Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday referenced her viral “context in which you exist” moment as she urged young people to remain civically engaged.
“I ask you to remember the context in which you exist. Yeah, I did that,” the recent Democratic presidential nominee said to a group of students in Prince George’s County, Maryland, in rare remarks since she lost the election to Donald Trump.
“I ask you to remember that this struggle is not new. It goes back nearly 250 years to Lexington and Concord,” Harris continued. “Generation after generation, it has been driven by those who love our country, cherish its ideals, and refuse to sit passive while our ideals are under assault.”
Harris’ remarks referenced viral comments she made May 10, 2023. Speaking at an event focused on expanding educational opportunities for Hispanics and Latinos, the vice president stressed the need for equity since many people of color are “starting out on different bases”:
“Are they really going to have the opportunity to compete and achieve?” Harris said. “It’s not just simply about financial resources; that is a very big part of it. But it's also about: What is the culture of the environment? How are we approaching this issue in a way that we also understand we cannot support and help our young people if we ... don’t also look at the context in which those young people live and are being raised?”
“None of us just live in a silo. Everything is in context,” Harris continued. “My mother used to — she would give us a hard time sometimes — and she would say to us, ‘I don't know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?’ You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”
Harris’ line, particularly the coconut, ended up being reshared this past summer amid initial enthusiasm from Democrats when she entered the presidential race.
