The advice flying around the last night of the Democratic National Convention this past August, at Chicago's United Center, was to not leave your seat after 9 P.M. All day, social media and the convention hall had been abuzz with rumors that the night would end with a performance by Beyoncé. Or maybe Taylor Swift. Or maybe, in a show of interracial solidarity the world had never seen before, they would perform together.
Although the superstars never materialized, the crowd was still electric as it waited for the true headliner of the night: Vice President Kamala Harris, who would be accepting the Democratic Presidential nomination. An hour before Harris appeared, the comedian D. L. Hughley took the stage and addressed what was perhaps the most enthusiastic demographic in the arena: members of Harris's sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.
"Where those A.K.A.s at?" he said, and nodded as the room filled with cheers. "In three months, ain't gon' be no living with y'all."
If Harris wins the election, she will not only be the first female President; she'll also be the first member of A.K.A. to reach the Oval Office. Since its inception, in 1908, A.K.A., a historically Black sorority, has never endorsed a political party or a candidate-as a nonprofit organization, it isn't allowed to. The sorority's leadership had strongly discouraged the display of A.K.A. insignia at the D.N.C.
There would be no pearl-encrusted ivyleaf pins, no pavé brooches spelling out the organization's founding year.
Denne historien er fra October 28, 2024-utgaven av The New Yorker.
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ART OF STONE
\"The Brutalist.\"
MOMMA MIA
Audra McDonald triumphs in \"Gypsy\" on Broadway.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
\"Black Doves,\" on Netflix.
NATURE STUDIES
Kyle Abraham's “Dear Lord, Make Me Beautiful.”
WHAT GOOD IS MORALITY?
Ask not just where it came from but what it does for us
THE SPOTIFY SYNDROME
What is the world's largest music-streaming platform really costing us?
THE LEPER - LEE CHANGDONG
. . . to survive, to hang on, waiting for the new world to dawn, what can you do but become a leper nobody in the world would deign to touch? - From \"Windy Evening,\" by Kim Seong-dong.
YOU WON'T GET FREE OF IT
Alice Munro's partner sexually abused her daughter. The harm ran through the work and the family.
TALK SENSE
How much sway does our language have over our thinking?
TO THE DETECTIVE INVESTIGATING MY MURDER
Dear Detective, I'm not dead, but a lot of people can't stand me. What I mean is that breathing is not an activity they want me to keep doing. What I mean is, they want to knock me off. My days are numbered.