By D. Kevin McNeir
Special to the AFRO
For only the second time since losing a hard-fought race for the White House in 2024 and bidding adieu to Washington, D.C., former vice president Kamala Harris returned to the capital on Oct. 9, garnering the pomp and circumstance often reserved for popes, potentates and Hollywood’s superstars.
Harris’s return to D.C. and appearance at the Warner Theatre represented the latest leg on a nationwide tour as she discusses her new book, “107 Days.” Meanwhile, long lines of eager ticketholders and a neon sign reading, “Sold Out,” above the venue’s entrance confirmed that many Americans still support the former vice president.
“Something is going on in and coming out of the White House every day and, candidly, I believe things are going to get much worse before they get better,” Harris said during her interview with tech journalist and popular podcast host, Kara Swisher.
“Part of my dilemma, which I know others share with me, is that I don’t have a solution to how to stop it or know how this will end. But we still must fight and not become overwhelmed by the challenges before us,” she said.
Harris earned a reputation for being guarded and circumspect during her time in Washington. During the interview, she addressed sections in her book – based on journals she wrote during the campaign – in which she criticized leaders within the Republican Party and corporate moguls who have been co-opted by the president’s agenda, and the Supreme Court for giving him a greenlight to proceed unchecked.
“People are in pain and on edge today and they’re fearful of what the next three years will bring,” she said. “I hope my book and the conversations I have with Americans on this tour allow people to see that we are in this fight together.
“As I predicted during the campaign, the guardrails have come down – in the courts for the most part and in Congress where Republicans control both the House and Senate,” the former presidential candidate continued. “What I could not have predicted was the capitulation of corporate giants who are now on bended knee before the president.”
Harris further urged Americans to do their homework so they will realize that the unprecedented changes that have occurred since Election Day–some things even before the inauguration==are far from haphazard but rather have been carefully orchestrated.
“What we are witnessing is not a swift operation but is actually a plan that was decades in the making – Project 2025 is the proof,” she asserted. “The president and those around him are just as culpable and the gerrymandering of our states and the rebuilding of the Supreme Court have cleared the path for what we see today. When the Supreme Court ruled [July 1, 2024, in ‘Trump v. United States’] that Donald Trump would be immune from prosecution, even before the General Election, we knew that what we’re witnessing now was inevitable.”
Audience participation results in a lively affair
Throughout the interview, Harris comfortably engaged in cordial exchanges with the audience, often resembling a Black Church revival service, punctuated with lively interludes transmitted in call and response fashion.
Fellow alums from Howard University frequently showed their affection for Harris with their popular mantra, “HU . . . YOU KNOW!”
Not to be outdone, Harris’ sorority sisters, members of Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority, delivered their trademark, high-pitched greeting, “Skeeweet,” throughout the evening to emphasize both their presence and show their respect for the former vice president.
Montgomery County, Md., Council member Will Jawando spoke with the AFRO and said he came out to show his unyielding support for Harris and to encourage others to stay alert in the days ahead.
“We need to remember what’s at stake: The U.S. is under attack by a fascist dictator, but a lot of people still have not realized that,” he said. “It’s an uphill battle and the headwinds are against us. But in Harris we have someone who brings inspiration to us as we enter the next stage of the fight.”
Best friends Rose Taylor, from White Plains, Md., and Anitra Reed, from Alexandria, Va., both agreed that while Harris was clearly the best candidate in last November’s election, Americans proved that we still are not prepared to accept a woman as our nation’s president.
“Even though she had such a short amount of time to run her campaign, Kamala Harris energized Americans,” Taylor said. “She’s a strong, Black woman who faced insurmountable odds and did an amazing job despite that. But a Black woman president? No, America isn’t ready yet.”
Reed, a fellow soror, said Harris faced more than just Trump – she also had to endure the prevailing winds of racism.
“I think people voted for Trump, or just stayed home, because of their fear of the
browning of America – a concept and sentiment that has gained traction since Barack Obama was elected,” said Reed who believes apathy led Americans to where we are now in Trump’s second term. “Democrats also did a poor job of messaging in countering the misinformation distributed by the GOP.”
“Now, it’s time for the Democrats to get focused, ignore the distractions, and show that they are still the party for the people – for the growing number of people who are hurting right now,” she concluded.
Standing in a long line in anticipation of hearing Harris speak, Rani Bezanson, 30, and Gabrielle Morris, 22, who live in D.C., and Arlington, Va., respectively, said they had to attend the event.
“She’s such an inspiration to people of my age. She brings us hope, and I had to see her and hear her. This is a moment in history that I will never forget,” Bezanson said
Morris said she took Harris’s loss personally and it took time for her to accept the truth.
“I voted for the first time in the last General Election, so I was very excited to cast my vote,” she said. “And it hurt a lot when Kamala Harris lost, especially because many of my friends and I believed she would win━at least we believed she should have won.
“But in reading her book and listening to her speeches,” Morris added, “I’ve been encouraged to get more involved in my community. Maybe, I will even run for office one day or work on someone’s campaign.”
Looking back at the campaign, Harris felt the stress
As she replayed the 107 days that encapsulated the time she had to develop her platform and campaign in her bid for the White House, Harris said she quickly realized that her biggest opponent was not Trump but time.
“I don’t know Trump any better than most of you, but in the brief conversations we had, he seemed very normal, even appealing,” she said. “But then, he changes – like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. That’s what con men do. Because of my legal background, I recognize his type and know they can turn it on and just as easily turn it off. I was ready for that.”
She continued, “But while we had some tremendous ideas within my platform, we just didn’t have enough time to get the word out adequately, to help voters understand how their lives would be better with our initiatives. I was acutely aware of how little time I had. I just couldn’t do enough. So, when people said that I was the most qualified candidate, that was encouraging to hear but too few people really knew me and my background well enough.”
Still, she was unwilling to point fingers at her fellow Democrats. Instead, she urged her colleagues to recognize how much talent they have today within their own ranks.
“I’m frustrated with how Democrats keep looking for that one person – the savior complex. I am tired of it because there’s no such person. Look, we have plenty of talented men and women who are in public service for all the right reasons and can look at themselves in the mirror each night.
We have so many stars in the Democratic Party, from mayors to attorneys general to members in the House and Senate,” she said before asking several young leaders in the audience to stand and be recognized, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D).
Near the end of the interview, when asked if she was going to run again in 2028, Harris replied with a smirk on her face, “Maybe, maybe not.”
