Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C., is referred to as the “Mecca.” Since 1867, it has been a gathering place for blacks in the United States and from around the world. Its alumni include former US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and Vice President Kamala Harris. This was the location where Harris chose to deliver her concession speech on Wednesday.
I was there to cover the event, but it wasn’t my first time on the Howard University campus. While attending college at Syracuse University in New York, my friends and I would take road trips every year to attend Howard’s homecoming, which had just celebrated its anniversary. Centenary In October. But the jubilant atmosphere that usually surrounds events in The Yard, the main arena on campus, was replaced with sadness on Wednesday as crowds gathered to hear her concession speech.
People of all ages and ethnicities stood on campus where remnants of Election Night were still visible. Many of them were Black women who attended a Harris viewing party Tuesday night and returned despite not getting enough sleep.
“I feel like if I’m going to be here to celebrate with her, I should also be here when she accepts her loss in this case,” said Jaylene Smith, 26, a D.C. native.
This kind of support has fueled Harris’ campaign since its inception when about 44,000 participants took part in a Zoom call organized by Win With Black Women founder Jotaka Eddy. That call and simultaneous calls raised $1.6 million in one evening.
Smith says she also voted for Clinton in 2016, and the loss appears to be similar. “Sometime from now, maybe I’ll feel hopeful, maybe I’ll feel different,” Smith said.
Cheryl Estrada
Deborah (who did not share her last name), a Black woman in her 70s and a second-generation Washington native, was also present at Harris’ concession speech.
“I felt like this was a good way to shut myself down,” she told me. She also brought her young grandson, making it his first political event. “The prospect of having Kamala Harris as our president means the world to me,” she said.
Regarding the next four years, Deborah said she has both hope and dread.
“I hope we can see something different than what we showed throughout Donald Trump’s campaign,” she said. “But because of the way he ran his campaign, and the people around him, it leaves me with a little bit of a sense of fear of what might come.”
Waiting for Harris to take to the stage, I also heard “Ski wee“Known as members of its Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. they greeted each other. Founded in 1908 in Howard, it now has more than 1,000 chapters in 11 countries and all 50 U.S. states.
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When Harris took the stage and began her speech just before 4:30 p.m., the somber crowd began cheering ravenously, but many of them shed tears as well. Harris said that accepting the election result is “a fundamental principle of American democracy,” in addition to loyalty to the American Constitution, conscience, and God.
“I know that many people feel that we are entering into a dark time,” she said during the speech. But for all our sakes, I hope that’s not the case. But this is it, America. If so, let us fill the sky with the light of a billion bright stars, the light of optimism, faith, truth and service.
While I was taking notes, at one point, I put my pen and notebook down to comfort a young fan who started crying. Attendees gathered around her with words of comfort: “It’s going to be okay” and “We got this.”
Although supporters grappled with their aspirations for Harris’ presidency to be over, there was a sense of resilience walking out of The Yard, a sense that history-making there would continue.
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