The hope, and worry, that Illinois Black female Democratic delegates see in Kamala Harris’ moment
Vice President Kamala Harris is poised to secure the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination — a historic moment that some of Illinois’ Black women delegates say is incomparable.
The prospect of the many firsts Harris represents if she won it all — the first woman, Black woman and South Asian woman to be president of the United States — is surreal to them.
Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) and currently the most-tenured woman on the City Council, said it’s a milestone she’s excited to witness.
“Wow, wow. My inside quivers, chills to just the thought of it. Chills go over your body,” Mitts said. “It has always been difficult for a woman, and particularly a Black woman. To have one in the White House — know that there’s still hope for women in the world. We can still be that leader. We can be the top leader, as it should be. We’ve been leaders all our life.”
A lasting legacy
The weight of Harris’ entry into the presidential race echoed through Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton as she thought of her four daughters — and of the generations yet to come.
“I've always said, you can't be what you can't see. And the idea that my daughters could see this process in our democracy that could potentially really shatter this ultimate glass ceiling, and let them know what is possible,” Stratton said. “Not only will it mean so much for those of us who will watch her make history… It will mean so much for generations that will come long after me, long after I'm gone.”
Stratton made history herself in 2019 as the first Black lieutenant governor of Illinois and first Black woman to hold the role.
Assuming the mantle of those firsts left questions in Stratton’s mind, like how she might be received or how people would react when she might be the only Black woman in a room. To prepare herself for the moment, Stratton traveled back to her rural roots in Stephenville, Mississippi, where her formerly enslaved ancestors had established a town.
“And I wanted to feel the dirt. And just feel it in my hand and remind myself that those are my roots, too. And that while I live in Chicago, I am also connected to rural Illinois,” Stratton said.
The trip grounded her. It’s Stratton’s family roots — from her great great grandparents who built a town to her grandfather who helped end racially restrictive covenants in Cook County to her parents who worked in safety net hospitals and Chicago Public Schools — that helped her to stop doubting where she is today.
“We draw upon our history and our ancestors and the things that they not just poured into us, but things that they've prayed about for us, so that we could be in these positions to really make a difference,” Stratton said. “And when I think about Vice President Harris and this opportunity for her to lead our nation… and what her parents and her ancestors poured into her to get her to this moment, it’s just overwhelming in many ways.”
Harris’ likely nomination, and her history of championing issues like reproductive rights, has brought with it a renewed sense of excitement nearly eight years after Hillary Clinton “touched that glass ceiling,” Stratton said.
“I think about how the GOP’s response was really, in so many ways, to just start destroying the rights that got us there…” Stratton said. “And now we have another chance to really shatter it. And I just feel like this new wave of hope that we're seeing is both an act of defiance as well as an act of resilience.”
‘Eminently qualified for the job’
Carol Moseley Braun, the first woman senator from Illinois and first Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, knows Harris will need to “gird her loins and get ready for every possible permutation of every stereotype you've ever heard of to be hurled at you.”
To Moseley Braun, it’s not a matter of if, but when. And they already have, with critics pushing racist and sexist narratives in the wake of Harris’ announcement.
“Just think about every stereotype you’ve ever heard about women — line those up. And every stereotype you ever heard about Black people — line those up. And unfortunately, she can get caught in the crossfires of that,” Moseley Braun said.
Harris should allow the vitriol to roll off her back rather than get under her skin, Moseley Braun said, and push back in an attempt to “jujitsu the criticisms back on the people who are throwing them at her.”
Moseley Braun’s time in office was dogged by controversies, and she was quick to strike back at critics. Moseley Braun likened one conservative columnist to a Klansman, though she later apologized. She looks back on the reactions riled out of her now with regret.
“I did not handle it well as I was coming through,” Moseley Braun said. “I would get really upset at people, like ‘How dare they say things about me.’”
While Harris’ history-making candidacy has renewed excitement in the Democratic Party’s ticket, it’s Harris’ qualifications that make her the best candidate, Moseley Braun said.
