Press Release - "Hard-fought, hard-won freedoms are under full-on attack:" During Return to Florida, Vice President Harris Calls Out Extremists' Attempts to Legitimize and Defend Their Continued Attacks on Fundamental Freedoms

"I will tell you there is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact: there were no redeeming qualities of slavery," the Vice President said during AME Church's Women's Missionary Society Quadrennial Convention

ORLANDO – During her return to Florida today, Vice President Harris called out extremists' attempts to legitimize and defend their continued attacks on the freedom to learn and teach America's full and true history. As the first Vice President to ever deliver remarks at the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church's Women's Missionary Society Quadrennial Convention, Vice President Harris once again rejected the state's new education standards that would teach students that enslaved people benefited from slavery, and urged thousands of attendees to fight back against nationwide attacks on fundamental freedoms – including those on reproductive freedom, the freedom to vote, and the freedom to live safe from gun violence.

"I will tell you there is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact: there were no redeeming qualities of slavery," said Vice President Harris. "As I said last week when I was again here in Florida: we will not stop calling out and fighting back against extremist so-called leaders who try to prevent our children from learning our true and full history."

The Vice President also highlighted how the Biden-Harris Administration continues to deliver for people across America – from investing in small businesses and lowering the cost of insulin for seniors, to removing lead pipes, addressing the maternal health crisis, passing gun safety laws, and confirming judges who reflect the diversity of America. Today's speech was part of Vice President Harris' ongoing summer travel to large-scale events across the nation to engage with key constituencies. Later this month, she will travel to Chicago to deliver a keynote address at Everytown for Gun Safety's annual conference.

Here are additional moments from today's speech in Orlando:

Vice President Harris on efforts to push revisionist history:
"We even see extremists ban books and attempt to erase, and even rewrite, the ugly parts of our history. Right here in Florida, they plan to teach students that enslaved people benefited from slavery. They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, in an attempt to divide and distract our nation with unnecessary debates. And now they attempt to legitimize these unnecessary debates with a proposal that most recently came in of a politically-motivated roundtable."

Vice President Harris on advancing a historic gun safety law:
"For far too long, far too many people in far too many communities have lived in fear of violence. And I believe the right to be safe in school, at work, in a place of worship should be thought of as a civil right. So when we took office, President Biden and I did what is right: we strengthened background checks to prevent gun violence."

Vice President Harris on lowering the cost of prescription drugs:
"President Biden and I did what is right, and we capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month for our seniors and made sure no senior would pay more than $2 thousand a year for their medicine."

Vice President Harris on addressing the maternal health crisis:
"For years, our nation has ignored the crisis of maternal mortality. That before, during, and after childbirth, women in America die at a higher rate than in any other wealthy nation in the world – and that Black women are three times more likely to die. So when President Biden and I took office, we did what is right and made maternal health a national priority and expanded postpartum coverage through Medicaid from two months to 12 months, and increased coverage from three states to now 35 states, to the benefit of half a million more women."