By Jordyn Britton
Howard University News Service
Sobs could be heard throughout the crowd on the Yard at Howard University the day after the 2024 election determined thatDonald J Trump would become the 47th president of the United States.
Harris-Walz supporters had been fearing this outcome since campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond emerged at 12:45 a.m. Wednesday to address the discouraged crowd. Attendees at the rally had been following the results for nearly five hours after the first polls closed at 8 p.m.
The look on Richmond’s face as he approached the podium was synonymous with disappointment. However, his message was not one of concession, but one of continued hope. As he arrived to send the crowd home, he announced that Vice President Kamala Harris would not be making an appearance.
“We still have votes to count,” Richmond said. “We still have states that have not been called yet. We will continue overnight to fight to make sure that every vote is counted, that every voice has spoken.”
“So you won’t hear from the vice president tonight, but you will hear from her tomorrow,” he explained “She will be back here tomorrow to address not only the HU family, not only to address her supporters, but to address the nation. So thank you. We believe in you. May God bless you. May God keep you. Thank you all.”
What began as a HU party in every way, slowly turned into a gathering reminiscent of a memorial as Harris-Walz supporters began to realize that the polls were reflecting what they had dreaded since July 21 when President Joe Biden endorsed his vice president to be his successor in the Oval Office. Harris had just months to put together a campaign and gather the support necessary to put her there.
Emotions went from anger to sadness, as students and supporters of the vice president expressed disappointment because she did not address the crowd.
Some could be heard turning on the vice president, upset at her failure to appear at the end of a long night. Parents, standing over their children as they slept on the grass past midnight, and older supporters writhing in pain from standing for hours felt snubbed by the woman whom they had come to support — not getting so much as a hello from their candidate.
Some even went as far as to incorporate stereotypes about her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, into their reasoning. “This is what they do,” referring to AKA’s and perpetuating other stereotypes that are often waged against the organization.
Others were vocal about their disappointment in other ways, taking to social media in support of the vice president, saying things like “disappointed, but never surprised.” Black women were explicitly vocal about what they described as the country’s constant degradation of their demographic even when faced with an alternative as eccentric as the president-elect.
“I’m disappointed, but not surprised,” said Bailey Sonko, a senior psychology major and political science minor at Howard. “I’m thankful for Kamala because she inspired us and gave us hope, but the results simply reflected the America that we have always known. It’s sad that we live in a world where misinformation holds more power than education, and the voter statistics directly reflected that.”
“At the end of the day, Black men and women made it to the polls, and we showed out for her,” Sonko said. “We gave it our best shot. The damage is already done, though, so moving forward, I encourage everyone to remain as optimistic as possible no matter how hard that may be and focus on the things we can control. Because if we let fear win, then we’ve already lost the battle.”
As the sun rose on Wednesday, the vice president announced her plans to address supporters on the campus of Howard University that afternoon. Supporters once again took to the yard in anticipation of her remarks.
The crowd that gathered was much different in spirit than the one on Tuesday. Each attendee donned Harris-Walz gear in some capacity. Politicians wore dark sunglasses masking their eyes, bloodshot from tears. AKAs dressed in pink and green to honor their soror. A solemn quietness held the crowd as the campaign’s upbeat playlist rang throughout the field. Songs like “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” elicited irritation and anger among onlookers who felt the day called for much more somber tunes.
On the Yard, students waited to hear their fellow Bison address the audience, feeling the weight of this loss in a way that others in attendance couldn’t relate.
“I think this loss was more devastating than ones in the past, because not only did Kamala give me a feeling of hope in a dark time politically, but she had spent her entire career preparing for a presidency,” said Nyhri Mudie, a Howard University senior.
“It’s the perfect example of how this country is set up. A Black woman can be twice as qualified and be the obvious choice, but the position will be given to an entitled white boy who’s had everything handed to him by his father.”
The crowd erupted in a frenzy as Harris’ pick for vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her husband, Doug Emhoff, and children, arrived first to sit by the podium awaiting the Democratic nominee. And through tears, the people chanted “Kamala” as the vice president emerged to give her concession speech.
“The light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.”
As Harris approached the podium, the animosity and anger that was born the night before faded into the root of those emotions, which was nothing short of devastation. Harris-Walz supporters settled into their feelings, which manifested physically from quiet whimpers to heart-wrenching sobs as the vice president began to speak.
“My heart is full today, full of gratitude for the trust you have placed in me, full of love for our country and full of resolve,” Harris said. “The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for.”
But hear me when I say,,” she continued, “the light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.”
Vice President Harris expressed her words with grace as she noted that when she congratulated the president-elect, she also made sure to let him know her commitment to a smooth transfer of power between the administrations and that she and President Biden are open to helping him in any way they can.
Listening through tears, supporters gazed at the vice president with heads held high, but not holding back the emotional realities of what this next presidential administration might look like for them, their families and their friends. The harrowing truths brought most of the crowd to tears. Attendees on the phone could be overheard saying, “This doesn’t feel real; it feels like someone is going to come out and say, ‘This is a joke,’ but I know they’re not.”
With a nod to her alma mater’s motto, the vice president closed her remarks with this: “The adage is, only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. I know many people feel like we are entering a dark time, but for the benefit of us all, I hope that is not the case. But here’s the thing, America, if it is, let us fill the sky with the light of a brilliant, brilliant billion of stars. The light, the light of optimism, of faith, of truth and service.”
After the vice president thanked the crowd and walked off hand in hand with her husband, the crowd consoled one another through hugs and words of comfort and affirmation. Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha held hands by the AKA tree on the Yard and sang through tears in honor of their soror while onlookers observed silently out of respect. Many were in shock, and some were coming to terms; the sadness of the moment was not lost on anyone.
Jordyn Britton is a reporter for HUNewsService.com.
