institute for studies in washington, d.c. it runs about 30 minutes. [applause] ♪ jimmy: thank you, alicia. mother and vice president, welcome to the apaics leadership summit! vp harris: and happy 30th anniversary everyone. [applause]

jimmy, before we get started, we have to talk about alicia. jimmy: she is amazing. vp harris: such an incredible representation of a real leaders. there are many members of congress here, she has been going up to the hill to talk about how we can coordinate all the work we're doing on mental health. when i look at our gen z leaders , they have so many talents as they are so courageous, and she is an incredible organizer among the young people in my office. but around the issues that we really need to focus on things we care about the future of our country. can we please applaud alicia for her work? please. [applause] really, she's wonderful. ok. hi, jimmy. jimmy: hello. how are you? good seeing you. i have no idea why you guys called me to do this. [applause] lisa lang must have been not available, you know, went down to list. connie chung not available. [laughter] now here i am. but it's an absolute honor to be

here with you and all of these amazing leaders. i have been listening to a lot of talks. it's a lot of firsts. it's a middle groundbreaking trailblazers of our community. and of course, you are the first aahpi vice president of the united states. what does it mean to you to be the first. and how has your heritage involved your views in your roles as leader? vp harris: so, as alicia said, my mother gave my sister and me a lot of advice, and a lot of the things she said to be that of had a lasting impact, she said, you may be the first to do many things. make sure you are not the first. my mother was 19 years old when she arrived in the united states by herself. she was the eldest of my grandparents' four kids.

she was part of one of the first waves of indians to come in relatively modern history to the united states in the 50's. right, so anybody of south asian background, you will know that this was early, early, early. there weren't many indian americans were indians who had come in at that point. -- asian americans or indians who had come in the point. and my mother said to her mother when she was young that she wanted to cure cancer. what i learned later it was that she secretly applied to uc berkeley, and she got accepted. so she went to my grandfather and said i want to go. and my grandfather was very progressive. his eldest child, we note in asian culture was that means. i am the first grandchild too, i will say. [laughter] and my grandfather said, go.

so she arrived in the united states by herself because she had a passion and she had a go. and she basically, her life was committed to two things, raising her two daughters and ending breast cancer. and my grandfather was probably one of the favorite people in my life, especially during my childhood. we were penpals. so any of you of my generation, you remember this blue envelopes with all the stripes on them, you know, right, that you could send back-and-forth, and you would have to open them with a letter opener and unfold it? my [laughter] [laughter] grandpa and i were penpals and we would go back to india, sometime between october and december, around the christmas holiday usually. and i at the eldest grandchild, had the honor of being invaded

by my grandfather to take his morning walk with his retired buddies. and they would every morning gather, these, you know, old men who were very smart and very knowledgeable and they would take their walk. and i would hold my grandfather's hand, and i was the one who was able to go on the walk with him. and my grandfather and his friends would passionately debate the importance of democracy. and a government that treated people equally and with fairness , and a government that was not corrupt. and that influenced my life in more ways than i could ever explain. even though i didn't really good at the time. and all of that had an impact than on what i decided to do with my life. my mother, which he arrived in the united states, she automatically given my

grandfather was and about the fight for independence in india, my mother then, you might not know this in retrospect, it took to the streets too much forcible rape in her -- she took to the o much for civil-rights in her saei. and that's how she met my father. and all of that has had a profound influence. i will also add to this about being the first, because there are so many firsts here. and there are so many who we who are the 1st to have decided we will mentor you and we will support you and we will remind you of what it involves. you have an incredible community of people that are encouraging them. so here's the thing about breaking barriers. breaking barriers does not mean you start on the side of the barrier and you end up on the others. there is breaking involved. when you break things, you get

cut. you may bleed, but it is worth it every time. every time. and so, to, especially the young people here, i will say to you, when you walk into those rooms being the only one that looks like it, the only one with your background, you walk in those rooms chin up, shoulders back, be it a meeting room a boardroom, a courtroom, a hearing room, you walk in those rooms knowing that we are all a that room with you, applauding you on and expecting certain things from you. including that you will not be silent in those rooms. and that we expect that from you, because we also expect that you will internalize and know that we were there with you. and so your voice can be strong. it is as alicia said, my mother

would say to me, don't ever let anybody tell you who you are, you tell them we are. don't ever carry as a personal burden your capacity to do whatever you dream and aspire to do it on other people's limited ability to see who can do what. this is part of what is involved. is that we have to know that sometimes people will open the door for you and leave it open, and sometimes they won't. and that you need to "kick the [expletive] door down." [laughter] excuse my language. [laughter] jimmy: we have to make t-shirts with that saying "kick the , [expletive] door down." i mean, i literally just got emotional listening to that. i think all of us in this room

have that experience. you know, like me as an actor, you know, whether you're in political office or any job you walk into, often times we are the only asian person there. and how to navigate that. for me, it is always, hey, i understand, i am fortunate to be here, thank you for opening the door, but it's never, like, i try not to blame it on anything. like if i miss an addition or whatever. i just got to be a better actor. forget about asian, no asian, i just got to be better than everyone else so i will not be the last. vp harris: that's right. it is very much a part of asian culture. that we are taught duty. jimmy: jimmy: yes. vp harris: duty, it's not about whether you have the luxury or the will.

