Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
A sea of red dresses and gowns flowed into the Indiana Convention Center on Thursday to see Vice President Kamala Harris deliver the keynote address at the 56th national convention of Delta Sigma Theta, one of the largest historically Black sororities in the country.
Harris, the first woman and person of color to serve as vice president, addressed a crowd of thousands of sorority sisters wearing crimson and cream, the official colors of Delta Sigma Theta, an organization founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where Harris earned her bachelor’s degree.
In a 20-minute speech, Harris praised the accomplishments of women leaders while criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court for taking away abortion rights, striking down affirmative action and denying President Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan.
The vice president, a former U.S. Senator from California and prosecutor who specialized in violent crime, also called out states like Indiana for passing restrictive abortion bans. The Indiana Supreme Court recently upheld Indiana’s ban, which outlaws the procedure except in the case of a fatal fetal anomaly and cases of serious health risk to the mother. Rape survivors can get an abortion, but only up to 10 weeks post-fertilization.
“Extremist leaders in states across our nation—states like Indiana—have passed laws that criminalize doctors and punish women,” Harris said. “And on this issue, I know we are all clear: One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.”
Harris criticized states that ban voting drop boxes, limit access to early voting and ban food and water giveaways in voting lines. She also called out Florida’s new teaching standards that include instruction on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
“They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us and we will not stand for it,” Harris said, her voice a crescendo.
The visit from the vice president, a former prosecutor and U.S. Senator from California, comes as the Biden-Harris administration ramps up its efforts to maintain control of the White House, carve out a larger majority in the Senate and take back Democratic control of the House in 2024.
Since Biden tasked Harris with tackling the issue of migrants crossing U.S. borders, Harris’ approval rating has hovered around 40%, making her one of the most unpopular vice presidents in recent history despite avoiding any major scandals since working on Capitol Hill.
The Indiana GOP saw Harris’ visit as an opportunity to criticize the vice president for what it called “failed leadership” on immigration policy.
“Since being named ‘border czar’ by President Biden over two years ago, the U.S. has seen a historic humanitarian crisis at the southern border, with a record number of encounters and more than 1.4 million illegal immigrants escaping into the country,” Indiana Republican Party Chair Kyle Hupfer said in written remarks. “At the same time, record amounts of fentanyl and other illicit drugs are pouring into the country, wreaking havoc on communities, including here in Indiana.”
Harris last came to Indianapolis one year ago to meet with lawmakers and abortion rights advocates as part of an effort to bolster Democratic lawmakers ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Her visit came on the first day of the Republican-controlled Legislature’s special session, where Republican lawmakers passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
Well deserved shots.
Nonsense!!
Everything you accuse the Trump picks of, your Dem picks do the same.
There was no bigger activist on the Court than RBG. Had she resigned her
seat on the U.S. Surpreme Court while she could still hold her head without
slobbering all over herself, you would have gotten another leftwinger.
If I have to have someone take a shot at me, please, Lord, let it be the empty-headed queen of the word salad. By the time she’s done with her “shot,” people won’t know whether I’ve been praised, criticized, or simply garnished with croutons.
Misogynistic comment to core.
And to help you:
mi·sog·y·nis·tic mə-ˌsä-jə-ˈni-stik
: feeling, showing, or characterized by hatred of or prejudice against women
James T. – excellent!
Queen of Word Salad…
Fill the white house with clowns and you get a circus!
No wonder she was at less than 1% in the last dim presidential primary.
She speaks for 20 minutes and we get 2 minutes of actual content. It is quite difficult to listen to either Biden or Harris, at this time.
Is this the best the country has to offer? 🙄
Unfortunately, the Republicans are only offering something different – not better.
All of us were better off in just about every measurable metric under DJT than we are under the two imbeciles we’re currently stuck with.
Refresher accuracy lesson: Neither of the two incumbents faced two impeachments, one with a majority to convict, and two criminal indictments. More to come.
If you’re ignoring the content, and bashing the delivery you might wanna check yourself.
My investments are up much higher than trumps term.
Inflation is up because of his socialism and the 5 year treasury May never recover from the trump PPP loans….
What metrics were better under trump?
The party that tells us that the govt. should not be controlling a woman’s body, as VP Harris did yesterday, is the same party that was espousing controlling everyone’s bodies with Covid vaccines of questionable efficacy and safety. Hypocrisy appears to be their foremost characteristic
With extremely few exceptions, there was never a vaccine mandate.
It usually only takes few hours to draw out an ignorant vaccine post.
Tell that to the people that lost their jobs. talk about ignorance.
you are most likely ignoring the stories about Joe and his coke head son. crooked to the core. the democrats are the true nazis.
bunch of racists too…
Randy S: Time must have dulled the details, as the admin did issue a sweeping mandate through OSHA that attempted to have an effective vaccine mandate, that was promptly overturned by SCOTUS; The lack of implementation of sweeping mandates was despite the admin’s best efforts.
And I raise that point from someone who proudly got a vaccine as soon as possible – and advocated most others to do so. But it needed to be individual’s decision to weigh the risks/benefits. Broadly it is the hubris of the current administration to ‘caretake’ adults and remove risks/rewards of decisions that is the fundamental issue.
“The vice president, a former U.S. Senator from California and prosecutor who specialized in violent crime, also called out states like Indiana for passing restrictive abortion bans.”
As if abortion is not a violent crime for the victim!
Unless you’re Jewish, where life is believed to begin only when the first breath is taken.
Brent, God’s people have been given every chance to except his Son and should have a better understanding of his word!
I can’t imagine why the Supreme Court currently has the lowest faith rating of the public. Oh wait, maybe it is because at every opportunity, Democrat politicians take shots at them and call them wrong. I never knew we had so many Jurists in the Democrat party. Someone should tell them that they can support abortion, without attacking and degrading the Supreme Court and eroding the public’s faith in them.
it’s that pesky Constitution
Maybe if the court wasn’t openly taking bribes to enrich themselves?
We all know American capitalism is pay to play but it was easier when it wasn’t printed on the front page of the Wall Street journal
Dan M. Unfortunately IBJ doesn’t give me the option of responding immediately below your reply to my comment above. So I’m way down here, thanking you for your pathetically unoriginal observation that criticizing the empty headed veep = misogyny.
You might, however, want to consider the possibility that categorizing every critique of a woman politician as misogyny is itself quite demeaning to women. And if it makes you feel any better, I would be happy to acknowledge that her IQ is precisely one point higher than the cartoonishly loggorheac dimwit she works for.
I just started taking the IBJ a few weeks ago as I own property in Indy. I was rather impressed with this journal being quite up to date in local and national lines of news. But now I read the comments of its readers and and see the leanings of the bitter and unwilling. A Democracy requires us all to be educated on the issues and to understand the INTERCONNECTEDNESS of each outcome – the delight to some might come at the cost and detriment of another or even our nation. If working correctly, there would be truth, civil communication, civil negotiation and a great deal of empathy by all.
“Building a better YOU and ME is the first step to building a better America.” Zig Ziglar
Mimi, I agree, but it is a Constitutional Republic not a Democracy!