Hi kamala davey harris solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states that i will support and defend the constitution of united against with her hand on the bible and stanley prouty proudly on the steps of our nation’s capital vice president kamala harris shattered barriers yesterday becoming
Our country’s second in command the former california senator is the first of many titles she’s the first woman the first person of color and the first daughter of immigrants to hold the nationally elected office the proud howard university alumna is also the first member of the oldest african-american
Sorority in the nation alpha kappa alpha to reach such heights and there is no doubt her aka sisters were cheering her on in a deliberate nod to the organization yesterday harris wore a strand of pearls that is the sororities symbol of unity and sisterhood and it stands for
The 20 founders of the sorority for more on this let’s bring in dr glenda glover she is the international president and the ceo of alpha kappa alpha she’s also the president of tennessee state university dr glover it’s good to see you again uh i knew we’d be talking to you about
This and i knew you’d have a big smile on your face because this was the moment um that no doubt changed both the face and the fabric of american democracy just describe for us how it felt to watch vice president harris madam vice president and her historic swearing in well it was
Such a special moment a moment of pride a moment of thanks a moment of celebration it was just a special day for for black women a special day for women especially for america it’s just whole democracy it was just wonderful you know as i was sort of watching her
Up there it occurred to me that people enter politics for all sorts of reasons we call it public service but not everyone is focused on public service when they decide to be a politician but the thing about alpha kappa alpha and the other uh sororities and fraternities the divine nine is that
They are surely a net networking organizations but they’re really service oriented i mean everyone while they’re in school and after they graduate all the members that i’ve ever known are always looking for ways to give back i want to ask you about how you think that helped to shape
Kamala harris’s pursuit of politics well you’re right we’re all service organizations alpha kappa alpha albus black sorority delta sigma theta zeta phi beta c m morale we’re all service organizations and as it as it pertains to this particular election of course being a non-profit we can’t say go out and vote for
Kamala harris we can definitely say register to vote uh be engaged have voted engagement boat education you must have some type of voter activity to and remain engaged because that’s part of your civic uh responsibility as part of your responsibility that you must be engaged so i think that engagement that civic engagement
Leadership causes that we instill in young ladies that you’re here to your first obligations always to your educational pursuit while you’re in college but you must also have this this this yearning to serve and i think it was that year to serve that has just propelled i mean she has
Kept going with a serving and serving others and that’s what she’s been doing there’s there’s something else about the divine nine um and specifically aka dr glover that i think is interesting to note for our viewers i recall and emery you’ll remember this that when the possible potential candidates for
Vice president were being considered that someone had indicated that uh vice president harris was quote too ambitious and i just remember thinking to myself like no one ever said that about jfk no one ever said that about you know anybody who’s run for higher office or you know jd rockefeller or anybody who’s
Had any kind of significant outsized influence on american life and politics but that is something that is instilled in the young women who are members of your sorority yes and you know we have to shut that down immediately well first of all i was outraged in the black community when he said that
Here’s a young lady who has achieved so much and that she would be too ambitious to be on the ticket because she would be preparing for president from day one well her job is to be vice president she knows how to be in a supportive role she knows that if anything happens
That she’ll be called upon to to assist so it was just so asinine that we just said let me let me jump on this right now and attack this and so i just left to know that that’s what we’re still in in in students as you grow through you know we have
Students that come from all i mean various backgrounds some are not ready for college there’s some uh uh need more competitive environments but we work through all of them but the one thing we tell you must be is ambitious you know when stealing when i see an ambitious
Black woman when i see an ambitious student who’s graduating has that ambition as part of her her persona i know then i’ve done my job so i was happy to hear that someone’s ambitious it’s not a bad word it’s a good word you know to be ambitious doc dr glenda i
Want to ask you really quickly because we’re running out of time you know she is not only a first of many when it comes to being a vice president but she’s going to be a very visible one right she’s going to be the deciding vote in the senate
So unlike other vice presidents we’re going to see her a lot i’m wondering what you hope this does for not only black sororities and fraternities but also hbcus how people feel about the graduates of these schools well she’s going from um she’s going to be a time potential tie breaker decision maker
And so she’s going to have his platform basements and i’m going to assist her with hbcu platform because hbcs need research centers they need to be stem magnets they need infrastructure we need funds relating to endowment so but she is showing that hbcus have produced the top level executives the top quality
So no one can ever ask that question again about are hbcus relevant because she has shown that hpcus are relevant and they can move to the second position in this country so that question is put to bed dr glenda baskin a glover lovely talking to you again thank you thank you
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