“She has got the capability, the credentials, the background, and the capacity to be a great president,” Moseley Braun said. “She's a Black woman candidate who's eminently qualified for the job. She's got everything going on.”
‘She’s roaring now’
Born in Tippo, Mississippi, Mitts’ family fled the state via ferry in the middle of the night for neighboring Arkansas in the wake of Emmett Till’s murder just a few towns over. Mitts said her mother was afraid her brothers would be targeted. It’s growing up in a large family in small-town Arkansas as the Civil Rights movement gained steam where Mitts’ memories start.
“I used to work in the fields eight hours a day for four dollars a day. We were sharecroppers,” Mitts said.
Mitts’ mother would traverse the rural roads to encourage neighbors to vote and take them to the polls. It was an eye-opening memory “that’s in me now” Mitts said as she works to turn out the vote for Harris.
“It told me: that’s the only way you make change when you don't like something, when something is not right — is to cast that vote,” Mitts said. And it’s a message she’s urging this November: “Vote for this country, vote for democracy, vote because the civil rights movement is on the table, women's rights, everything is up for grabs.”
In the face of inevitable attacks that come with being in the public eye, it was also Mitts’ mother who taught Mitts how to ignore detractors, be true to her values and focus on the bigger picture that fuels her public service. It’s advice she would give to Harris — to not internalize racist and sexist attacks — and stay true to herself.
“We are built to face the attacks. We were built to face that from the time we were born,” Mitts said. “Keep smiling… Keep that spirit. Now that's the spirit that gives people hope.”
Despite the last-minute change at the top ticket, Mitts said she’s confident Harris is ready to meet the moment.
“I felt like during my career that I have laid down so that others could rise up. I went through that journey in my life, to allow others to move up. I stayed still. When the time came for me to rise, then that was my time,” Mitts said. “President Biden decided to step out to allow Kamala to rise.”
“She’s roaring now,” Mitts said of Harris. “It’s gonna be a roar, one like never was before. That’s what I see.”
‘It’s a new energy’
Ald. Michelle Harris (8th) was at the airport on her way to visit family when her phone started lighting up with texts and calls Sunday that President Joe Biden had dropped out of the presidential race.
“My family's like, ‘You promised you wouldn't be all on the phone,'” Harris recounts with a laugh. “Then I get one call. And it's somebody calling me, they say, ‘Guess what? Your boy, he's out.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’”
Michelle Harris, a “super Joe Biden fan,” thought Biden would weather the calls to step down. But his endorsement of Harris as his replacement left her “thrilled.”
“It's a new energy…The campaign now has gotten that boost and that excitement that didn't exist before,” Michelle Harris said. “I'm just super excited about having a woman sitting in that seat. I just think that the way that she'll take care of the United States of America, it'll be super different.”
Michelle Harris’ fellow Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority members were equally thrilled. Harris became a member of AKA during her time at Howard University and on Wednesday the presumptive nominee rallied Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. members a day after Black sororities and fraternities pledged to support Harris in an “unprecedented” get-out-the-vote campaign.
For Michelle Harris, her AKA sisters are an extension of her family.
They have been “the wind beneath my wings, because being on the local side can be a little overwhelming at times,” Harris said of being an alderman, “because you're so approachable and reachable and a lot of times it just becomes really overwhelming.”
Michelle Harris sees the scrutiny Biden has received because of his son Hunter Biden’s addiction issues as evidence of how political opponents will “use your family to hurt you.” But she’s confident Harris can continue to weather the vitriol that comes with the national stage. And support from the AKA sisterhood will be there, too.
“I just think all of those things will come back and really help her in terms of leading the country. To be selfless,” Michelle Harris said. “This is a great opportunity, again, for her to embrace the sisterhood — who will embrace her whether she wants us or not to get all involved. I think the sisterhood’s all in, 10,000%.”
Tessa Weinberg covers Chicago government and politics for WBEZ.