, it took the brutality of of of
what happened when when John Lewis and all those were
trying to cross the Edmund Pettis Bridge. It took it
(21:24):
took a lot of work over our history to do
what we have accomplished thus far, and we have to
remain committed.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
How do you convince Republican centers, as you just said, but.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
But well, part of it is that their constituents are
part of this. I mean, we have plenty of folks
who want this, who live in districts where they serve.
And this is the point. This gets back to the
earlier point about you can't let anybody take you out
of the game by not voting. You got the solutions,
(21:57):
And maybe this is the point you're making about what
President Obama's The solutions are not going to happen just overnight,
and the solutions that we all want are not going
to happen in totality because of one election. But here's
the thing. The things that we want and are prepared
to fight for won't happen if we're not active, and
if we don't participate, we cannot allow circumstances to take
(22:21):
us out the game. Because then basically what we're saying
is all those people who are obstructionists who are standing
in the way of change. They're winning because they're convincing
people that it can't be done. So take yourself out,
don't participate. Look at that circle, look at that vicious
circle then, so let's not fall for it.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Zeke. This is my man, is Zeke. He's the president
and CEO of New Era Detroit. He wants to talk
to you about your blackmail agenda for the black community,
just your agenda for the black community period. Zeke, what's up? Brother?
What up?
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Do?
Speaker 2 (22:57):
What up do?
Speaker 8 (22:59):
Madam Vice Prayerident Charlotte Magne the God what up? Don't
Welcome to Detroit. I like to say the real Detroit
because I'm up in here. My name is Zeke Newer,
founder and CEO. I've worked on the ground here in
Detroit and the black communities all across the country for
(23:19):
over the past ten years. Actually celebrating our tenth year
this past August. In my ten years of organizing, we
played a major role in the resurgence of pride and
the change of mindset in Detroit neighborhoods across the city.
We are not only known for the work that we
do here in Detroit, but across the country and black communities.
(23:41):
I'm having worked in over thirty five cities of the
blackest cities in America. I'm saying all that to say
I'm extremely qualified to sit in front of the current
vice president and which can be the next president of
the United States of America. As I opposed my question
to you, I would first like to make it known
that I don't have any emotional connections to politicians. I
(24:04):
believe that this is one of our biggest flaws in
the current political process. I view politics as a business,
and America is one of the biggest corporations in the world.
With that being said, I'm here on behalf of the
business of the black community. With all that Black Americans
have been through and contribute to the success of America,
(24:25):
I feel that there should be an in depth investigation
or evaluation of the lack of resources and current living
conditions in black communities nationwide. My caution to you is
what's your stance on reparations. We all know that America
became great, you know, off the backs of free black labor.
(24:48):
How progressive are you on making it a priority and
right in America's wrongs. It's understood that you are running
for president for all people of America, asking for specifics
for black communities, doesn't mean don't do for others. But
Black Americans are heavily asked to vote Democrat in every
(25:09):
election for over half a century, with very little in return.
What are your plans to address these very important issues
and change that narrative?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Make you, Zeke?
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I appreciate that, thank you, and thank you for your work.
So to your point, yes, I am running to be
a president for all Americans. That being said, I do
have clear eyes about the disparities that exist and the
context in which they exist, meaning history. To your point,
(25:42):
so my agenda, well, first of all, on the point
of reparations, it has to be studied, There's no question
about that, and I've been very clear about that position.
In terms of my immediate plan, I will tell you
a few of the following one as it relates to
the economy, which is a lot of what you have addressed. Look,
I grew up in the middle class. My mother, you know,
(26:05):
worked hard, raised me and my sister, and by the
time I was in high school, she was able to
afford our first home. I know what it means for
an individual and a family to have home ownership. I
also know in the context of history. Nobody got forty
acres and a mule. We have a history of a
number of things, including redlining. Detroit knows it well, a
(26:27):
history of, for example, something that still exists that I've
worked on to address, which is racial bias and home appraisals.
