Kamala Harris surging just as black women are sensing their political power

Daryon @daryongeronimo
“I think candidates have figured out that you need to speak to and hear from black women and go there as opposed to expecting them to come to you,” @KamalaHarris


Photo of the 38 line (AKA) sisters, taken in Spring 1986 on The Yard at Howard University. Harris is in the back row, fourth from the left


NEW ORLEANS—Senator Kamala Harris’s line sisters took up two rows. They had pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha, the nation’s oldest black sorority, alongside Harris at Howard University back in 1986. At Essence Festival here on Saturday, they wore matching T-shirts, and pink-and-green beaded necklaces to represent AKA’s signature colors. As soon as Harris acknowledged their presence and support, they cheered loudly and belted, “Skee-wee!”—the sorority’s high-pitched trademark greeting.

The scene unfolded at Spotify’s “Are & Be” venue, where Harris sat down with me for a wide-ranging podcast interview that will air July 15. Although she is often described as cautious and reserved, Harris was truly in her element among the thousands of black women, including many of her own line sisters, who had descended on New Orleans for Essence Festival—a major cultural event that attracted more than a half million people last year. The festival’s target demographic is arguably the most powerful voting bloc in the Democratic Party...





According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 55 percent of eligible black women voters cast ballots last November, which was six percentage points higher than the national turnout. And to Harris’s point, 70 percent of eligible black women voted in 2012—the highest turnout among all voting groups. It is impossible to envision any scenario in which a Democrat could win the nomination, much less the presidency, without considerable support from black women...

In our interview, Harris pointed to the role black women played in electing Barack Obama to the presidency twice and the Democrat Doug Jones to the U.S. Senate in Alabama. “The general public, through those elections, has started to acknowledge the significance and the power of black women in our democracy, both in terms of as an electoral force, but also a force of always fighting for the future of our country and to articulate the conscience of our nation.”


read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/harris-gains-momentum-after-democratic-debates/593752/

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