‘I am seen because of her.’ How Coast AKAs celebrated inauguration of VP Kamala Harris
Tierra Mackie watched her sorority sister make history on Tuesday.
When Vice President Kamala Harris was inaugurated, she became the country’s first woman vice president, and first Black and South Asian person to hold that role. She also became the first Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority member to serve as vice president. On the Coast and around the country, her AKA sisters like Mackie celebrated.
“I was staring at the TV today and I just said wow, she is my sorority sister, and she looks like me, and even though she doesn’t know that I exist, we have this connection because of the sorority,” said Mackie, who is technology co-chair for the Theta Zeta Omega Chapter on the Coast.
“And when I think about all of the hard work and the mission and the vision of our founders, what they envisioned our sorority becoming, she is the embodiment of that.”
The sorority designated Jan. 20 “Kamala D. Harris Day” and asked members to wear the color pink and pearl necklaces in her honor.
Harris joined AKA in 1986, when she was a sophomore at Howard University, the historically Black university in Washington, D.C. known as “The Mecca.” The sorority was founded at Howard in 1908 as the first Greek-letter organization for Black women. Today, it has more than 300,000 members, who participate in community service not only during college, but throughout their lives.
There are two “graduate chapters” for post-college women on the Mississippi Gulf Coast: Upsilon Chi Omega in Gulfport and Theta Zeta Omega in Biloxi. Their service emphases including raising money and awareness for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), promoting financial literacy, and college admissions assistance for teenagers.
Members spent the weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day volunteering to administer COVID-19 vaccines and hold workshops for teenagers at a virtual Youth Summit, among other service activities.
One notable Coast AKA member is state Rep. Sonya Williams-Barnes (D-Gulfport), who helped found the Upsilon Chi Omega Chapter in 1998. On Tuesday, she posted on Facebook a picture of a pearl necklace on top of a pair of pink Chuck Taylors, the shoes Harris was known for wearing on the campaign trail.
“IT IS THIS KINDA DAY!!” she wrote.
Coast members wear pink and pearls for Harris
AKA members on the Coast said they have been following Harris’s path for years.
“I’m not surprised at all that she’s such a great leader, because that’s part of our purpose,” said Theresa Haynes, president of the Theta Zeta Omega Chapter.
Theta Zeta Omega Vice President Bridgette Parks said she first encountered Harris when the now-vice president spoke on a panel on social justice at the AKA conference in Houston in 2018. Parks was impressed and started following her career.
Since then, she said, she and fellow AKAs and graduates of HBCUs (Parks graduated from Alcorn State University) have taken turns “comparing what interesting fact we’ve learned” about Harris.
On Wednesday, Parks watched on television as Harris officially became vice president of the United States.
“I sat and watched at my home in tears,” she said. “And in awe. At just, recognizing how far we’ve come.”
The inauguration was an emotional moment for many AKA members on the Coast.
“I feel like I am included because of her,” said Ja’Leasa Bolden. “I feel like as a Black woman, I am seen, because of her.”
Dozens of the 92 members of the Theta Zeta Omega Chapter sent Mackie photographs of their Inauguration Day outfits, featuring sorority colors pink and green, pearl necklaces, and Chuck Taylors. Bolden wore a t-shirt that said “Kamala is My Sorority Sister.”
Mackie posted them on the chapter Facebook page.
AKA members noted that Harris has made clear that her sorority is a big part of her life.
“Family is my beloved Alpha Kappa Alpha, our Divine Nine, and my HBCU brothers and sisters,” Harris said in her speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
And the sorority supported her on the campaign trail. The non-profit is non-partisan, but individual members made donations in the amount of $19.08. About 1,000 members volunteered for voter protection efforts.
On Wednesday, AKA members on the Coast could see in Harris’s achievement possibilities for themselves, too.
“From a sorority member’s perspective, it gives me a personal connection with the vice president,” Bolden said. “I have something in common with the vice president. Watching her, it’s just confirmation—if you set goals and you stick to the course—that you can be anything.”
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
