COLLEGE PARK, Ga.- United States Vice President Kamala Harris returned to the metro Atlanta area on Monday to kick off the Biden-Harris Administration’s Economic Opportunity Tour. The tour is scheduled to move on to Detroit, Michigan, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin next, according to Harris.
The first stop took place inside the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park. Harris used her time in College Park to highlight the Biden-Harris Administration’s investments in small business, and more specifically, in Black-owned businesses. Dressed in pink, Harris took the stage to rousing applause and said she chose Atlanta to be the kickoff because of a number of reasons, one of which was former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who was in attendance and received his own standing ovation.
Harris, who spent time at RICE earlier in the day, said Young was a civic leader that spoke to people’s ambitions.
Harris mentioned the G.I. Bill was an idea that rewarded citizens for fighting for this country that led to home ownership, one of the most common ways to earn wealth in this country.
“Home ownership is the most effective way to build wealth. Black veterans did not receive equal measures of those loans,” Harris said. “Look at the disparity of that. Look at the disparity of redlining.”
She also mentioned bias in home appraisals and home loans. “These are some of the areas that we are focussed on through economic policies,” Harris added.
Medical debt, student loan debt are also targets of the economic opportunity efforts the Biden-Harris Administration are tackling, according to Harris, who said medical debt can no longer be a part of your credit score.
“These are some examples of what we are doing,” Harris said. “We are in the process of putting a lot of money in the streets of America. We want to make sure people know about it.”
Earn Your Leisure CEO’s Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings hosted the panel on how the administration is building the economy from inside out. The pair have a popular podcast that explores topics like the future of social media, for example. They often interview industry leaders, such as Aisha Bowe, a NASA rocket scientist.
The afternoon’s event kicked off with a panel on creating wealth and economic opportunity hosted by Nevada Congressman and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Steven Horsford (D-NV, 4th District).
Horsford described the tour as the “kickoff to really having a conversation with Americans on how we can talk about building economic wealth. A lot of people ask why we need to have these programs, Horsford asked no one in particular. A moment later he answered his own question by saying the programs are created to close the wealth gap in this country.
Georgia Congresswoman Nikema Williams (D-Ga, 5th District) warmed up the crowd before Harris took the stage. Williams made sure to mention that Atlanta was voted as the number one city in the country to do business for a consecutive year.
“We are truly a model for the world,” Williams said.
Photo by Kerri Phox/The Atlanta Voice
Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Ga) also spoke about Monday being “a day of celebration” because the beginning of reconnecting neighborhoods in the heart of Atlanta will begin. “This is about making it right,” he added.
Warnock credited the Biden-Harris Administration for the funding necessary to make The Stitch, a residential project scheduled to take place in downtown Atlanta, possible through its infrastructure bill. “I am going to keep working with the president and vice president,” Warnock said.
To call Georgia a battleground state might be a bit of an understatement. Biden was awarded 16 electoral votes after winning Georgia during the 2020 presidential election. The results, Biden and former U.S. President Donald J. Trump were separated by just .23 tenths of a percentage point, which was crucial to what would become an electoral victory for Biden and Harris.
On Monday, Harris was making her 12th visit to Atlanta since breaking the barrier as the country’s first Black Vice President of the United States. With presidential election campaigning becoming more and more important as we draw closer to Election Day in November, there’s no doubt she and United States President Joseph R. Biden, who is set to give the commencement speech at Morehouse College later this month, will be returning in the near future.
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