And we know home ownership is Black families are forty
percent less likely to be homeowners than others, and that
home ownership is one of the surest ways to build
intergenerational wealth. Right because when you own a home, that's
(26:48):
when if your child says, Daddy, I want to go
to college, you can say, sweetheart, don't have to take
out a loan. I'll take some equity out of the house.
Or if your child says I want to start a
same a small business, same point. Right. So my includes
making sure that for first time home buyers they have
a twenty five thousand dollars down payment assistance to just
(27:08):
get their foot in the door, because we know folks
will work hard, they'll save and pay that monthly mortgage.
Second point is to bring down the cost of housing generally,
because one of the issues is we have a housing
supply shortage, and so that's about working with the private
section in terms of our small businesses, which are part
of the backbone of the economy of the Black community
(27:30):
and part of the backbone of America's economy. Writ large.
My second mother, woman who helped raise us, was a
small business owner. I know who our small business owners are,
and I have convened black small business owners way before
I was running for president in my official office at
the White House, to talk with young entrepreneurs, mostly young
(27:50):
about the work that they are doing that is about
clean energy, work, technology, as well as the traditional you know,
whether it be a barbershop or arrest. One of the
big issues facing black entrepreneurs and black small businesses is
access to capital. Because unlike my opponent who got handed
four hundred million dollars on a silver platter and then
(28:11):
file bankruptcy six times, don't forget that calls himself a businessman,
not everybody has access to the capital they But we
know in the community we do not lack for ambition, aspirations, dreams,
hard work, ethic and so my work has been as
vice president to increase billions of dollars into community banks,
(28:33):
and as vice president, part of that work will also
be to change the tax deduction for startup small businesses
from five thousand dollars to fifty thousand dollars because nobody
can start a small business on five thousand dollars, and
if you don't otherwise have intergenerational wealth, how are you
going to be able to do it? Second point on
small business is this I'm going to do. Basically, it's
(28:56):
a program that is about a twenty thousand dollars unrefundable
loan to a certain to basically businesses that don't have
access to wealth and don't have those relationships, which is
going to directly impact a lot of small, black owned
small businesses. That twenty thousand dollars non refundable loan is
(29:18):
what would help somebody if they need to buy equipment,
right if they need to buy an extra chalk, depending
on what that business is, which we know that's a
big part of what holds back our small businesses, just
having enough capital to actually pay for the things that
allow you to then put your hard work into play
to actually grow your business. The other piece, and this
(29:38):
is something that is critically important, is to see black
folks and in particular black men, as a whole human
being and understand that we are talking about sons. We
are talking about fathers, we are talking about grandsons, we're
talking about grandparents, we're talking about uncles. And so I
say that as a preface to say to other things,
(30:00):
and then I'll keep going one to deal with. I
mean you like that, you got that. To deal with
health care for black people and black men in particular,
we know that we still have a lot of work
to do to increase, for example, the high risks that
we have for calling cancer for prostate cancer right, and
(30:25):
to increase screenings and to make sure that people are
actually going to get the screenings, not to mention the
higher risk for sickle cell. So part of my agenda
is about what we will do to deal with and
highlight what we've got to do to focus on black
men's health. And then a similar point is this of
(30:47):
caregivers are men, and we know culturally we take care
of our elders, and we have a lot of men
in the community who are in the Sandwich generation who
are trying to take care of their young kink kids
and take care of an elder parent or relative. And
it's overwhelming for people to be able to do both,
and a lot of people have to end up thinking
(31:08):
about leaving their job to just do it. So my
plan is this one. In order for people to then
afford assistance for hiring health care home health care, they
basically have to go broke to be eligible for Medicaid.
My plan is this, let's have Medicare, and this is
(31:29):
I've mapped it out and we can make it work.
