Vice President Kamala Harris could become America’s first woman president in January 2025.
What a difference a week makes?
Last week, President Joe Biden’s reelection bid ran on fumes as former President Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
However, a couple of days later news coverage shifted from the attempted assassination of Trump and the bump that a presidential convention often gives its nominee to President Biden bowing out of the race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the Oval Office.
Almost immediately, Democratic politicians, celebrities and organizations endorsed Vice President Harris, raising hundreds of millions of dollars in days.
However, the biggest movement behind Harris’ presidential bid might come from the Divine Nine, the four predominantly Black sororities and the five predominantly Black fraternities.
The National Pan-Hellenic Council, or Divine Nine, accounts for approximately four million college students and college-educated men and women across the globe, but mostly in America.
The four predominantly Black sororities include Harris’ Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
The five predominantly Black fraternities include Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.
Although the National Pan-Hellenic Council is a non-partisan collective and it cannot endorse a particular candidate, the Divine Nine still wants to create an “unprecedented voter registration, education and mobilization” effort ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The Divine Nine said its effort “will activate the thousands of chapters and members in our respective organizations to ensure strong voter turnout in the communities we serve.”
The predominantly Black fraternities and sororities have historically supported Harris as she rose in the political ranks.
Sam Cabral of BBC News reported, “Greek life on US university campuses typically evokes images of young White men or women living together in group houses and drinking booze from red solo cups.
“But Black Greek-letter clubs emerged at the turn of the 20th century as support systems that offered kinship to Black students experiencing segregation and social isolation at majority-White institutions.”
Harris’ Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. is the oldest predominantly Black sorority, beginning at Harris’ alma mater, Howard University in 1908.
The vice president has said that the organization, affectionately known as AKA, “changed her life.”
In 2019, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said, “Throughout your life, you find friends who become family and—like family—they shape you and your life experiences. For me, that was the women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. who became my sisters.”
That year, Harris launched her failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, which eventually went to Biden.
However, her sorors worked diligently for her campaign, canvassing and making phone calls to encourage citizens to head to the polls to cast their votes.
BBC News added, “When she became Mr. Biden’s running mate, images of AKAs and other Divine Niners, accessorized with heels and pearls, went viral for their Stroll to the Polls in Atlanta, in the battleground state of Georgia. The Biden-Harris ticket went on to narrowly win the state, powered in part by strong Black turnout.”
Alpha Kappa Alpha member Crystal Sewell said, “People are just energized. And really excited about possibilities [as] it relates to V.P. Harris and her candidacy.
Zoom calls by Black men and Black women have raised over $2 million for the Harris presidential campaign.
Each Zoom call last it a mere few hours but still raised millions.
On Wednesday, Harris spoke to 6,000 people at the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority national convention.
However, many in conservative media criticized her for speaking to a sorority instead of attending a speech given by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade faced criticism for his description of Zeta Phi Beta.
In a video circulating on social media, it appears that Kilmeade called the Zetas a “colored” sorority.
However, others say that he said “college” sorority.
Regardless, the sisterhood that exists within those sororities might prove a big boost for Harris’ presidential hopes.
In her speech to the Zetas, Harris spoke about abortion, gun control and Project 2025.
She said, “We face a choice between two different visions for our nation. One focused on the future, the other focused on the past. With your support, I am fighting for our nation’s future…
“So let us continue to fight because when we fight, we win.”
The first female vice-president emphasized Project 2025 when she talked about her opponent’s vision from America, which she believes will take the country backwards.
She said, “Now, can you believe they put that into writing? Nine hundred pages of it. This represents an outright attack on our children, our families, our future. The extremists want to take us back, but we are not going back.”
Project 2025 is the Heritage Foundation’s conservative manifesto for a potential second Trump term.
Plans in the manifesto amount to a stripping of the freedoms and rights of many minorities and women, while imposing a pro-Trump government that squashes any opposition to his ideals.
The proposed Project 2025 initiative has remained a popular discussion topic amongst voters since actress Taraji P. Henson encouraged BET Awards viewers to research the manifesto.
Since then, Google searches of Project 2025 has ballooned and many national media figures like MSNBC’s Joy Reid have dedicated entire television programs to the topic.
Likewise, many programs have dedicated time to discuss what a Harris victory in November would mean for the nation.
Harris added, “When we organize, mountains move. When we mobilize, nations change. And when we vote, we make history.”
