Kama harris will speak in washington d.c this afternoon about president trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic the democratic candidate for vice president is expected to highlight the biden harris plan to contain covet 19 and to help rebuild the country joe biden’s choice for a running mate was celebrated as a historic move
Particularly for historically black colleges universities and sororities to get more insight on the significance of senator harris’s ties to hbcus and her sorority along with the potential benefits of having her sorority sisters behind her let us bring in dr glenda baskin-glover she’s the president of tennessee state university
And the international president of the alpha kappa alpha sorority uh doctor thank you so much for joining us it’s really great to talk to you because i’ve been so intrigued by the level of support that i’ve seen from senator harris’s sorority sisters and her sorority in particular so i want to start off
By asking you about a letter you wrote earlier this month in response to comments made about the now democratic vice presidential candidate ambition early on she was said to be too ambitious for the role explain to our viewers the implications of what you write is the misuse of this word
Particularly when referring to black women good morning thank you for the invitation yes i did respond to the comments that were circulated in the media about uh senator harris being too ambitious uh i just ambitious is not a negative word it’s very it’s very much a positive it’s what we train
Students to do and historically about colleges universities we want you to be ambitious we that’s the hallmark that’s our calling card and when i see someone who is ambitious that we’ve trained in hbcu i know we’ve done our job so it is not a negative at all
I love that in her acceptance speech kamala harris give a shout out to her sorority gave a shout out to historically black colleges and universities i want to play a little bit about what of what she had to say family is my beloved alpha kappa alpha our divine nine and my hbcu
Brothers and sisters family is the friends i turn to when my mother the most important person in my life passed away from cancer so i am sure that uh you were elated when you heard uh that uh during your speech but i want to get a sense from you
Of what you’re hoping that this means you know for historically black colleges for black sororities um i think for the first time a lot of people are going to be hearing about the divine nine and wondering where they came from and what they do and what the significance is
Um so are you hoping that this um has sort of a long-term impact for the hbcus and for the sororities and fraternities yes it’s a doubly proud moment it’s a proud moment for hbcus in that when we see her coming full circle she was she was educated at howard university our premier
Hbcu she has um excelled in her profession she was initiated into alpha kappa outfit howard university and so it is how university is is it is a it’s a great hbcu to start and we have 106 hbcus and she gave a shout out to all of them and then the divine nine
You know there are nine african-american sororities and fraternities four sororities and five fraternities so she included them all because that’s a network of about five million people when you look at the two million in the organizations themselves and then their spouses and children and relatives so
That is a that’s a large uh group of people for her to salute and we were just doubly proud to hear that and women everywhere is a step up for women around the country it’s a proud moment for black women oh can you imagine the little indian
Girls the little asian girls a little black girl the little girls in general you know if you can see it you can be it and so we’re just really excited about this this her acceptance as a number two on the ticket i like that if you can see it you can be
It um explain to our viewers also dr glover some of the history um behind these historically black sororities uh and fraternities i know you mentioned a little bit of the divine nine but explain how their purpose extends beyond the traditional greek life that college campuses offer
Um you know i i you know generally uh people may not realize that uh with these uh black sororities and fraternities that their commitment to them exists long after they leave college and the bonds that are formed uh within not just their local chapters when they they are undergraduates but the bonds
That they form uh with their uh brothers and sisters um around the country and around the world last many many years past um the time that they’re in school i mean we have several uh members of black fraternities and sororities here at cbs news and they never stop talking about it
And they’re in their 50s and 60s some of them well it’s a lifelong friendship but my backup would just make a statement that i i have to say that alpha california does not endorse any candidates neither does anybody divine nine you know in our individual capacities
We’re you know we will choose a can and support that candidate but you know because of our tax exempt status none of us uh will endorse a candidate so i want to a face sure that we were clear on that but in individual capacity you know we’re just proud of her and
Pleased to you know see just this please embrace her and embrace her efforts but now the divine nine there was a need for uh alpha got started in 1908 when it was at the turn of the century in the height of segregation when there was just uh the
Naacp was being formed and there was just a time when it was needed to encourage black women to to excel you need to tell them listen there’s a better way out here’s an ambition you know we want you to just pick up on and run with
And so we look at some social justice issues let’s see if we can do what we can do to help america as it helps black people progress and so alpha kappa alpha start and then the delta sigma theta uh zeta phi beta sigma there are four sororities so