Medicare cover the cost of home health care for seniors,
which means that you are looking at individuals in the
context of their whole family. Because what we know is
again understanding culture, understanding the reality lots of people are
having to leave work in order to do that. So
(31:50):
these are some examples of my agenda, and overall, it
is an agenda that understands, by the way, because we've
talked already a lot about criminal justice, that the needs
of the black community are not just about criminal justice.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
We need that money.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
It's about yeah, because here's the thing. We have brought
down black unemployment. I said this earlier to the one
of the lowest levels in history. But I'm very clear
the community is not going to stand up in applaud
just because everybody has a job. That should be a baseline.
My agenda is about tapping into the ambitions and the aspirations,
(32:25):
knowing that folks want to have an opportunity. If they want,
they should have a meaningful opportunity to build wealth, including
intergenerational wealth, and that's my agenda.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
You know a couple of things that you said, appreciate you,
thank you, thank you. Think there were a couple of
things that you said that people would say, we're talking points,
but it's really just your story, even though they are
becoming your greatest hits when you talk about the middle
class and your godmother being a small business owner. But
that's just your story.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
It's my story. Look, I've been in this race seventy days.
Some people are just getting to know me. Other people
have known me, and I owe it. Listen. I feel
very strongly I need to earn every vote, which is
why I'm here having this candid conversation with you and
your listeners. I have to earn people's support and I
am working to do that.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Before we go to another talk back call, I want
to say they were the time I had a politician
tell me once that if you're running for a national election,
it's bad electoral strategy to say you are going to
do things specifically for black people, which is why a
lot of politicians don't speak directly to their plans for
black people. Is that a thing?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
I don't know that that's true. I think that what
is true is that I am running to be a
president for everybody. But I am clear eight about the
history and the disparities that exist for specific communities, and
I'm not going to shy away from that. It doesn't
mean that my policies aren't going to benefit everybody, because
they are. Everything I just talked about will benefit everybody.
(33:55):
Small business owners, whatever their race, their age, their gender,
their geographic location, are going to benefit from the fact
that I'm going to extend tax deductions to fifty thousand dollars.
Every first time homeowner, wherever they are, whatever their race,
will benefit. If they are a first time home buyer
with a twenty five thousand dollars down payment of sixes.
Everyone is going to benefit from my plan to extend
(34:17):
the child tax credit to six thousand dollars for the
first year of their child's life. That's going to benefit everybody.
But I do realize again that on the issue of
home ownership, for example, black people are forty percent less
likely to own a home.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
So do you you know, do you feel like President
Obama stepped on your roll out because I know you've
been working on this blackmail agenda for a long time
and you've been doing the outreach, you know, which was
the Opportunity Economy tour and things like that. But then
he made the statements that he made last week. So
everybody thinks this is a reaction to that.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Oh no, no, no, no, I mean you just have
to no, obviously not. I've been doing this for quite
some time, including before I was running for president.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Let's go to talk about Geddy.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Hi.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
I'm Bobby from Georgia and I have a question for
Kabl Harris. Could you please respond to Trump's claim that
he's going to use the Alien Enemies Act of seventeen
ninety eight to round up immigrants if he wins the election.
This law was last used to put Asian Americans in
internment camps during World War Two, and I have a
(35:18):
sneaking suspicion that if Trump wins, He's going to use
this law to put anyone that doesn't look white in camps.
Speaker 9 (35:25):
And I'm scared.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Yeah, So you've hit on a really important point and
expressed it, I think so well, which is he is
achieving his intended effect to make you scared. He is
running full time on a campaign that is about instilling fear,
not about hope, not about optimism, not about the future,
(35:53):
but about fear. And so this is yet another example.
Look what he did and saying that those legal imgrants
in Springfield, Ohio were eating their pets. He and by
the way, the hypocrisy of it abounds because on the
issue of immigration, let's be clear, some of the most
(36:16):
conservative members of the United States Congress, working with others,
came up with a border security bill which was the
strongest toughest border security bill in a long long time.
