Sen. Kamala Harris calls for equity, justice during AKA’s regional conference
23rd April 2019 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
Speaking before thousands of members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority last Friday, U.S. Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Kamala Harris stressed the importance of leadership and community service to both AKA and the nation as a whole as the country stands at a critical juncture in its history.
But, Harris said, doing so – and doing what’s right – isn’t always easy.
“Leadership means speaking truth, even when it makes people feel uncomfortable,” she told the room of attendees during a public luncheon, last Friday afternoon. “[AKA members] had to speak the truth about the issues and injustices plaguing our country, and they took action.”
Harris gave the keynote address at the Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc.’s 87th annual South Central Regional Conference, a gathering that this year was held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. Harris said that as a lifelong member of the sorority and as a public official, she has dedicated her life and career toward the same goals set by Alpha Kappa Alpha – providing all people equal access to opportunity and success.
She said both she and AKA strive to speak for the poor, the disenfranchised, the oppressed and the forgotten, “people who deserve to be seen, to be heard and to be respected,” adding that doing the right thing also means “resolving to provide a voice for the voiceless.”
“We are better than what is happening in our country today,” she added.
Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc., was founded in 1908 and continues today as the oldest Greek-letter organization of African-American women in the country. Morgan Gaskin Thomas, the communications chairperson for the South Central Region of Alpha Kappa Alpha, said the annual regional conference serves as a venue for thousands of sorority members across Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and New Mexico to relate the successes of their various local service projects and to share ways to continue and build on that positive track record of community service.
“It’s really an avenue of sharing,” Thomas told The Louisiana Weekly.
The conference includes partnerships with two international service organizations, the Lions Club and Soles for Souls, which collect eyeglasses and gently used shoes, respectively, for those in need. Thomas said the sorority’s regional conferences also help boost AKA membership and energize members for the upcoming year.
Thomas said AKA and the conference attendees were honored and grateful to have Sen. Harris as the luncheon’s keynote speaker.
“She has always been supportive of our organization,” Thomas said. “It’s important to have someone like her support our projects, and she has expressed this to us many times in the past.”
Alpha Kappa Alpha South Central Regional Director Katina M. Semien told the attendees of the luncheon that roughly 6,800 women had signed up to attend the conference, the largest turnout in the 87 years the regional conference has been held.
“We will continue to fight for our purpose,” Semien said, “which at its base is service to all mankind.”
The luncheon was attended by several members of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus, including State Rep. Edward “Ted” James, who told the audience that AKA and other service organizations need to support elected officials like Harris, as well as the democratic process as a whole, by mobilizing the electorate, especially minority voters.
“We have to make sure we are educating voters, and we have to make sure voters are participating in the process, and you guys are doing that,” James said.
During her address, Harris stressed several key areas of importance to her platform and public efforts as a senator, including economic justice. She said she has championed measures to raise the minimum wage and to close the pay gap for African-American women, who she said make much less for working the same jobs as other demographics.
She advocated a tax credit for families making less than $100,000 a year, a benefit that could allow middle- and working-class families to pay all their bills and stay afloat financially each month. Harris also voiced the need to repeal last year’s tax-reform bill that she said has only benefited the wealthy to the crippling detriment of the rest of the country.
Harris also zeroed in education reform and enhancement, what she dubbed educational justice.
“Our founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha were educators,” she said. “They knew how, and by extension we today know, that education is the source of opportunity.”
She lamented the fact that many teachers in the country must work multiple jobs just to make ends meet, and that many educators must pay out of their own pockets to provide school supplies and materials. She said she champions the effort for teacher pay parity because “we are not paying them at their value.”
The senator also expressed commitment to sustaining and improving historically Black colleges and universities, which she said have played a vital role in producing African-American educators who can provide guidance and inspiration to Black children country-wide.
“HBCUs are one of our greatest sources of teachers,” said Harris, who herself is a graduate of Howard University. “We’ve got to support our HBCUs.”
The senator said the crisis of leadership and policies of injustice have placed the nation in a very precarious position as it looks forward, saying that “this is a moment in time when we need to look in the mirror and ask, ‘Who are we?’”
She added that striving for what is right means challenging the status quo, and that the fight of fairness must involve redefining who will be capable and willing to affect change and progress.
“When we see the challenges before us,” she said, “let us never be in despair or feel overwhelmed. By the very nature of this sorority, when know that when we face challenges, we don’t throw up our hands. We roll up our sleeves.”
Harris said that, in the end, what’s needed to make the country a more just and fair society for all is something AKA stresses as well – developing leadership for the future, which involves individuals making sure they are heard.
“We don’t always have to have a title to be a leader,” she said, “and we don’t always need to have a seat at the table, but we certainly need to be in the room.”
This article originally published in the April 22, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
