VP Harris celebrates HBCU culture, buys Black during Atlanta trip
TheGrio traveled with the vice president, who attended the HBCU Celebration Bowl in a crucial swing state that's home to key voters needed to win reelection in 2024.
With less than a year until Election Day 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Georgia, a key swing state for the Biden-Harris campaign’s coalition of voters, to celebrate HBCU and Black culture and even supported a popular Atlanta Black-owned business while there.
TheGrio traveled with America’s first Black and first woman vice president during her day trip to Atlanta to watch her alma mater, Howard University, compete against Florida A&M University for the annual Cricket Celebration Bowl football contest.
Proudly sporting a Howard T-shirt underneath a black leather blazer, paired with dark blue jeans, Harris traveled with her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, sister Maya Harris and brother-in-law Tony West.
Despite the White House facing critical national and international challenges, including the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that Harris is pushing the administration to rethink, Saturday was a day for fun and celebrating Black culture, from the campuses of historically Black colleges and universities and Black entrepreneurship to Black America’s staple cuisine: soul food.
Harris’ trip also came during an early but critical time in the 2024 election cycle as she and President Joe Biden work to convince Americans, particularly Black Americans, that they deserve another four years in office for what they see as an opportunity to ‘finish the job’ to address a range of issues including federal reforms on policing, voting rights, guns, and criminal justice.
Following a short day of spectating, dancing to the tunes of Howard’s marching band, and fellowshiping with Georgia leaders such as Sen. Raphael Warnock and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the vice president paid a quick visit to The Busy Bee, a Black-owned soul food restaurant near the Atlanta University Center, which comprises HBCUs Spelman College, Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University and Morris Brown College.
After purchasing dinner and spending some time with the restaurant’s owner, Tracy Gates, Busy Bee staff, and civil rights activist Melanie Campbell, Harris exited the restaurant and briefly spoke to the press before returning to the airport.
Harris acknowledged the role that Georgia voters, many of whom were Black and young, played in electing her and Biden, who became the first Democratic president to win the state’s electoral college votes in nearly three decades. The vice president listed the achievements of the Biden-Harris administration that she said would not have been possible without them.
“I want to thank the people of Georgia because they voted in 2020,” said Harris.
She continued, “We’ve been able to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for our seniors…President Biden and I have been able to put over $7 billion into our HBCUs [and] we’ve been installing high-speed internet that is affordable and accessible to all people, including folks who live in rural America and rural Georgia.”
While standing outside the restaurant, Harris said she “loved” returning to the historic city of Atlanta. Embracing Gates, who was standing beside her, the vice president said she especially enjoyed “meeting with my friends who are small business owners, who are building up the economy and hiring folks and just building wealth and good healthy stomachs of good food.”
Campbell, who visited The Busy Bee with Harris on Saturday, told theGrio that the vice president’s visit to Atlanta was significant for more reasons than one.
“Everything you do in the public sphere is political,” she said of the trip that “lifted” up intersectional issues important to Black communities, including HBCUs, education, and Black entrepreneurship.
Vice President Harris and the Biden administration are “tuned in,” Campbell said, particularly “the fact that this is a joyous time of year, but not everybody’s doing well economically in the country.”
“We need to continue to promote Black business as a way to close the wealth gap,” said Campbell, who is the president and CEO of the National Coalition for Black Civic Participation.
The activist noted that as the election year approaches, Harris and Biden will need to have as much face time with voters, especially young Black voters.
“Young people want to see you before it’s time to vote,” she acknowledged. “[Harris] is no stranger, not just because she went to an HBCU.”
Campbell noted that the vice president has frequently visited Georgia and other key states during critical times and in between election cycles, adding, “[She’s] not showing up when it’s just time to vote.”
Campbell recalled Harris coming to her home state of Florida several times, including visits to address the issue of reproductive rights following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The vice president notably delivered a fiery speech in Florida after Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration moved to implement a controversial school curriculum that teaches students that enslaved Black people benefited from U.S. chattel slavery.
Florida State Sen. Shevrin Jones, a vocal critic of DeSantis, praised Harris as “one of the most influential Black women in the world.”
Jones, a Biden-Harris campaign surrogate and member of the White House Board of Advisors on HBCUs, said Harris’ attendance at Saturday’s Celebration Bowl “symbolizes her genuine” connection to Black America.
“It signifies a deep connection beyond politics and demonstrates the importance of showing up,” said the FAMU graduate. “It’s not lost on me that events such as the Celebration Bowl help to galvanize voters, making her presence matter.”
Jones said he hopes the vice president’s visit to Atlanta “reassures voters that they have not been forgotten and reaffirms the administration’s unwavering commitment to our community and its culture.”
Campbell, who often meets with the Biden-Harris White House to press various civil rights issues, said it’s “important” that, as a historical Black figure within the administration, she continues to use her voice and influence to highlight the issues and connect with voters.
“I think she should be out there even more [and] I’m sure she will,” she said.
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Gerren Keith Gaynor is a White House Correspondent and the Managing Editor of Politics at theGrio. He is based in Washington, D.C.
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