AKA sorority sisters filled with pride as Kamala Harris steps in for Joe Biden weeks before DNC
Felicia Stanton Gray was not sure she would ever see a Black woman — let alone a “soror” — in a presidential contest.
But Sunday afternoon, what felt like a dream for many became a reality, as Vice President Kamala Harris, an Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority member, entered the race for president.
“As a Black woman, to see that she will potentially be the first Black woman nominee for the president of the United States — it's not something that I thought I would see this soon,” Gray, president of AKA’s Theta Omega Chapter, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
"Our vice president's journey underscores what the mission of our sorority is, our commitment to service and to leadership that we've championed over a century. She's exemplary of that.”
Many AKAs, like Gray, were shocked by the news that President Joe Biden would leave the race, but they were filled with an enormous sense of pride as he endorsed Harris just weeks before the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago.
“In this geopolitical environment, and sometimes (with) the views of people of color, and especially a woman leading, I honestly did not think that Kamala Harris would even get a nod,” AKA Central Regional Director Kiahna Davis told the Sun-Times. “To hear that, it made me proud as a woman, and it made me proud as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.”
As a nonprofit organization, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., remains non-partisan, but across the country, individual members have begun mobilizing in masses for their “soror.”
“Kamala Harris is a member of the D9 (the “Divine Nine”) and she reflects the values that exist in us already,” Davis said. “We should not be surprised when people are energized because they see a path for their future, in the present, sitting there at the top of the ticket.”
AKA was founded on the campus of Howard University in 1908, making it the country’s oldest historically Black sorority. The organization, which is headquartered on the South Side of Chicago, now has more than 300,000 initiated members worldwide.
Harris joined the sorority as an undergraduate student at Howard in 1986.
Earlier this month, she delivered the keynote address at AKA’s biennial national convention in Dallas. Speaking to an audience of more than 20,000 members, Harris acknowledged the role AKA leaders past and present have played in shaping American politics.
“Throughout our history, the leaders of Alpha Kappa Alpha have stood up, spoken out, and done the work to build a brighter future for our nation, including, of course, in 2020, when, during the height of a pandemic, you helped elect Joe Biden president of the United States and me as the first woman elected vice president of the United States,” she said.
And Harris made clear to fellow AKAs that their work was not yet done.
“In this moment, once again, our nation is counting on the leaders in this room to guide us forward; to energize, organize, and mobilize; to register folks to vote and to get them to the polls in November,” Harris said. “Because we know, when we organize, mountains move. When we mobilize, nations change. And when we vote, we make history.”
AKA will not officially endorse any political candidate, but it along with fellow Black Greek-letter organizations — known as the "Divine Nine" — have launched a massive voter mobilization campaign.
In a statement released Monday, the Divine 9 Council of Presidents said they had met and agreed on a campaign to “activate the thousands of chapters and members in our respective organizations to ensure strong voter turn-out in the communities we serve.”
Davis believes the power of the D9 network is going to drive “historic” voter turnout this November.
“For a young sorority sister now, that is sitting at a college or university, who is trying to make her decision of career choice and wants to achieve the best in her life and break glass ceilings, she can see it in Kamala Harris now,” Davis told the Sun-Times. “And for that, regardless of your politics … whether you agree with her or not, you have to be inspired.”
Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller was at a gathering with fellow AKAs when news broke that Biden had endorsed Harris.
“We literally held hands and said a prayer because this was a moment that we're going to remember for the rest of our lives, and the fact that we were all together at that moment, that’s what it's all about to be in a sorority,” Miller told the Sun-Times. “To see our own sorority sister at the top of a ticket in the most powerful country in the world, she is representative of the hopes and dreams and everything this sorority was built on.”
Miller, who was an AKA at Howard at the same time as Harris, immediately jumped into action; “I can't even describe it. I was up all night.”
“As an elected official, I am truly just thrilled to see someone with her level of experience and expertise be at the top of the ticket. And for her to share my love of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, as well as Howard University ... that is also another piece of history and legacy that is just insurmountable.”
Miller was one of more than 40,000 people to join a virtual call Sunday night organized by the political advocacy group Win With Black Women. By the time the call had ended, the group said it had raised over $1.5 million for candidate Harris.
“We're just all ready to work and do this,” Miller said. “It invigorated so many people from young and old, across generations, across ethnicity.”
