As they watch Harris, Howard alums prideful
Fellow graduates enthusiastic for new vice president
Two local Howard University alumni say they are “full of pride” as they await the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and his Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Harris, a Howard University alumna, is the first woman, Black woman and Indian woman to be sworn into the second highest office in the land.
“We are waiting for Wednesday to get here,” Vikki Walton, president of the local Howard University Alumni Association, said. Howard University in Washington, D.C., is one of the leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the country.
“We are so proud of our community of alumni we call the Bison who are filled with the same kind of excellence, passion and love for our university,” Walton, of Merrillville, said.
Walton was joined by Chelsea Whittington, owner of C WHITT PR, and a lifelong Gary resident to share their enthusiasm for their fellow alumni’s role in the new administration.
“It’s like this club we have been inducted to again. It’s rejuvenated the energy and strength, the whole HBCU experience,” Whittington said.
The women attribute the experience of attending an HBCU and the sense of shared community it created among those who did as a major contributor to their personal success and that of their fellow graduates like Harris.
“Howard has changed all of us, made us and defined us. Being a historical Black college is very different from a traditional academic institution,” Walton said.
Whittington concurred.
“It’s like when I see Vice President-elect Harris on television or online, while I was not there when she was there, I feel like I know her,” Whittington said. “I know she walked the
same halls as I did. I know she had the same experiences and to now know that same woman is going to the White House, how amazing it that?”
“This is us,” Walton added.
The women said instructors pushed students hard and made them know they could do anything.
“It really molded and shaped who we are today. To this day there is nothing you can put before me that you can tell me I can’t do, I can’t vie for, I can’t compete in and be at the table,” Whittington said.
“I can’t emphasize the excellence in our community when it comes to educational performance. I’m so proud of Kamala Harris, vice president-elect, giving us a platform to showcase what these universities have done and what they can do,” Walton said.
Whittington said she had planned on being on Howard’s campus in Washington for the inauguration but due to the civil unrest canceled those plans. Walton said she was on campus Nov. 7 when the announcement came down that Biden and Harris had won the election.
“On campus all I saw was a sea of pink and green colors on campus to celebrate. It’s was extremely exciting and very humbling,” Walton said.
“That’s what we were going to do, raise her up. We are so proud of you. The energy on campus, that’s what I was looking forward to,” Whittington said.
Both women say even though they will not be traveling they will be donning their Howard gear and watching the inauguration on television. They are hopeful about the role she will play moving forward and expect to see her inserting herself into environments and platforms other vice presidents could not or did not think to. The women said Harris will have her experiences at an HBCU, as a prosecutor and as a senator to inform her decisions.
“I think she’ll have a broad perspective. She’s been there… I trust that she knows the experiences many of us have gone through,” Whittington said.
Vanessa Allen McCloud, executive director of the Urban League of Northwest Indiana, said the inauguration of the first African American woman days after the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, is fitting.
“I feel that Dr. Martin Luther King paved the way for so many opportunities for the African American population, and not only for African American population, but so many others,” McCloud said.
After the Civil Rights Movement, King set the tone and se the pace for people of color to feel empowered.
“We could obtain a presence in the Senate, the House and look at the presidency,” McCloud said. She looks back to the election of President Barack Obama, a moment in time her grandmother had hoped for but did not live to see.
“She didn’t think it would ever have happened. Now to see Kamala Harris nominated as Vice Presidentelect is just outstanding and overwhelming for the Black community,” she said.
“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. paved the way for a lot of opportunities,” McCloud said.
King called for unity between black and white people.
“All of that is a concept we’re still working toward, but at least we see some movement,” McCloud said. The violence and insurrection seen at the Capitol Jan. 6 brought into focus the issue of race and “really stunned all of us.”
“People are speaking up and standing up against that,” she said.
McCloud is hopeful what happened evolves into more conversations about implicit bias and race with stakeholders and business leaders who can make a difference. She cited Meals on Wheels of Northwest Indiana and Strack and Van Til as firms who, in the past few years, have worked on diversity training with their staffs.
“It’s time for those in leadership roles to take the lead,” she said.
Dr. James Wallace, director of the IU Northwest Office of Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs, said while Harris’ role as vice president will be significant, it is important to remember she ran for president but was not accepted. If Obama’s election was sort of the climate of the civil rights movement, having Harris as vice president underscores there is still a long way to go to get people to accept women as leaders, he said.
Wallace said the foundation was laid by King, but there remains a long way to go. Wallace said toward the end of his life, King shifted focus to economic disparity.
“I think we still have a long way to go as a nation to be a nation that values diversity as its strength, not seeing it as something detrimental. We are still making progress and moving in the right direction with tough authentic dialogues surrounding race and economic disparity,” Wallace said. “We have to determine once and for all if we are who we say we are.”