BET News Presents “State of Our Union

Vice President Kamala Harris” Hosted by Soledad O’Brien, Premiering Friday, July 9 at 8 PM ET/PT

BET News presents “State of Our Union: Vice President Kamala Harris” hosted by Soledad O’Brien – an exclusive half-hour primetime news special filmed at the White House featuring a one-on-one conversation between O’Brien and Vice President Harris. The interview focuses on a range of substantive issues impacting the Black community including vaccine hesitancy and access, economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, police reform, and voting rights. “State of Our Union: Vice President Kamala Harris” premieres Friday, July 9 at 8/7c on BET.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210708005573/en/

Select quotes from special “State of Our Union: Vice President Kamala Harris”:

The Vice President on vaccine hesitancy: “One in three Black people in America know somebody who has died from this disease. And here's the other point that I will make, virtually everyone who is in a hospital right now because of COVID-19 is unvaccinated. Virtually everyone who has died from COVID-19 was unvaccinated. So, the thing that I just want to remind folks of is that you have the power. Don't let anybody take your power from you. You have the power to save your life. You have the power to make a decision about what happens to your body. Don't let people dupe you into thinking that this thing is not going to help you, it will help you. And it will save your life.”

The Vice President on the administration’s plan to fight crime and reform police departments: “We should not be offered and certainly not accept a false choice. Like when we're talking about gun violence, we need to deal with that. So as an administration, we're saying for example, the firearms dealers that those who are violating the law, there needs to be a consequence for that. On the issue of policing, we need accountability. And we are, and I was actually one of the original authors of the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act and I feel very strongly that needs to be passed. There needs to be accountability for police officers who break the rules or break the laws.”

The Vice President on the fight over voting rights: "It's about using the bully pulpit to help people see what's happening in the midst of all the daily issues that they have. You know, we're not in an election year. You know, we tend to rally when we know the election is about to happen. But right now, we need to start rallying, because these laws are being passed right now that will make it almost impossible, at least very difficult, for you to vote."