It would have put fifteen hundred more border agents at
the border. It would have reduced the flow of fentanyl
into our country, which is killing people all over our
country of every race and background. It would have allowed
(36:38):
us to do more work on prosecuting transnational criminal organizations,
which I have done in my career. Trump got word
that that bill was afoot, knew it would fix a problem,
and told his buddies in Congress to kill the bill.
And you know why, because he would prefer to run
on a problem instead of fixing a problem, and he's
running his campaign in a way that he does these
rallies where people by the way, and does these rallies
(37:03):
to try and and still fear around an issue where
he actually could be part of a solution, but he
chose not to because he prefers to run on a
problem instead of fix a problem. And we've got to
call it out and see it for what it is.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
But doesn't the Biden administration have to take some blame
for the border though a lot of the blame, because
I mean, the first three years, y'all did get a
lot of things wrong with the border.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Charlemagne, within hours of being inaugurated, the first bill we passed,
before we did the Inflation Reduction Act, before we did
the bipart is An Infrastructure Act, before we did the
Safer Communities Act to deal with gun violence, first thing
we dropped was a bill to fix the broken immigration system,
(37:46):
which by the way, Trump did not fix when he
was president, and you can look at every step along
the way. We then tightened up the asylum application process.
We then worked with what we needed to do to
secure ports of entry. We did a number of things,
including what we did to try and get that border
(38:06):
security bill passed, and then also an executive order that
has actually reduced significantly the number of illegal crossings and
tightened up what needs to happen in between ports of entry.
But no, we've been working on it ever since. But
but here's here's here's what what has to happen. Congress
(38:28):
has to act to fix the immigration system, and it
has been broken for a long time. Congress has to act.
But it does not help. When finally a bipartisan group
got together to fix it and Donald Trump told them,
hold on, don't do that because it won't It won't
help me politically.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Why do you allow him to call you the borders
are when that's not even your.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
I'm not giving him permission for that, But.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
I mean, you don't push back on it because that
wasn't you. That's not that wasn't your role.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
With fact checkers have made that clear. Look, if I
responded to every name he called me, I wouldn't be
focused on the things that actually helped the American people.
And that's my focus.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
That is true. Before we go to talk about I
want to say something else. I don't feel like the
Biden administration has treated Trump like a real threat to democracy.
And that's why America doesn't realize how much of a
threat he is. It's one thing to say it, but
you have to act on it. Don't you believe Merrick
Garland should have moved faster to put Donald Trump in
prison for leading an attempt to cool his country.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
The Department Justice, it has independence in terms of how
they make those decisions, as they should. And let's also
be very clear, don no, well, no, Donald Trump has
been very clear that he would weaponize the Department of
Justice against his political lanemies. He has been very clear
that he would take out the independent folks who are
(39:48):
in there and put in there instead his loyalists. So
I understand again you talk about because this brings it
back to exactly your point about threats to our democracy.
Donald Donald Trump would go into the Department of Justice
and manipulate it in such a way that it would
be used as a weapon against his political enemies.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Yeah, he's gonna lock y'all up if he gets back
and over.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
Well, by the way he's gonna you should look at
his words. I don't think that you, as a journalist
should feel so so about the journalists judges others, And
you know who does that. Dictators do that, Other countries
do that, Which is say that you're gonna send as
he has the military to go and and suppress peaceful protesters.
(40:38):
That happens in other countries. That's not supposed to happen
in America. So do understand when this man says what
he says, how that would play out in real time?
Speaker 2 (40:49):
So why is it okay for him to say he'll
lock up his political opponents, but it's not okay for
y'all to say he should be in prison when he's
actually committed crimes.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
Oh, I have been very clear. I think that the
court should handle that, and I'm gonna handle November.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
The court should handle that. Okay, let's go to talkback, Eddie.
What'll we got.
Speaker 9 (41:12):
Our men and women in the military are sent to
foreign countries to fight for their freedom, win or lose.
