On Wednesday afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris addressed a teary crowd. Not even the bright November sun could shake off the despondency these Harris supporters felt after Donald Trump was announced President-elect.
Hundreds gathered in front of Frederick Douglass Memorial Hall at Howard University to hear the Vice President’s concession speech. This time around, no Stevie Wonder or Beyoncé played on the loudspeakers to greet the crowd. No one was cheering. Just silence. “I’ve never heard Howard this quiet,” a student observed. “It’s like we’re at a funeral.”
Though Wednesday’s crowd size was smaller than the previous night’s, which had gathered to potentially celebrate a Harris victory, the intensity of emotions were just as strong.
“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for,” Harris said to a rapt crowd. “But hear me when I say that the light of America’s promise will always burn bright.”
Three Howard students—Rebbie Davis, Sylvia Nganga, and Courtney Gill—told Washingtonian they were “disappointed” and “terrified.” Davis, a pre-law student, wants a recount of votes in key swing states and thinks “there’s a double standard” when it comes to President-elect Trump. “What job do you know where you can get fired twice and then get hired back as the CEO of that job?” Davis says.
Davis says she and Nganga were moved by Harris’s decision to be at “the Mecca” today. “As an HBCU family we are gonna show up regardless,” Davis said. “That’s why she wanted it on her campus: this is home for her.”
The women reflected on the moment they found out that Harris had lost. “It says something about the country we live in,” Gill said. “As a Black woman who came from Howard with so much hope in her, I saw myself in her. I feel like everyone on this campus and every Black woman in the country just saw ourselves in her. No matter what we do, no matter how qualified we are, or how many steps we take to get where we need to be, it’s just never enough.”
Throughout the event, supporters discussed the results, sharing their stories of going from hope to despair on Election Night as the electoral college votes ticked up in favor of Trump. “It just feels like we’re really going back,” a young man told a woman wearing a jacket sporting the logo of A.K.A., Harris’s sorority. “It’s been like that for a while,” she replied.
Through tear-stained faces and long hugs, supporters listened as Harris reminisced on the past 107 days of her campaign. “The fight for our country is always worth it,” Harris said as American flags began to rise into the air.
As Harris concluded her address by assuring the crowd of a peaceful transfer of power, Beyoncé once again filled the air.
