Vice Presidential Pool Reports of July 21, 2023

VP travel report #1 - wheels down

Vice President Kamala Harris touched down in AF2 in Jacksonville at Jacksonville International Airport at 2:15 p.m.

VP travel report #2 — heading to Ritz Theatre

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan greeted Vice President Harris as she landed. Deegan had a previously scheduled flight out of the city later in the afternoon and did not continue on to Harris' speaking event.

Harris left for the Ritz Theatre and Museum in Jacksonville at 2:34 p.m. The venue is in the LaVilla neighborhood, one of the city's most notable historically Black neighborhoods.

Motorcade is en route.

VP travel report #3 — White House statement

The White House released the following statement ahead of Vice President Harris' address at the Ritz Theatre and Museum:

"Today, Vice President Harris is traveling to Jacksonville, Florida as she fights to protect fundamental freedoms, specifically, the freedom to learn and teach America's full and true history. You can watch the Vice President's remarks live at 3:45 PM ET www.whitehouse.gov/live.

The Vice President's visit follows the Florida Board of Education's newly approved standards for how Black history would be taught in schools. These standards include revisionist history and could lead to students being taught that enslaved people "developed skills" which could be used for their "personal benefit."

This visit is a continuation of the Vice President fighting for students, and leading the fight for fundamental freedoms –and including the freedom for women to make decisions about their own bodies, the freedom to live safe from gun violence, the freedom to love who you love, and the freedom to vote.

Yesterday, in a speech to thousands of attendees at Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.'s 56th national convention in Indianapolis, Vice President Harris directly called out these extremist attacks on learning and teaching history. While on the ground in Florida, she will convene students, parents, educators, civil rights leaders, and elected officials to address these attacks and highlight the coalitions required to protect fundamental freedoms.

This will be Vice President Harris' 8th visit to Florida since being sworn in. The LaVilla neighborhood, the area the Vice President is visiting in downtown Jacksonville today, has a history that dates back to the Civil War era. The area had reportedly become a "safe haven" for newly freed Black residents because of its high concentration of Union soldiers during the war. Some referred to LaVilla as "the Harlem of the South."

VP Travel report #4

Vice President Harris met with the following local leaders, teachers and civil rights activists ahead of her speech. Press were led out ahead of the discussion.

State Rep. Angie Nixon (D-FL-01)

Terrie Brady, President, Duval Teachers United

Ben Crump, Civil Rights Attorney

Paul Barnes, Teacher, Samuel W. Wolfson High School

Jennifer Jenkins, Brevard School Board Member (District 3)

Jasmine Burney-Clark, Consulting Director, Equal Ground

Sam Jenkins, Middle School History Teacher, DeLaura Middle School

Parvez Ahmed, Chief of Diversity and Inclusion, Office of the Mayor, City of Jacksonville

Kelly McBride Valdez, Self-employed Global Development Consultant

VP travel report #5 — Harris greets the overflow room

The theater is full, with some attendees standing along the wall and sitting in an overflow room watching speeches from television screens. An overall count of attendees is expected later today.

Vice President Harris first greeted the overflow room around 3:55, speaking for a few minutes on the importance of education and standing together. Attendees met her with a standing ovation, and Harris left after posing for a selfie with the group.

"We are prepared to stand together as one nation, undivided, and fighting for the best of who we are."

More quotes to come. Harris is about to take the stage.

VP travel report #6

Brevard School Board member Jennifer Jenkins introduced Harris. Harris took the stage at 4:03.

Harris began her speech reminding the audience that Florida residents were not alone and that the Biden-Harris administration stood behind them.

She drew on her whole experience in school, saying she had teachers who encouraged students to use critical thinking skills to form their opinions.

Her speech then centered around the ideas that people throughout the country had more in common than different, that the country needed to continue moving forward instead of trying to rewrite history and that there is a "national agenda afoot" to bring people into "unnecessary debates." The country could not be a role model for democracy if their actions did not match, she said, and that American children had to know the country's history before facing the rest of the world.

Harris said that as extremists and "so-called leaders" tried to divide, people needed to stand united and rededicate themselves to the cause.

She was met with a standing ovation entering and exiting the stage, as well as twice during the speech.

Quotes to come. Motorcade en route to Jacksonville International Airport.

VP travel report #7 — leaving Jacksonville

Harris boarded AF2 at 4:51 after taking a photo with members of her staff.

VP travel report #8 — quotes

Quotes from Brevard County School Board Member Jennifer Jenkins who introduced Harris:

"When our extremists leader had me removed from a press conference without saying a word, when protesters showed up at my home, when they threatened me and my family and my five year old daughter, I realized public education was the battleground Republicans were choosing to wage a war on democracy."

"I would say to our visitors today, 'Welcome to Florida,' but one thing our Republican leadership has made very clear is that Florida isn't welcoming at all. And I can tell you as a democratic school board member on the front lines of this educational war, it's not welcoming to our students, our teachers and our parents."

"They may want to rewrite our history. They may want to make us relive the darkest parts of that history. But today, we get to witness history as our vice president gets to school the Florida Department of Education."

Quotes from Vice President Harris:

"So understand the impact that this is having not only for the children of Florida and our nation, but potentially people around the world because on a more specific point, in that regard, we want to know that we are sending our children out as role models of a democracy who therefore know the importance of speaking and telling the truth. The importance of understanding when you are a leader you must know history."

"So when I think about what is happening then here in Florida, I am deeply concerned. But, let's be clear. I do believe this is not only about the state of Florida. There is a national agenda afoot."

"Adults know what slavery really is. It involved rape. It involved torture. It involved taking a baby from their mother. It involved some of the worst examples of depriving people of humanity in our world. It involved subjecting to people the requirements as they like would think of themselves and be thought of as less than human. So in the context of that, how is it that anyone could suggest that in the midst of these atrocities that there was any benefit to being subjected to that level of dehumanization?"

"People who walk around and want to be praised as leaders, go on to be talked about as American leaders, pushing propaganda on our children."

"When we think about it then in the context in which we should, understanding there is a national agenda afoot understanding that there are many aspects of our history that some would like to overlook, erase or at least deny, let us think about then what this creates as a moment for us to also then rededicate ourselves to the coalition."

"I have done an exercise of looking to see from where are we seeing the attacks on things like voting rights, LGBTQ rights, a woman's right to make decisions about her own body, book bans, and you will not be surprised to know a lot of them refer to the same source."

"History has shown us that in our darkest moments, we have the ability to unite."

"Our history as a nation is born out of tragedy and triumph. That's who we are. Part of that is what gives us our grit knowing from where we came, knowing the struggles that we have come through and being stronger in our dedication to saying no more and not again."

"What they are doing is they are creating these unnecessary debates. This is unnecessary to debate whether enslaved people benefited from slavery. Are you kidding me? Let us not be distracted by what they're trying to do, which is to create unnecessary debates to divide our country. Let's not fall in that trap. We will stand united as a country. We know our collective history. It is our shared history. We are all in this together."