Donald Trump has promised to seek revenge. My question is
will our military be there to fight for our freedom
after the election? Should Trump start another insurrection?
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Well, you raise a profound point that is very much
a part of this election cycle in terms of what
the American people have a choice right now. So January sixth,
Donald Trump incited a violent mob to try and undo
(41:55):
the will of the people and undo the results of
a free and fair election. That violent mom attacked the
United States Capital. Over one hundred and forty law enforcement
officers were injured, some of them were killed, and he
has said since then that there will be a bloodbath
after this election. He has, on your point about the military,
(42:18):
referred to members of our military as suckers and losers,
which is why, by the way, do see the number
of military leaders who worked under his administration who are
supporting me. And I will point out what everyone knows,
which is that the people who worked the closest with
(42:38):
Donald Trump when he was president, worked with him in
the oval office, saw him at play in the situation room.
His chief of staff, two secretaries of Defense, is national
security advisor, and his former vice president have all said
he is dangerous and unfit to serve. Mark Milly, the
former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, most recently
(43:00):
articulated exactly that point. And again, you know, here's Charlemagne.
One of the things that I think is really ironic,
but at play Donald Trump, through his his his way
of trying to name call and demean and divide, tries
(43:21):
to project as though those things are a sign of strength,
when in fact the man is really quite weak. He's weak.
It's a sign of weakness that you want to please
dictators and seek their flattery and favor. It's a sign
of weakness that you would demean America's military and America's
(43:42):
service members. It's a sign of weakness that you don't
have the courage to stand up for the Constitution of
the United States and the principles upon which it stands.
This man is weak and he is unfit.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
So why is everybody sitting around acting like Donald Trump
isn't going to a plan to steal this election if
you lose, like, you know, Republican officials won't certify the
results of the election. We know is Donald Trump Supreme Court?
Why are people acting like this is going to be
a free in fair election and he won't try to
steal it.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Well, but those are two different points, Okay, So it
will be a free and fair election if we the
American people stand up for that. You know, I see
it as this. I think that their democracy has its
like two points of nature. One, there's a fact about
a democracy that when it is intact, the strength that
(44:34):
it possesses in terms of the protection of people's individual
rights and liberties. When a democracy is intact, we protect
your rights and your liberties. Strength democracy is also very fragile.
It will only be as strong as our willingness we
the people to fight for it, and not as much
(44:55):
as anything is what's that plan in this election? Fight
for our democracy? Flawed though it is imperfect, though it
may be because there are very two real paths right now.
The man has told you he has to terminate the Constitution.
The man has told you all these things about his
(45:15):
disregard and disrespect for your freedoms and liberty, including the
right of a woman to make decisions about her own body.
And he hand selected three members of the United States
Supreme Court with the intention they would do exactly what
they did. One out of three women in America lives
in a state with the Trump abortion band. You know,
every state except Virginia in the South has an abortion band.
(45:36):
You know where the majority of black women live in
the South, in those same states that have some of
the highest rates of black maternal mortality. And they want
to strut around talking about this is in the interest
of women and children, and they've been silent on an
issue like black maternal mortality. But I know that people
are aware and clear eyed, and I do believe that
(46:01):
on election day and early voting in Michigan starts in
four days, people are going to go to the poems
and they're going to vote to stand up for these
principles and to stand up for their rights to freedom
and liberty and to live and just be free to be.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
I believe that I want to bring in my guy
Ice weear vessel. He's very politically engaged. I want to
ask you a question why he's coming in this quick question.
There's a room in that Janet Jackson is mad at
you because you prosecuted her brother, the late Great Michael Jackson.
That's that's on the internet. Cleared that up for people.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
That's just not true on either account. She's I mean,
I don't know, I don't know. I have not talked
to her, but it's certainly it's not true about her brother,
that's all.
