But a violent pandemic and the January 6 violent siege of the United States Capitol by a pro-Trump crowd stood in its way.
Then, on Wednesday, Murray – the founder of a pro-Harris group, Mamas for Momala – celebrated the opening just as she had volunteered during the course of the campaign: remotely. She wore a sweater that represents the Alpha Kappa Alpha fraternity that she and Harris share, ate a special lunch from her mother’s gumbo and joined her fellow “Mamas” for a Facebook observation party.
Across the country this week, black women followed suit – dressing, toasting and rejoicing at home and online as the former US senator and California attorney general made history.
“I will not allow the plans and plots of these white supremacist terrorists to interfere with the joy I have,” said Murray, 39, from his home in the suburbs of Washington, in northern Virginia. “This moment belongs to all of us who work so hard.”
‘We deliver’
In office, Harris “will be one but will bring 10,000,” said Glynda Carr, president and CEO of Higher Heights for America, to paraphrase the late poet Maya Angelou. “She is a woman. She is a black woman. She is a black woman, daughter of immigrants. She belongs to a historically Black Greek Letter organization. She went to a historically black college.”
“While she rules, she brings those voices with her,” said Carr, whose organization focuses on building the political power of black women.
In lobbying then-candidate Biden, “I made a promise that, literally, if you select a black woman as vice president, black women will hand her over to you,” Brown said on Wednesday.
“And we deliver.”
But Brown’s work in the 2020 elections came at a huge price. She hired Covid-19 in June during the election campaign and suffered death threats for her public activism. And over the weekend, a longtime Georgia organizer Brown worked with died – another heartbreak at the parade of Americans lost to the pandemic.
Arbor and pearls
Brown said his emotions on Wednesday oscillate between “extreme hope” and deep sadness over injustice and racial divisions that still persist.
But she was determined to celebrate. She watched the opening on Atlanta television – adorned with pearls, a “dazzling” pair of Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers and an electric blue dress, presented by a friend to thank Brown for his part in transforming Georgia’s Democratic blue.
“At the end of the day, what black women have become masters of is not allowing the world to steal our joy,” said Brown.
Across the country, women of all ages and races drew their glue guns to honor Harris by decorating their Chuck Taylors, the brand she displayed so often in the campaign.
DeVaughn, a grandmother from Austin, Texas, who works part time at an Amazon distribution center, said that women identify with Harris’ high-low style: “elegant and sophisticated” pearls combined with very, very comfortable shoes. “.
This month’s violent siege on the US Capitol saddened DeVaughn because, she said, it was “very disrespectful” to the historic nature of Harris’s victory. The pandemic and heavy security, she felt, had robbed Harris of the chance to enjoy his day as fully as his predecessors.
But DeVaughn said that nothing would stop her from celebrating this week. Her inaugural wardrobe: a black silk cocktail dress and purple pearl-lined chucks.
For many, the party started days before Harris took his oath on Wednesday. On an online “Sip” Sunday sponsored by Higher Heights of America and Essence magazine, a who’s who of black women in politics celebrated Harris’ success and his role in it.
They also had fun.
Spinderella – the DJ known for being part of the hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa – amused the virtual crowd. Samara Davis, of the Black Bourbon Society, taught participants how to prepare The Kamala, a blend of sour whiskey whose messy raspberries and mint garnish evoked the distinctive pink and green colors of the AKA fellowship.
Higher Heights’ Carr and other activists also said they are preparing for the political battles that will begin this week. This includes building support for Biden’s Covid-19 recovery aid package, raising the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour and helping to raise another black woman to the U.S. Senate to fill the void now that Harris has risen to office. higher.
A similar path
Murray defended President Barack Obama’s barrier-breaking campaign more than a dozen years ago, but he felt compelled to do even more by the Biden-Harris slate – given the parallels between his life and Harris’s story.
She was also raised in California by a single mother and traveled around the country to attend Howard University, one of the most important HBCUs in the country. She promised AKA in her second year, graduated in 2003 and graduated in law from Harvard.
Last year, she joined forces with more than 5,000 women across the country to help make Wednesday’s story happen – calling, writing and texting voters in battle states, from Arizona to Florida, on the eve of election day. Among his efforts: sending texts to 200,000 Pennsylvania residents, encouraging them to register to vote. They also sent 20,000 postcards to low-propensity voters in Georgia to encourage them to vote in both the presidential election and the second round of the state Senate on January 5.
On Wednesday, Murray was always busy. She joined her group’s Facebook observation party. She followed the inauguration on television with her husband and children. She texted almost constantly to her sisterhood sisters and other friends.
And when Harris, resplendent in a purple coat and dress, took the oath of office, Murray joined his two daughters, aged 5 and 2, in wild screams.
“The best parts of American society were on display today – in contrast to what we saw two weeks ago,” said Murray. “It looks like a black cloud has risen.”