And so all of them have embraced uh kamala hair senator harris and all the five fraternities have embraced senator harris and so it is a wonderful way that we work together to to for the common good to tackle issues we’re making a mistake we made statements about the police brutality that
We made statements about the the racial inequality the economic injustices so their social the social aspect of the divine nine and then you mentioned a lifelong friendship that’s true you know some of my very best friends now uh friends i made at tennessee state university when i was
There as a student and so so it doesn’t stop afterwards there are graduate chapters uh the other other swords have alumni chapters and so we make sure that we’re here to serve we’ll service organizations so part of service is working together to tackle some issues
To make sure we have to get out the boat initiative to make sure that census phones are completed so there are various uh community issues so we serve the community yeah i think that’s a really good thing to sort of underline i know i have a number of friends that are part
Of different different sororities and fraternities black sororities and fraternities and the thing that has always impressed me is the commitment to service far beyond you know their time in college that they are always sort of participating in some sort of charity work or something to do with politics
Just a very active community um and an emphasis on giving back so with that being said um you know you’ve said that black women particularly when it comes to voting have the power to change the trajectory of elections i think that perhaps joe biden during the primaries
Might have gotten a pretty good taste of that not just black women but the black community but black women certainly i have seen um i keep sort of thinking back to when barack obama was running for the first time for the presidency and my mother-in-law and all of they’re
Sort of like this old lady gang uh you know that like never missed an opportunity to talk about about barack obama the nut they they probably all have 100 t-shirts each um when they get committed to a particular candidate um there it’s laser focus um
So can we talk a little bit about the impact of the black female vote well it’s no secret that the black women have been the backbone of this country for a long time and when it comes to elections when black women go to the polls they don’t just go by themselves
They take their spouses they take their family members they take their sorority sisters they take their church memories they take their community their networks so it’s it’s that it’s the the secondary effects of who they take to the polls with them who and that that is what uh was so
Powerful about the black women vote not only do we engage in boat education and voter engagement voter mobilization voter registration but when we mobilize and get the persons out to vote i mean it’s an all-out effort you got the vote effort this year is going to be dramatic
Because all the divine nine the uh we’re combining our efforts together to make sure that we get the individuals to vote and especially so there seems to be some some vote intimidation um some threats to voting that says underhanded going on we’re addressing that uh you know it’s an in your face
Something we’re addressing it because we want to make sure that nothing will stop in the black women and others from getting to the polls to vote this year um doctor before we let you go i want to ask you about something that i think is sort of interesting and
Indicative of the times that we live in right now given that we now have an african-american and asian or black woman and an asian woman running for the vice president of the united states we’ve had a black president um you know there’s been an emphasis certainly in our industry of having
People uh that look like the candidates um covering the candidates people that look like anne-marie and i covering um the candidates because of the perspective that we bring and that was sort of laid bare when last year you recall that senator harris when she was running for president visited howard university
And delivered a speech and many of her sorority sisters were in attendance in that speech and a reporter who was covering that event but did not was not familiar with black sororities and fraternities tweeted that there are members of her sorority in the room and they are screeching when her name is mentioned
And they didn’t know um that it wasn’t screeching it was sort of the way that uh your sorority the sisters greet each other um which what is known as kiwi um and and so it just sort of it was sort of a an interesting moment but it also
Sort of exposed the fact that um that you know black reporters uh have a unique perspective when it comes to covering the issues that are front and center in this election in particular so can you just explain to our audience what skiwi is because i’m guessing that as senator harris takes to
The road she’s probably going to be hearing that often whenever she comes into contact with people who are part of her sorority it’s just an endearing term that we use sometimes to greet each other we we try to do it in business settings but you know
It’s just a way this is a love call that we say to each other on college campuses and sometimes outside of college campuses and so it’s just it’s just it’s just that’s it it’s the way we speak to each other sometimes especially at the undergraduate level it’s the graduate once you’ve graduated
There’s a there’s a lesser use of the word ski week but it’s still used throughout our sorority to just say hello and that’s basically it it’s a love yeah i’m glad you asked i’m glad you asked that question vlad i feel like this country is going to learn a whole
Lot of new things a whole lot of new words a whole lot of new behaviors it’s going to be this is going to be great all right glenda basking glover thank you so much thank you very much
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