Speaker 10 (46:48):
Charlotte Manne, what's up, madam Vice President? How are you
doing today? As with Sandy Troit?
Speaker 6 (46:53):
What up?
Speaker 11 (46:53):
Though?
Speaker 10 (46:54):
So yesterday I read that there's a new opportunity agenda
a plan for Black men, which includes a proposal of
forgivable loans up to twenty thousand dollars for one million
black entrepreneurs. What would you say to the people that
will consider the timing of this proposal as political timing,
And how would you speak to the sentiment that support
(47:16):
for black men is only sought out during election cycles
and feels that building trust requires consistent engagement and genuine
investment into the community outside of election periods and political
benefits for politicians, and may view that some people in
the Democrat Party use Black Americans to play identity politics.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
So, first of all, thank you for your question for
being here. I've been in this race about seventy days.
You can look at all my work before those seventy
days to know this. What I'm talking about right now
is not new and is not for the sake of
winning this election. This is about a long standing commitment,
including the work that I've done as Vice president and
(48:00):
when I was Senator and before that. In fact, a
lot of what I'm doing that is about my economic
agenda and opportunity economy was born out of the work
I did as Vice president before that as Senator. More
most recently, to get access to capital for our entrepreneurs.
The work that I did in the Senate was about
(48:20):
getting a couple billion more dollars into our community banks,
and then building on that. When I became Vice President,
I created it. It's called the Economic Opportunity Council, bringing
in some of the biggest banks and technology companies to
put more into the community banks. And I'm going to
tell you one of the reasons why, because I have
been aware for years black entrepreneurs only get one percent
(48:42):
of venture capital funding. Of all the venture capital funding,
only one percent goes to black entrepreneurs. We don't have
the same rates of access to capital, be it through
family or through connections. Which is why I've done the
work of put billions more dollars and working to put
billions more dollars into community banks, which go right directly
(49:05):
to the community. My work around the twenty thousand dollars
is building on that and understanding that you know, I convened,
for example, I said this earlier a group of black entrepreneurs,
way before I was running for president, in my official
office at the White House, to hear some of the
obstacles that they were facing. And one of them was
(49:27):
what we need to do around getting folks the help
to just be able to buy the equipment they need
to run their business. And oftentime, we find that when
black entrepreneurs and black people apply for credit, they're denied
at a higher rate than others. We have also seen
(49:47):
and the data proves this that all of those the
realities also tend to dissuade black folks and black entrepreneurs
in particularly from even applying for credit. So my point
is to work on every way that we can approach
the issue to encourage people and to invest in their ambition,
(50:14):
because I know the ambition is there, I know the
talent is there, I know the innovation is there, and
certainly the hard work ethic. So this is not new
work for me.
Speaker 2 (50:25):
And just speak to the American Rescue Plan too, because
I mean tens of millions of dollars. I know small
businesses in North Carolina, that small black businesses that got
tens of million dollars because of that. You speak to that, that's.
Speaker 3 (50:35):
Right, and that was from the first time, from when
we first came in the American Rescue Plan, the work
that we have done, that the Infrastructure Bill, I mean
part of that is, we made a decision that we
were going to increase the number of federal contracts that
go to historically underrepresented businesses. This was way before I
(50:55):
was running with this years ago, so this is not
new work.
Speaker 2 (50:59):
Let's go to feature.
Speaker 11 (51:01):
On several occasions recently, John Lemon has stated that there's
a large group of black men who believed Donald Trump
sent them a personal check during COVID because his name
was on it versus it coming from the government as
a stimulus check. Can you provide some clarification on this.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
I'm so glad you raised that. So so here's what happened.
A majority Democratic Congress fought to get those stimulus checks out,
fought against resistance by the Trump administration, and one because
we had a majority of Democrats in Congress, and that's
(51:42):
why those checks went out. As we all know and
grew up learning, Congress holds the purse strings. It was
Congress that made that decision, and then Donald Trump, never
being one to pass up an opportunity to give himself
credit when no credit is due, put his name on
those checks, and sadly, it resulted in people thinking Donald
Trump was responsible for and directly responsible for putting money
(52:05):
in their pocket, when in fact it was a Democratic
majority Congress that was responsible for those checks going out.
