ICYMI: The South Florida Sun Sentinel: "Kamala Harris inspires South Florida students, encourages them to vote"

"The conversation in front of about 5,000 at the FIU Ocean Convocation Center touched on issues ranging from gun violence to climate change to reproductive rights"

Yesterday, Vice President Kamala Harris continued her nationwide Fight for Our Freedoms College Tour with a return to Florida for a moderated conversation "in front of about 5,000 at the FIU Ocean Convocation Center." She "touched on issues ranging from gun violence to climate change to reproductive rights – and the vice president's constant theme during the 45-minute presentation: Vote. Votes matter."

The Sun Sentinel was on the ground at Florida International University in Miami where "the FIU arena was full" and "many students had formed a line down the block outside the arena." Here's what else they reported:

"Her Miami visit, the sixth in the tour and the first in Florida, was moderated by rapper and Miami resident Fat Joe and actor and singer Anthony Ramos. Harris' stops include HBCUs, community colleges, apprenticeship programs, and Hispanic-serving Institutions like FIU, one of the nation's largest."

Read the full article below:

The South Florida Sun Sentinel: 'FULL-ON ATTACK AGAINST FREEDOMS': KAMALA HARRIS INSPIRES SOUTH FLORIDA STUDENTS, ENCOURAGES THEM TO VOTE

Vice President Kamala Harris brought a very direct message to students with her "Fight for our Freedoms" college tour stop at Florida International University on Thursday.

"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," she told the crowd. "It is incumbent on us, then, to not just stand by and let it happen."

The conversation in front of about 5,000 at the FIU Ocean Convocation Center touched on issues ranging from gun violence to climate change to reproductive rights. And the vice president's constant theme during the 45-minute presentation: Vote. Votes matter.

One student asked what strategies people from marginalized communities can employ to make sure they have voting rights. "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 conversation with students began about 3 p.m., moderated by rapper and Miami resident Fat Joe and actor and singer Anthony Ramos. 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. Her Miami visit, the sixth in the tour and the first in Florida, was moderated by rapper and Miami resident Fat Joe and actor and singer Anthony Ramos.

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," the release says, many issues to which Florida residents are particularly sensitive.

"I think your generation is one of the most spectacular, special that we have seen in a long time," Harris said Thursday. "You all were born only knowing the climate crisis. You all were born when there has been one of the worst pandemics the world has ever seen. In your lifetime, you witnessed George Floyd's murder. In your lifetime, growing up, you had to endure drills in elementary, middle or high school because there might be an active shooter."

She asked the members of the crowd to raise their hands if they had ever been through an active shooter drill in school. Nearly everyone did. "I can't tell you the kind of fear that our young people, our children, are living with," she said, describing the "exposure to trauma, knowing it might happen."

Florida has been home to several mass shootings, including the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and the June 12, 2016, Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando.

"I'm in favor of the second amendment but we need an assault weapons ban and universal background checks and red-flag laws," Harris said. "Assault weapons, designed to kill a lot of people quickly, there's no reason for them to be on the streets of a civil society. Background checks, because you know what, you just might want to know before somebody can buy a lethal weapon." "The question becomes, why hasn't it happened? There's a bunch of people in Congress who don't have the courage to step up," she said.

Students asked Harris prepared questions Thursday about many of her key issues, including abortion, increasingly destructive storms and the state's efforts to control the education system.

Her comments on abortion were particularly heartfelt. She described growing up with a friend who had been molested by her stepfather; that experience, Harris said, encouraged her to become a prosecutor and focus on crimes of violence against women.

"We're talking about someone who has suffered an act of violence to their body, violation of their body," she said. "And then they don't have authority to decide what happens to their body next. That's immoral." Should a law come before Congress to re-instill the protections of Roe v. Wade, she said, President Joe Biden would sign it.

At one point, the conversation touched on Gov. Ron DeSantis' efforts to crack down on "DEI," or diversity, equity and inclusion programs at universities. "Let's be really clear what they're up to," Harris said. "They're trying to say that's a bad word, that's a bad phrase. They're trying to do the same thing they did with 'woke,' trying to turn it against the people who understand exactly why it's important." Most of the conversation did not center around DeSantis or his education policies, however, despite the tour event taking place at a Florida university.

But the climate crisis, another pressing concern in South Florida, did come up. Harris emphasized the importance of "environmental justice," focusing on the ways in which low-income people and minorities are often the most affected and lack the means to bounce back.

"Recovery from extreme weather is much slower for poor people," Harris said, citing flash floods as an example. In Fort Lauderdale, a sudden April downpour left entire neighborhoods flooded, hundreds of homes destroyed. "… Depending on your income, it's going to affect you differently … when all your furniture is destroyed and you have to put it out in the street," Harris said.

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 remain undeterred, to have ambition, and to vote.

At the end of the conversation, the vice president was asked how she stays optimistic. "When we are fighting for these freedoms, we are fighting for foundational principles of our country," she replied. "We love our country; we believe in its ideals. We know we have not achieved them all yet."

Harris' next visit will be at the University of Wisconsin. The FIU arena was full Thursday afternoon. Many students had formed a line down the block outside 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."