“When people of faith come together, anything is possible. Everything is possible. That is the power of faith,” U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told the National Baptist Convention USA in a keynote address Sept. 8.
Harris, who is a Baptist, spoke to the group gathered at the Hilton Americas Hotel in Houston. Her 23-minute speech seamlessly wove together Scripture, personal stories and public policy.
“Just think, after slavery was outlawed in our country, the founders of this very convention came together to protect the freedom of worship,” she said. “As Black people in our nation battled racist laws and ideologies, men and women of the cloth were the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in America. And they, then, following the teachings of Christ, built coalitions of people of all faiths and races and walks of life, because they understood and knew the importance of the collective.
“Standing on those broad shoulders, let us speak truth about the moment we are now in.”
“They did not declare, ‘I shall overcome.’ No, they said, ‘We shall overcome.’ So standing on those broad shoulders, let us speak truth about the moment we are now in.”
Harris was introduced by NBC President Jerry Young, who said: “I have had the privilege to introduce so many persons, so many important persons, but I have never before had the privilege or the opportunity to present, the vice president of the United States of America. And to say that the vice president is a sister of color. How delighted we are to have her here.”
Harris began her remarks by declaring that “God is good.” She also noted that she consults with Young “from time to time” to get his perspectives on issues and on how to “shine a light in moments of darkness.”
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the National Baptist Convention, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, at Hilton Americas in Houston. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)
She was joined at the meeting by her own pastor, Amos C. Brown of Third Baptist Church in San Francisco and thanked him for his “wisdom” and for being “a source of inspiration to me always.”
Growing up in the church — specifically 23rd Avenue Church of God in Oakland, Calif. — Harris said she “learned in the Bible of the many teachings about the ever-present tension between darkness and light. And I learned, in those moments, how important it is to recognize the power of faith.”
“Through the darkness, faith and our faith reminds us that we are not alone,” she said. “Faith teaches us that a brighter future is always ahead and we must keep moving forward to realize that future. And to move forward, simply put, I also learned and we all know: Faith requires action.”
In the Black church, she said, “I was raised to live my faith. Marching for civil rights, my parents pushed me in a stroller. That was faith in action. So was running for office for the very first time I ran, standing up in the name of the people as the first Black woman to be elected district attorney of San Francisco and the first Black woman in the state of California to run for attorney general and becom(ing) the first Black woman to be elected attorney general of California. … Standing up as the second Black woman in the history of the United States Senate to be elected to the United States Senate, and then placing my hand, yes, on Justice Thurgood Marshall’s Bible when I was sworn in as vice president of the United States.”
All these political accomplishments were “acts of faith borne out of being taught to believe in what is possible and what can be, unburdened by what has been.”
Faith guides her work every day, she said, just as it does for President Joe Biden, who is a devout Catholic.
“The ideals we thought were long established … now hang in the balance.”
But these are “unsettled times,” the vice president said. “The ideals we thought were long established — such as, overseas, the sovereignty of democratic nations; here in our own country, the powerful transfer of power in a way that is peaceful; the freedom of voters — voters — to decide elections; the freedom of women to decisions about their future; even what constitutes the truth — these ideals now hang in the balance.”
It is now time for faith leaders to “help lead us forward,” she urged. “As we see gun violence threatening the safety of our communities and the sanctity of our houses of worship, our faith leaders have been among the leaders who demand a ban on assault weapons so that our children do not have to fear their lives as they sit at their desk or kneel in the pew.”
She also cited faith leaders standing up for voting rights, “registering voters and driving souls to the polls. Because like generations before, we all know the freedom to vote should be sacred and our democracy must be defended.”
And she declared that religious faith does not have to exclude support for abortion rights: “One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held religious beliefs to agree that a woman should have the ability to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do. And she will choose, in consultation with her pastor or her priest, or a doctor and her loved ones. But the government should not be making that decision.”
She called on her fellow Baptists to heed the teaching of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 16:13 to “be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong, and do everything in love.”
“True patriotism,” she said, only is found when Americans believe in the principles upon which the nation was founded: freedom, liberty, equality. “True patriotism means standing up for those principles. It means requiring and fighting to make sure that our nation lives up to those principles in every generation, in every moment of crisis.”
People of faith “must continue to see America for what it promises to be, what it can be, unburdened by what has been,” Harris said. “We must continue to do whatever it takes to realize our vision for America’s future — a future in which every person has the opportunity to succeed and to thrive and to reach their God-given potential.”
Vice President Kamala Harris greets a woman after delivering a speech at the National Baptist Convention, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, at Hilton Americas in Houston.(Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)
She recited a laundry list of Biden administration accomplishments, which she said offer evidence that a light is shining. Those include the extended Child Tax Credit, funding for HBCUs, investment in community banks and small businesses, investments Black and brown small-business owners, passage of “the first federal gun safety ban in nearly 30 years” and implementing restrictions on the use of chokeholds and no-knock warrants by federal law enforcement agencies.
She devoted more time to addressing relief for medical bills and medical debt as well as efforts to reduce the cost of health insurance and cap the cost of insulin.
She noted: “Black people in America are 60% more likely to have diabetes. And far too many of our seniors, in particular, with diabetes who cannot afford the insulin a doctor has prescribed to help save their life are cutting their dosage, are getting sicker simply because they cannot afford lifesaving medication. If we talk about what we must all do to help heal the sick, shouldn’t we then agree that access to health care should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it?”
Despite this progress, “there’s a lot of work that needs to be done, consistent with our teachings and the spirit with which we live and love,” she said.
“So let us, people of faith, continue to defend our democracy, continue to defend our liberty and our freedoms. Let us continue to fight to build a better future. And let us continue to have faith in God, in our country, and in each other, because together we will continue to usher in the dawn.”
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