Vice President Harris visits S.C., addresses Capitol attacks 3 years later

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) - Marking three years after the Jan. 6 attacks, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Myrtle Beach Saturday to address the deadly attacks on the U.S. Capitol.

Harris delivered the keynote address at the seventh Episcopal District AME Church Women’s Missionary Society annual retreat, located at the Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort.

Saturday’s trip marked her seventh trip to the Palmetto State since becoming vice president

Three years after the attacks on the Capitol, Harris specifically addressed the significance of the day, saying we saw violence, chaos and lawlessness.

“I ask you to where you were three years ago today when a mob violently attacked the United States Capitol,” she says. “They used brutal force and fear to try to overturn the results of a free and fair election.”

Since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, nine deaths are linked to the attack and more than 700 people have gone to court for their roles in it.

“These extremist leaders say that the group was led by ‘great patriots,’” Harris says. “Let’s pay attention; is that how you define someone who loves our country.”

Harris spoke about the attacks taking place on fundamental freedoms throughout America.

She also addressed the full-on assault on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms we are seeing across our nation and called on the crowd to continue to stand in defense of our most sacred principles.

“We fight to protect the sacred freedom to vote while they try to silence the voice of the people,” Harris says.

Examples of freedoms being challenged here in America, Kamala listed book bans, gun violence and women’s reproductive health care.

“They think government should tell a woman what to do with her body; we trust women to know what is in their own best interest,” she says.

“In this moment, we see extremists ban books and attempt to erase, overlook and even rewrite the dark parts of America’s history,” Harris adds.

While on the topic of book bans, Harris directed a comment toward 2024 Republican Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley’s failure to mention slavery as a cause of the Civil War.

“For example, the Civil War, which must I really have to say was about slavery?” Harris asked the crowd.

Harris also addressed specific issues their istration has focused on specifically here in South Carolina, including the push for high-speed internet.

“Especially for our rural communities, many of which I visited here in South Carolina,” she says. “From the Upstate to the Midlands, from the PeeDee to Lowcountry, you talked to me about what it means to not have access to the internet.”

Democracy and the power to vote wrapped up Harris’ remarks with her saying there is a duality to the nature of democracy.

“On the one hand, when a democracy is intact, it is extremely strong in of what it does and the strength it gives its people in the protection and preservation of individual rights, freedoms and liberties,” Harris says. “On the other hand, it is extremely fragile and it is only as fragile as our willingness to fight for it.”

“Guided by our faith, we are prepared to fight for all that we know is right and hold dear. I know that when we fight, we win,” she ended her remarks with.

Following Harris’ visit, President Joe Biden will be in Charleston on Monday to speak at Emanuel AME Church downtown.

S.C. COMMUNITY REACTIONS

“For generations, of this church have led the fight to make real America’s promise,” Harris says.

Around 1,200 women gathered to listen to her remarks with Saturday marking her seventh trip to the Palmetto State since becoming vice president.

“I just was elated to even know she was coming, and to know that I’m a part of history,” One woman in the crowd, Mincher Blair, says. “It was just some touching things that interest me, and this was just a perfect time to say, and to hear it, just reiterated.”

“Everything she said was true, and I’m all for going down for what you believe in,” another crowd member, Betty Mitchell, says.

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