(Photo: Derrian Carter)
Days before the Nov. 3 election, vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris visited Morehouse College for an HBCU Students for Biden event to encourage those who haven’t voted to head to the polls.
Harris spoke about COVID-19, poverty, systemic racism and climate change, among other issues.
“Coming to Atlanta, especially if you are Black and hold elected office in America is like coming back to the womb. Because Atlanta represents so much about who we are as America. Atlanta represents the hopes, the dreams and the fight to make real the premise of America,” Harris said in her opening remarks.
Sen. Harris was a fan favorite of the Black women in the audience, specifically to the women of Spelman College, Morehouse’s sister institution.
“I feel empowered and I am so excited for the outcome [of the election]. It feels great to see someone that looks like me and being empowered within that. Looking at her doing this makes me feel like graduating from my HBCU will grant me with opportunities to do whatever I possibly want to do in this world,” Jazmin Thomas (Spelman ‘21) said.
Addison Jackson, a Morehouse student, said Harris is related because of her HBCU background. She is a Howard University graduate and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
“The fact that [Kamala] went to an HBCU and knows how it is to be here and the importance of coming to an HBCU, it really feels that we have someone on our side going into office. Someone that knows our struggle and is willing to advocate for us because she has been where we have,” said Jackson.
A majority of the attendees were local Georgia residents and students of the Atlanta University Center that houses Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University and Morris Brown College.
There was also a large presence of Indian, Chinese, and South-Asian American voters in the crowd.