Speaker 2 (52:13):
Why is it hard for Democrats to message their wins
on the economy? Like since World War Two, the economy
has done better under a Democrat president. This is just
a historical fact. But for some reason, the narrative is
that the economy does better under Republicans. Why do people
believe that and why don't Democrats push back on that
narrative more?
Speaker 3 (52:29):
Well, you know, we I think that part of the
issue is that Democrats probably talk about it more in
terms of what we are doing for people rather than
the economy, when in fact, when you do for people,
the economy grows. And you are absolutely right, Charlemagne, you
(52:51):
will look at the growth of the economy under in
compare democratic and Republican administrations, Democrats have been accelerated economic
growth my plan, for example. Okay, so some of the
smartest economists in the country have reviewed and compared my
plan to Donald Trump's plans for the economy, from Goldman
(53:13):
Sachs to Moody's to sixteen Nobel Laureates and even most
recently the Wall Street Journal, and in comparing our two plans.
The net result is my plans will strengthen the economy.
His plans will weaken the economy. Their reports come back
and include the fact that Donald Trump's plans for the
economy would accelerate inflation and invite a recession by the
(53:35):
middle of next year. My plans would strengthen the economy
as a whole. You look at under what we've been doing.
You look at the stock market is one of the
strongest it's ever been, Wages of outpaced inflation. Inflation is
going down to I think it's now the most recent
numbers two point four percent. So but those you know,
nobody wants to hear an econ one on one lecture, right,
(53:57):
But the reality of it, to your point is that
under democratic rule, the economy gets strengthened. And certainly when
you look at my plan for my presidency, it will
strengthen the economy and it will help people. And as
per the conversation we've been having today, perhaps the issue
(54:19):
is that I'm gonna always think about it in the
context of how am I helping working people? How am
I helping families? How am I helping people in the
middle class, How am I helping people who have been
without access having access. That's how I talk about it.
But my plan is about strengthening the economy. And I
know when you strengthen the economy, that's how you do it.
(54:40):
You do it by investing in the middle class. Let
me tell you the contrast. Donald Trump thinks about the
economy based on what he has done and will do.
Cutting taxes for billionaires in the biggest corporations. That's how
he thinks about the economy. He thinks about the economy,
not about middle class people trying to not just get
by but get ahead. No, he wants to to stop
(55:01):
Medicare from being able to negotiate drug prices down from
the big pharmaceutical companies.
Speaker 2 (55:06):
We got a couple more questions. I want to get more,
man Eric Thompson here, because we only got like a
few more minutes. But I do want to say President
Obama was out there last week waving his finger at
black men. When are Liz Cheney and Hillary Clinton going
waveday finger at white women? Went up, Bill Clinton and
Joe Biden going wave their finger at white men. Because
fifty two percent of white women voted for Trump in
twenty sixteen, fifty five percent voted for Trump in twenty twenty.
(55:28):
They all voted against their own interests when their finger
waving gonna start at them.
Speaker 3 (55:34):
Well, thank you for highlighting that I do have the
support of over two hundred Republicans who worked for various administrations,
including everyone going back to Ronald Reagan to the Bushes,
to John McCain and Mitt Romney, and including Liz Channing.
I'm very proud to have her support. And I believe
(55:54):
that they who many of them who may have voted
for Trump before, are supporting me because, as they know,
the stakes are so high in terms of our very
democracy and rule of law, and.
Speaker 2 (56:07):
So the finger wagon should start today a tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (56:10):
Well, I think what is happening is that we are
all working on reminding people of what is at stake,
and that is very important.
Speaker 2 (56:20):
Eric, real quick. We only got a few minutes, only.
