On the same day that writers at the New York Post disrespectfully deemed the vice president a potential “DEI president,” Kamala Harris spoke to voters on the ground in New Orleans, encouraging other young women to follow in her footsteps.
“I grew up in a community where it was an extended family of people who told all of us as children we are young, gifted, and Black; that we could do anything; that there was no boundary or border to what we could pursue or believe,” Harris said in her opening remarks, crediting her upbringing for an inherited spirit of tenacity.
On the Global Black Economic Forum’s stage, she spoke fondly of everyday figures like her Uncle Sherman and Ms. Shelton, who spoke life into her amidst doubt—a goal that she now hopes to champion during a second term as vice president of the U.S.
“I’ll say, in particular to the younger women who are here: You are, on many occasions in your life, going to be in a room where you will be the only one that looks like you or has had your life experience,” Harris said. “What I demand of you is that you always walk in those rooms with your chin up and your shoulders back, knowing everybody here is in that room with you expecting that you will carry the voice that is the strength and power of your voice.”
Without mentioning the former president’s name, Harris openly hit on points of contingency with conservatives highlighting the Biden-Harris ticket: promises such as promoting women’s bodily autonomy, lowering the maternal mortality rate, tax cuts for first-time homeowners, raising the federal minimum wage, and erasing medical debt from credit scores; all efforts that she thinks will help push Black women and the families they unite forward.
“We have a plan,” Harris reiterated throughout her speech.
Her points fell on the ears of young voters leaning away from the Democratic party after the June 27 presidential debate. One of them was Howard alumnus Loren Dooley, who said the in-person appearance helped her regain confidence in the Biden-Harris team’s ability to lead the nation for another four years.
“She [Harris] felt more real, more relatable in the moment. Her anecdotes and stories really resonated with me,” Dooley said. “She [Harris] shined bright in comparison to Biden’s debate performance. I was really impressed with her ability to speak passionately to the audience without a script.”
This was the exact impact that Alphonso David, president of the Global Black Economic Forum, was hoping to have.
“We’ve all heard the saying ‘You can’t be what you can’t see,’ and we can’t overstate the power and impact that seeing Vice President Harris on stage has for Black and Brown girls and women,” David said. “The Global Black Economic Forum’s three days of programming featured some of the world’s most accomplished people in business and politics, all showing that there is no limit to what our community can be.”
Moderator Caroline Wanga, CEO of Essence, echoed those sentiments by stamping Harris with a seal of approval from the company she deemed a “cultural artifact,” and motivated others to join alongside the two in fighting for change.
“There has never been a bigger time for you to believe that you can shift the circumstance of the community that you have not just [seen survive] but [become] exactly what it should be, based on how you contribute and exist,” Wanga said. “I’m asking you, as being a part of that community, to not do anything unearned and do everything to understand what will happen if, in 122 days, you go vote.”