if your responsibility. it's your duty and we don't question it. it just is. and part of that is the duty that we feel when we are the first in particular, to understand what that means to people who are not us, meaning everyone else. we learn a lot culturally about the fact that it's not about us. it's about family. it's about community. about country, values. someone once described it to me as, if you think of that culture -- i am oversimplifying, obviously, but think of an onion. individualism is the core of the onion. then there is a family and there is a community and it is and there is and all those things are bigger and that is part of how we are conditioned to think in many ways, which sometimes leads to probably a willingness

to minimize the importance of the individual. we have to be careful about that. but duty is an important part of it from a two point. jimmy: i think what you said earlier, just being raised by immigrants, i think, gives us that perspective and gratefulness to be here in a great democracy because that can't be taken for granted, especially in a lot of other places in the world. vp harris: that's right. jimmy: which actually leads me to my second question, i actually prepped -- [laughter] vp harris: here is the thing, while you are pulling out whatever is coming out of your pockets. [laughter] i will talk about my lived experience. that also taught me that you have to fight for right for everybody. and you have to be in the fight. you can't sit it out. right? that is certainly how i was

raised. you can't sit it out. because you know how inequity happens. you know what happens when systems create displaced power, or when systems are suppressing the rites of other people. so that is part of how i was raised as well. jimmy: and i think we have seen that, in very recent history, since the dobbs decision, a lot of our rights are under attack. what we take for granted as basic rites. you have led the charge on protecting reproductive freedom for this administration and we thank you for that. so, what are you hearing from americans as you talk about protecting reproductive freedom? and how has it been to fight on restoring roe v. wade? vp harris: so, again, i look at

it in terms of the fact that -- you know, i never met his business at one of the mentors for me in terms of the career that i chose, was thurgood marshall, who understood the importance of translating the passion from the streets to the courtrooms of america. to make real the promise of america. when i think about the dogs decision, which was just about two years ago, the highest court in our land, the court of thurgood and r.b.g., just took a constitutional right that had been recognized, from the people in america, from the people of america, and thereafter, in state after state laws are being , proposed and passed that will criminalize health care providers, punish women. some make no exception even for rape or incest.

so there is about this issue, the fact that over the last two years, the way has played out has resulted in real and profound harm to real people on a daily basis. you have all heard the stories of a woman who goes to the emergency room as she's experiencing a miscarriage and denied care because the the physicians are afraid they will be jailed. goes back, still denied. it wasn't until she develops sepsis that she is treated. horrendous stories. and these are only the stories we know about. many people silently suffering. there is the harm, of this that is profound and real. there's also the fact that now, in 2024 decision has been made , a that takes from the american people a fundamental freedom to make decisions about one's own body. think about what that is taking us back to. that one does not have the right

to exercise authority over issues that i call heart and home. issues that are fundamental to what should be a right to decide to start a family or not. and where does this go? because for the lawyers in the room and was interested in reading supreme court decisions, [laughs] clarence thomas said the quiet part out loud. other right it may be very much at stake. when you start to see some profusion of rights, where does it and if people don't stand up? demographically, the last numbers i saw, 80 percent of the aanhpi community is in favor of freedom and choice. and, again, because it's a simple point which i often make,

for many people, one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that government should not be telling her what to do. she will make that decision based on her ability to actually exercise good judgment. and can you imagine these legislators that are supposing their judgment is better than the ability of that individual woman to know what is best interest? it is profound. profound when you think about it layers of what is involved here. jimmy: and another very important issue is guns in our country. vp harris: yes. jimmy: president biden tapped you to oversee the first ever white house than violence prevention task force. what is the administration doing to address gun violence in our communities? vp harris: let's start with the

very tragic fact that gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in america. not car accidents, not cancer, than violence. number one cause of death for children in america right now. 1 in 5 america has a family member who has been killed by gun violence. as i traveled the country, i talk with mothers and fathers who say a silent, may be necessary prayer -- may be not so silent prayer that when be drop their kids to schools or to the school bus, that they will come home safe. i started a polished well last fall -- again, i just have to hear i love gen z. i really do. i know it's complicated if you have a gen z member in your family. they are so spectacular. [laughter] they think about, first of all,

the fact that this might be humbling for some, somebody who is a team today was born in 2006. i knew it was going to be hungry. [laughter] and -- i knew it was going to be humbling. [laughter] and for gen z, they have only known the climate crisis. they have coined the term climate anxiety to describe their fear of having children or aspiring to buy a home for fear it will be wiped out by extreme weather. they have witnessed the killing of george floyd. they left fundamental phases of the education during the pandemic and socialization. in the height of their reproductive years, they saw the court take this right and and i would ask this question when i did my college tour every time and over 15,000 kids showed up , by the way. i mean hacks auditoriums. often overflowing rooms.

