Vice President Kamala Harris brings ‘Fight for Freedoms’ college tour to Florida. Focus is ‘key issues’ affecting young people

MIAMI — Vice President Kamala Harris arrived at Florida International University Thursday afternoon, the sixth stop on her monthlong “Fight for our Freedoms” college tour and her first stop in Florida.

The conversation with students began about 3 p.m., moderated by rapper and Miami resident Fat Joe and actor and singer Anthony Ramos.

“Today we’re gonna have some real talk,” Harris said as she addressed the crowd ahead of the conversation. “I’m clear-eyed that at this moment in our country we are witnessing an intentional, full-on attack against hard-earned freedoms and rights. It is incumbent on us, then, to not just stand by and let it happen.”

The Fight for our Freedoms tour focuses on “key issues that disproportionately impact young people across America,” according to a release from the Office of the Vice President.

Harris’ stops include HBCUs, community colleges, apprenticeship programs, and Hispanic-serving Institutions like FIU, one of the nation’s largest.

The tour touches on issues “from reproductive freedom and gun safety to climate action, voting rights, LGBTQ+ equality, mental health, and book bans,” a release about the event says, many issues to which Florida residents are particularly sensitive.

Students asked Harris prepared questions Thursday about many of those issues, including abortion, gun violence, increasingly destructive storms and the state’s efforts to control the education system. Throughout, she told them to vote.

One student, Christopher Excellent, asked what advice she might have for students “looking to learn raw uncensored truths” in the wake of efforts by the state to influence education.

Harris responded by encouraging students who feel like they don’t belong in positions of power, or who feel like their vote doesn’t count, to ignore those thoughts.

At the same time, she also acknowledged that voting rights are not a given.

“It’s not as simple as vote and your vote will matter,” Harris said. “You’ve also got to know that there are people right now who are intentionally trying to make it difficult for you to vote.”

The FIU Ocean Convocation Center, which seats 5,000, was full Thursday afternoon. Many students had formed a line down the block outside of the arena as early as 11:30 a.m.

Kelly Sanchez, 19, said she wanted to ask Harris about “the future of Florida.” Affordable housing and new laws affecting LGBT residents have made her wonder if she can stay.

“I want to know what she thinks,” Sanchez said. “If it’s going to be a livable state.”

Sanchez stood next to Ajmaanie Andre, also 19. Andre said that she hoped Harris would discuss issues surrounding race and the backlash against “critical race theory” in schools, such as a new Florida curriculum that teaches students that enslaved people “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

“When you change history, it warps people’s perceptions,” Andre said.

Harris has been one of the most vocal critics of the slavery teachings, even rejecting an invitation from DeSantis to debate it in August.

Though most students arrived to see Harris speak, a few students from the college’s chapter of the pro-life organization For Life FIU arrived to protest with signs.

Mary Logan, who covers Florida for Students for Life but is not a student herself, described Harris’ abortion track record as “extreme” and said that the group was there to “hopefully get young people to talk about such a controversial issue.”

Mindy Aguirre, the advocacy chair for the National Council of Jewish Women, eyed the group from her place in line.

Wearing a shirt reading “abortion bans are against my religion,” she said she hopes Harris will inspire students “to act, to get involved, and feel empowered.”

“There’s so much that’s happening right now in our country and specifically in our state,” Aguirre added. “It’s important to be aware and to act.”

The vice president’s previous tour stops included Hampton University, North Carolina A&T State University, Reading Area Community College, and IBEW Local 743. On Tuesday, she spoke to students from four HBCUs in Atlanta, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, and Morris Brown College.

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