Dozens of women wearing pink and green, the colors of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, gathered at the South Loop bar Hue Chicago to watch Vice President Kamala Harris take center stage at the Democratic National Convention.
“I get chill bumps just thinking about her taking a seat at the table in the White House, and it makes me feel a tremendous sense of pride. It's like, 'Pinch me, like, is this really real? Is this really happening?' It makes me feel overwhelmed in a good way," said Leah Humphrey of Homewood.
Harris pledged AKA at Howard University. The watch party was sponsored by the Pink and Green Coalition, composed of members from the Phi Epsilon Omega chapter.
As a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, AKA does not endorse political candidates, so members said they were speaking for themselves — not the sorority.
Humphrey, who wore an apple-green dress, said she is proud “to have our culture on the American stage. I’m proud to have questions being asked, from non-Black, non-Greek letter organization members, [asking,] ‘What does that mean? Why do you wear that?’”
At Hue, AKAs and their non-Greek friends chatted over drinks, pizza and chicken wings as three large screens displayed convention speeches in the background and music blared over loudspeakers.
Bakahia Madison, a professor at Oakton Community College, donned a pink fedora and a green blazer over a white dress.
“I’m almost speechless and very emotional because for me, I have walked as a Black woman who has been blocked by so many things. I think for all of us as Black women, this is powerful. It gives us hope,” Madison said.
One AKA from Atlanta even joined the party tonight after seeing it advertised online.
Kim Michelle Drayton, a consultant who graduated from Howard a year before Harris, said she is especially excited.
Drayton added the whole convention has been “contagious with the joy … and that's irrespective of sorority or alumni or Howard, or anything like that. [Harris’] joy is contagious.”
