Black women and girls cry and cheer over a historic victory for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris

• Insider and Decision Desk HQ projected on Friday that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are headed to the White House.
• On Saturday, the AP, along with networks inculding CNN, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, and Fox News, all made the call for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
• The historic election will put the first Black, Indian, South Asian, and alumna of a historically Black college and university (HBCU) in the White House.
• Black women and girls across the country told Business Insider what this moment means to them. 
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be moving into the White House, Insider and Decision Desk HQ announced on Friday.

Major networks on Saturday called the presidential election in favor of Biden and Harris. Shortly after the win was announced, Harris updated her Twitter bio to read: “Vice President-Elect of the United States.” 

Harris wrote on Twitter, “This election is about so much more than @JoeBiden or me.”

But for Black women — 91% of whom voted for the Biden and Harris — and girls who spoke to Insider, Harris’s accomplishment as the first woman, Black, Indian, and South Asian elected as Vice President of the United States hits close to home and opens up a promising vision of representation on Capitol Hill.

Meena Harris, the vice-president elect’s niece, tweeted on Saturday that her 4-year-old said that “BLACK GIRLS ARE WELCOME TO BE PRESIDENT!”

—Meena Harris (@meenaharris) November 7, 2020

 

Cam Franklin, 50— Howard University Class of 91′

“I am so proud. I have never been more proud to be a Howard graduate, to be an HBCU graduate, to be a Black woman. I just think our country needed this, I needed this personally and I’m just elated,” Franklin told Business Insider who noted that she cried when she heard the news about Biden and Harris winning the election. “I’m just hopeful that his country can heal and start moving in the right direction again. We are still a country divided so I think there’s still a lot of work that’s going to need to be done, but this is an emotional lift. This to me personally is a triumph of good over evil.”

Ketia Jeune, 25— Activist, New York

“Who wouldn’t be happy that Trump isn’t president but I’m even happier that Kamala Harris is in the White House. She’s making history and she’s representing Black women and although she had a bumpy past, I feel like she’s leaning towards a more progressive way of thinking and I feel like I’m making history with her as a Black woman,” Jeune told Business Insider. “I feel like Black women really came out. We always come out and we always make history and I’m so glad we’re finally being acknowledged for our work.”

Nahla Owens, 16— High School Senior, Texas

“I grew up in Atlanta and I saw so many strong Black women leading and the thought of having that exist in the White House and on a national scale brought me so much joy and so much hope particularly in a time of racial tension and division,” Owens told Business Insider. “I was so hopeful and so excited at the prospect of seeing myself represented in one of the highest offices in the land.”

Pat Duncan, 64 —National Co-chair Black Women For Biden, Colorado

“It really shows Black people, finally, that your vote does count. That your vote does make a difference,” Duncan told Business Insider. Harris’s announcement shows “what we’ve been doing for years. For years we have always led. We are leaders naturally and what this does for Black little girls… it shows that you can be anything in this world that you want to be. You just have to work hard and believe in you.”

She added: “She just showed that the world, especially the United States, is made up of immigrants, but we come together as one people.”

Marjon Parham, 46 —Public Relations Manager Michigan Liberation

“It just gives us a sense of hope, a sense of ‘You know what? We can do this’, and we do have a voice,” Parham told Business Insider. “She is definitely the epitome of a strong Black woman. We support her and I’m so glad that she’s in office. That gives me encouragement to do the things I know that God has called me to do career-wise, professionally and personally.”

She added: “I am super proud to be an HBCU alum and also to be apart of the same sorority.”

 

 

This story is updating.