‘She may be family, but we need to hold her accountable’: Howard students cautiously excited by Kamala Harris

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On Tuesday, day two of the Democratic national convention in Chicago, Howard University, in Washington DC, was abuzz with students excited about alumna Kamala Harris's presidential candidacy. The Guardian spoke to several students who expressed pride that one of their own may assume the highest office, which they hoped would shine a light on historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Others emphasized the need to hold Harris accountable on Gaza policy, as well as on issues that affect Black communities, such as overpolicing and high maternal death rates.

"I was pretty happy to not only be a Howard student, but to be Black as well," Shondo Green, a 20-year-old biology major, said about Harris's nomination. The general sentiment on campus since classes started on Monday has been uplifting - everyone is smiling, he said. "There's something different about this year compared to my previous two years. There's something in the air."

Hundreds of Howard University students milled around the Yard, the central hub of campus life, in between classes during the first week of school. Surrounding the grassy area were trees painted with Greek letters that represent the Black sororities and fraternities known as the Divine Nine. Harris, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, pledged as a Howard student in the 1980s.

Dezmond Rosier, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and a senior studying political science and economics, said he was thrilled to vote in a presidential election for the first time. His main concerns were about cancelling student debt and ensuring that "the justice system is justice for all". Rosier wants to see Harris create just policies around the possession of cannabis as it becomes legalized in states throughout the nation while "there's still people in our prison systems who are unfortunately being held up for things that are now considered legal".

"She may be our family member in the sense of the university," Rosier said, "but we also need to hold her accountable."

Outside the university's auditorium, Ruqayyah Taylor, a senior from Norristown, Pennsylvania, attended a back-to-school pop-up event hosted by DTLR Radio. The 21-year-old journalism major wants to see Harris continue working toward the student debt forgiveness plan put forward by the Biden-Harris administration, which was thwarted by court challenges. She lauded the Harris campaign's use of social media to galvanize gen-Z voters.

"I think that she has the ability to [change course on Gaza policy]," Taylor said. "She has a different sense of awareness that Biden doesn't have, whether it be because of age or demographics."

At the library, senior Jaden Lopes da Silva said he wanted to see more outreach efforts that catered to young Black voters. "[Her engagement] is more of a broad gen-Z sort of thing, but it appears to be more towards pop culture," he said, referencing the Harris campaign's embrace of the "brat" label from the pop musician Charli xcx. "I haven't really seen anything specifically towards the Black gen-Z community." Sitting next to him, junior Nala Francis said she considered Harris's nomination her generation's version of Barack Obama, who became president when she was a toddler. "I never had the experience of 'oh we could get a Black president,' and now that we get a Black president that is also a woman and from Howard," she said. "This is literally history in the making and I'm now old enough to be a part of it."

Friends Jada Phillips and Jada Freeman, 19-year-old sophomores from Chicago, chatted on a walkway in between classes. "I think it's going to bring a lot of light to Howard itself and how good of a school it is," Freeman said about an alumna being the Democratic nominee. She plans to vote for Harris, but Phillips said that she wants to see how Harris's economic policies will differ from previous administrations.

At a nearby cafe, Msia Kibona Clark, an associate professor in Howard's department of African studies, recalled receiving a pop-up alert on her phone that Harris would be the presumptive nominee. She said that she was waiting to see if Harris changes course on US's Gaza policy; however, she felt hopeful that Harris seems to be more empathetic toward the plight of Palestinians than Biden does. "From her talks before, her appearances, she definitely has been less embracing of Israel, so that has given me hope," Kibona Clark said.

Last week, freshman Elijah Sanford Abdul-Aziz waited in a long line to hear Harris speak on campus. "I've only been here for like two weeks, so that's fire to me," said Sanford Abdul-Aziz, an 18-year-old political science major. "It was like when one of the old ladies from church tells you about how they used to know you, when she talked about her orientation in the auditorium." He said he was inspired by her statement that students could become president of the United States with hard work and determination. "She's a vision of what you can be," he said.

Even though he said that he will cast a ballot for Harris in November, he wasn't "super-duper excited", given the US's continued funding of Israel's war on Gaza, in which more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October. "It's either Kamala or Donald Trump," Sanford Abdul-Aziz said. "I look at it as we can't advocate as much as we can under Trump as we can for Kamala." Sanford Abdul-Aziz said that he has one message for Harris about US allyship with Israel: "In 2020 I remember she said during a vice-presidential debate that allies are like your friends. And I know that to be a good friend, you have to hold your friends accountable."