Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala HarrisKamala HarrisRepublican COVID-19 outbreak rocks the 2020 race VP debate to install plexiglass between Pence and Harris Growing White House coronavirus infections highlight debate safety concerns MORE (D-Calif.) ison the cover for Elle magazines November issue, in which the senator participates in a broad interview spanning racial inequality, her upbringing and President TrumpDonald John TrumpState Department revokes visa of Giuliani-linked Ukrainian ally: report White House Gift Shop selling 'Trump Defeats COVID' commemorative coin Biden says he should not have called Trump a clown in first debate MORE.

In her interview with journalist Ashley Ford, Harris starts off by discussing her experience attending a civil rights march in Oakland, Calif., where she was born, as a child. At the time, Harris had been in a stroller with her parents, both activists who immigrated from Jamaica and India, and had fallen out at one point.

Eventually, Harris said her parents, who had continued marching afterward, noticed her absence and returned to get her.

My mother tells the story about how Im fussing, and shes like, Baby, what do you want? What do you need? And I just looked at her and I said, Fweedom, she said.

During her childhood, Harris, who also previously served as a former prosecutor and later as attorney general of California before becoming the second Black woman and first South Asian-American to become U.S. senator in 2017, said there was no question that you had to dedicate yourself to fighting for justice on some level or another.

That the measure of you is so much bigger than you; its the impact you have, its what you do in service to others, Harris, whose godmother, Mary Lewis, also helped establish San Francisco State University's Black studies department, continued. And thats how I was raised. I was raised that it is not about charity and benevolence, its about your duty. No ones going to congratulate you for itits what youre supposed to do.

Ford also pressed the senator on her meaning of justice in the interview, to which, Harris responded: "Its about freedom, its about equality, its about dignity. When you achieve equality, and freedom, and fairness, its not because I grant it to you. Its because you fought for it because it is your right.

This is not about benevolence or charity; it is about every human beings God-given right. What do we collectively do to fight for that? Thats what justice represents to meits about empowerment of the people, said Harris, who is also the first Black woman and Indian American to run as vice president on a major party presidential ticket.

As protests against racism and police brutality continue in parts of the country fromspring, summer and into fall following the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans, Harris vowed in the interviewtokeepsupportingthe brilliance of the Black Lives Matter movement.

What I hope and pray is that we can get to a point where, through what are undoubtedly difficult conversations, we confront the real history of America, Harris said. Doing it in a way that is motivated by love, but also is fully honest.

Harris credited optimism during the interview as the fuel driving every fight she has been in and said her motivation comes from believing in what can be unburdened by what has been.

John LewisJohn LewisHow to fight the onslaught of election disinformation The House's stake in filibuster reform Hillicon Valley: Productivity, fatigue, cybersecurity emerge as top concerns amid pandemic | Facebook critics launch alternative oversight board | Google to temporarily bar election ads after polls close MORE, the dearly departed, like many others shed blood on that bridge. Because he really believed in what could be. It will often feel like [we are only] against something, but the motivation that carries us through, with any longevity, is knowing what were fighting for, the senator told the magazine.

She also spoke briefly about Trump during the interview while discussing the night she was elected senator in California years back.

In every one of my elections, part of our routine is we do a small friends-and-family dinner before we go to the campaign night celebration, she told the magazine.

When it became clearer that night that Trump was going to win the election, Harris recalled a conversation she had with her godson.

My godson, Alexander, who was seven years old at the time, came up to me, crying, and said, Auntie Kamala, theyre not going to let that man win, are they? And you know the babies in your life I held him, she said.

I mean, it still brings me pain to remember how he felt, and what it made me feel, which is that I needed to protect this child. I had one way, in my mind, I thought the evening would go. And then there was the way it turned out. And so by the time I took the stage, I had ripped up my notes, and all I had was Alexander in my heart. And I took the podium and I said, I intend to fight. I intend to fight, she said.

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Kamala Harris featured on cover of Elle magazine's November issue | TheHill - The Hill