Speaker 12 (56:23):
Got a few minutes. Thank you, Madame Vice President for
having me. Thank you, Charlotte and the god h So.
As an employee of a mission driven nonprofit bank, I
appreciate the efforts in that bank I work with investor Trade,
but as chief storyteller to City Detroit, I spent a
lot of time dispelling information about the city of Detroit.
And so I'm sure for those of us who are
like me, if Donald Trump doesn't like the trade so much,
(56:44):
he's not welcome back now.
Speaker 3 (56:47):
But okay, I don't want to interrupt. I don't know
what you're talking about. Okay, go on, but you.
Speaker 2 (56:53):
Can get into it.
Speaker 12 (56:54):
I just wanted to say that we know that there's
been a lot of conversation about growing the middle class,
but black men have been taking out of workforce for
a myriad of systemic reasons, from mass in corporation to
racial bias, fear mongering. We know that black men are
not criminals, they are criminalized, and that has taken black
men out of the home, has taken wealth out of
the home. And so because especially in the city with
such high poverty, I've heard a lot about middle class,
(57:16):
but I would love to hear more about stare stepping
from poverty into middle class so they can take advantage
of the opportunities and the policies you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (57:24):
That's right, and that's real. So, for example, the child
tax credit, when we did it when I first became
Vice president, we cut black child poverty by half. And
you know, when you deal with poverty for a child.
That's about the whole family. Right. When you look at
(57:46):
the work that we have done that has been about
dealing with prescription medication for our seniors, Black people are
sixty percent more likely to get diagnosed with diabetes and
have And when you look at what people are in
terms of on the or to bankruptcy because of medical
bills and medical debt, that's very real. So us capping
(58:06):
the cost of something like insulin and prescription medication, not
to mention the work that I've been doing to ensure
that medical debt does not get included on your credit score.
Because medical debt comes about because of a medical emergency,
nobody invites it upon themselves. And back to the point
about history and the reality of life. We also know
the real disparities around access to meaningful health care, which
(58:29):
are more likely to result in people facing chronic illness
and in medical emergency. So my work has been and
included working to get medical debt not beyond your credit
score so that that thing you did not invite upon
yourself would not be the reason that you can't get
a lease on an apartment or anything else. We have
(58:50):
to deal with child poverty. We have to deal with poverty, period,
and there are many specific ways to do it, including
dealing with getting resources into the community that alleviate the
burdens that hold people down. But back to Detroit, can
so can you imagine you go to a city and
(59:11):
you say you want the votes of those people, and
then you disparage the city. And that's what he did
in Detroit. And he has a tendency to mention cities
that either have a historically black majority population or a
black mayor.
Speaker 2 (59:24):
That's right, and that's what he did. He only did
that to Detroit because Detroit is seventy eight percent black
and he doesn't want America to look like that. Madam
Vice President. Thank you. We gotta do this again.
Speaker 3 (59:33):
We're done.
Speaker 2 (59:34):
We only according to iHeart. I just want to keep going.
I got more questions for you, but thank you.
Speaker 3 (59:40):
I appreciate you man, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (59:44):
This has been Iheartradios. We the people in audio town
hall with Vice President Kamala Harris. Remember your voice matters,
stay informed, stay engaged, and most importantly, make sure to vote.
Thank you for joining us and
Hosts And Creators
Matt Barnes
Stephen Jackson
Popular Podcasts
Good Game with Sarah Spain
Good Game is your one-stop shop for the biggest stories in women’s sports. Every day, host Sarah Spain gives you the stories, stakes, stars and stats to keep up with your favorite women’s teams, leagues and athletes. Through thoughtful insight, witty banter, and an all around good time, Sarah and friends break down the latest news, talk about the games you can’t miss, and debate the issues of the day. Don’t miss interviews with the people of the moment, whether they be athletes, coaches, reporters, or celebrity fans.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Crime Junkie
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.