they were standing in line for hours in some cases, not for a rock concert, but to literally witness something like this. i would ask that we can, raise your hand if at any point between kindergarten and 12th grade you had to endure and active-shooter drill. almost every hand went up. and i would ask the press, please take a look at this. i would ask the students keep your hands up. i would ask the older adults. it is bone chilling. all of that to say that when i believe that first of all, that has been a false choice that has been perpetuated, including in this town, that suggests you are either in favor of the second amendment, or you want to take everyone's guns away. i am in favor of the second amendment and i believe we need an assault weapons ban. would need universal background checks. we need red flag laws. [applause] right? and given how our young leaders have experienced this -- i mean,

growing up in california, the closest thing i had to an active shooter drill was an earthquake drill or a fire drill. and by the way, fire drills happen like consistently and thankfully we rarely see any fire in a school. then violence -- very different -- gun violence, very different issue. when our young leaders leaders start voting in their numbers on so many of these issues i believe we are going to see a sea change in terms of how we address this, because of our young leaders in particular are very practical and they went to see things done. and what i love about them is that they will not refer us to figure it out. they are going to do it. they are going to do it. jimmy: thank you, madam president. that was great. these are two very tough issues, subjects, and hopefully we can see more hope and inspiration, from not just us, not just you, for the younger generation. vp harris: and on the subject,

we know that it visits itself from the asian community across the country. whether it be atlanta -- the president and i went down after those horrific killings of the young women there, monterey park, judy chu has been an extraordinary leader for her constituents. i visited monterey park and the families. not to mention, not only has it visited itself upon asian communities, but you couple that with the anti-asian hate that has been spewed, especially in recent years, the fear is everywhere, including, of course,'s in the asian community. jimmy: absolutely. and we have great leaders that have done great things for our community. with my last question, i want to look into the future a little bit. you have done a lot with the leaders here to protect our freedom, to create opportunity and to strengthen democracy, like we have talked about. how are you thinking about the

work ahead, and what can we do as a community to strengthen our future together? vp harris: so the first thing to know our power. i think it is critically important to not ever let anybody silence your voice. and to know that it is not about asking permission to speak. that is not going to get it. one needn't and shouldn't wait for permission to speak. there are so many issues facing us of the country. not to mention this, i mean, i have now as vice president met over 150 world leaders, presidents, vice presidents, chancellors and kings. many multiple times. the last three international trips i took, the end of last year and the beginning of last

year, dubai, and represented the united states at the cop28, the global climate conference. i went to the u.k., rishi sunak invited me to come and speak of my theories about safety that we need in ai. and then this year, the munich security conference where i spoke about america's position as it relates to many global issues and security issues. almost to a one, i have met these leaders multiple times and we are almost all know -- we are at a first name basis. they came up to me and said i hope you guys are going to do all right in the selection. understand the power that we have right now. that we must own an exercise, will have an impact on people in our own country and people around the world. people around the world will be

impacted. we as the united states, we walk into these rooms around the globe with the self appointed and earned authority to talk about the importance of democracy and rule of law. i say to a room full of role models, when your role model, watch what you do. see if it matches what you say. i imagine some young women fighting for the right to be educated and an autocrat saying you want to talk about the rights of women look at what the united states is doing so right now in particular i say that , jimmy, this issue is about what is going to happen in the next 170 something days. everyone has to be heard and demand that you be heard. remind our families and our friends and our community of their right and responsibility and duty, dare i say, to answer

a fundamental question at this point, what kind of country do we want to live in? as much as anything, that is what is before us. and i will end my point, again, with great optimism. based on everything i described about who our young leaders are, but also what i know this group of leaders to be, we are parents , our children, our grandparents. we here believe in the farmers of america. we believe in the promise of america. and this then becomes a moment where that belief has to spur us into action, knowing that we can determine its future. that is our power. that is our power. jimmy: thank you very much, meadow vice president. one more time. [applause] vp harris: thank you.

jimmy: that was truly amazing. [applause] ♪ jimmy: this is going to be fun! let's get a selfi together. [laughter] [applause] vp harris: everybody smile. [laughter] jimmy: thank you. ♪ [applause]