‘Black Women Did This’: Alpha Kappa Alpha Celebrates Soror Kamala Harris’ Win In Atlanta
Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a historically Black sorority, gathered Saturday to recognize the win of one of their own, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. “Black girls can do and be anything,” Cherry Collier said.
Stephannie Stokes / WABE
After the presidential race was called Saturday, thousands in Atlanta took to the streets to celebrate the victory of President-elect Joe Biden.
Among them was an especially proud group: members of the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is one of their own. She joined while at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
To support her election, Atlanta members of the sorority gathered Saturday along Auburn Avenue. They were with another Alpha Kappa Alpha member, Congresswoman-elect Nikema Williams.
“I think back to me initially running for office, and someone told me that I should use the name Nikki, and not Nikema. Then having a vice president named Kamala, who was mocked literally for her name. And we know that goes back to her heritage and who she is, and seeing her being in the second-highest office in this country,” Williams said. “As a Black woman in politics, this means the world to me.”
“This is awesome for every little brown girl that looks like Kamala Harris,” said Shakila Henderson-Baker, who lives in Newton County. “So let me tell you — the AKAs, we are so excited. We are so ready. People are going to get tired of looking at pink and green. But that’s what you’re going to have to look at for the next four years.”
“I can’t tell you the last time that I’ve been so proud,” said Rochelle Dennis of Clayton County. “It is putting on display for the rest of the world and for the rest of the nation, what we as Black women, and we in the Black community and we in the Divine Nine already know about each other — that we are, we are formidable, we are intelligent, we are sharp, we are the best of the best. And to have her in that office in that position just is an absolute validation of everything that we know, on a day-to-day basis.”
“I think she’s first so that we don’t have to have another first, and I think it’s a step in the right direction,” said Inga Williams, a Howard graduate like Harris. “And Black woman did this. And it’s time that we received the recognition. We built our own pedestals, we celebrated ourselves, and this is the confirmation of our work.”
“I think it’s amazing,” said Cherry Collier, who grew up in Atlanta and graduated from Spelman. “Nikema, Kamala –Black girls can do and be anything, anything they want to be. And that’s what we know. We can do anything.”
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