Myron B. Pitts
Note from Myron B. Pitts, Opinion Editor: This column originally appeared on Nov. 14, 2020, and is republished in light of heightened interest in Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee for president.
On Wednesday afternoon, former president and Republican Party nominee Donald Trump falsely stated that Harris, who is Black and has Indian heritage, made a decision years ago to “all of a sudden” turn Black. Trump made the controversial remarks during an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago.
Harris’ mother was the late Shyamala Gopalan, who was Indian, and her father is Donald J. Harris, a native of Jamaica. The two academics met through their involvement in the civil rights movement. Harris wrote in her 2019 memoir, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” that her mother understood very well that she was raising two Black daughters and “she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women.”
Harris received her undergraduate degree from Howard University, a historically Black university in Washington, D.C., and if elected would be the first president who attended an HBCU. She belongs to several historically Black organizations, including The Links Inc.
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California Sen. Kamala Harris is poised to become a “first” in many wayswhen she assumes the office of vice president on Jan. 20, 2021.
Harris is the running mate of former Vice President Joe Biden, who will be sworn in as president on the same day.
More:Pitts: Racist and sexist takes on Kamala Harris are in full swing. Why they won't work.
Foremost, Harris will be the first woman to serve as either vice president or president. She willbe the first woman of color, too — with a heritage in both the African American and Indian American communities.
Harris is also a first when it comes to historically Black institutions and organizations. A Howard University graduate, she is the first person from a historically black college or universityto rise to this height.
She belongs to Alpha Kappa Alpha, the oldest sorority in the Black college community. The AKAswear pink and green and are known for their (literally) trademarked call, “Skee-Wee!”
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Less well known is that Harris, who is 56, is a member of The Links, Incorporated — an organization of professional Black women with a long history of community involvement and high-level achievement. She was inducted into the group in April 2018, in a ceremony in downtown Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Sentinel, a Black-owned newspaper.
Harris called her inductiona “true honor,” and said The Links makes her think of “so many amazing women,” according to the Sentinel.
“I stand on their shoulders,” Harris said “and I can’t wait to work in service with you. When we are connected together, we are stronger as individuals, we are stronger as a community and we are stronger as a country.”
Links in Fayetteville and nationally have a history of service
Cindy White, president of The Links chapter in Fayetteville, said she and other Links members are proud to witness Harris reach this milestone.
“We’re more than excited,” she says. “The women of The Links, Incorporated have always been leaders — just building on the foundations of the organization of service, and giving back to our communities and transforming our communities.
“We’re just on a high. We feel that it puts us in a position we’re able to globally do some things and be seen as an organization and a group of servant leaders.”
White adds: “Truly that’s what we are. When she says, ‘Kamala for the people,’ we really take that to heart. Because we feel in Link-dom, that’s what we’re about.”
The Links award millions in scholarships
The Links were founded in 1946 by Margaret Rosell Hawkins and Sarah Strickland Scott, two friends in Philadelphia, according to information on its website. “They invited seven of their friends to join them in organizing a new type of inter-city club,” the site says, and it turned into a group of clubs on the east coast. There are now 16,000 members, spread across 288 chapters in 41 states and Washington, D.C., and in the Bahamas and the United Kingdom.
Between 2018 and this year, Links members have awarded nearly $4 million in scholarships, $678,000 to HBCUs and served 965,000 people. The Links Foundation made St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital its fifth $1 million Legacy Grant recipient.
Links activism comes through during COVID-19 pandemic
Fayetteville Links, which has about 40 members, shares the mother organization’s spirit of activism and afocus on Health and Human Services. The local Links has co-sponsored a dental van that brought free services to children in Cumberland and Robeson Counties, and has worked with the Boys & Girls Clubs and Great Oak Youth Development, a mentoring program.
In this year of the COVID-19 pandemic and a big election, Links members have managed to focus on both.
The local Links have made a major push in get-out-the-vote and voter registration efforts.
Meanwhile, says White: “We had people out giving out information on staying safe during the pandemic. We tried to do a canvass of areas in the community where people needed assistance because we knew a lot of people were out of work.
“We made sure that we were giving back, even looking at our students at FSU, making sure that international students had the things that the need and were comfortable, and not knowing it they were going to have to try to leave the university.”
Fayetteville women share Links — and AKA — connections
In 2018, Dr. Kimberly Jeffries Leonard, a Fayetteville native and daughter of Links legacy member Marye Jeffries, become president of the national organization. She lives in Washington.
Among prominent members of the Fayetteville chapter are Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins; District Court Judge Toni King; and Pat Timmons-Goodson, a former N.C. Supreme Court justice, and recently a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. The group also includes several people in the medical field or affiliated with Fayetteville State University, to include Dr. Andrea Dickerson; and Pam Jackson, an FSU associate professor who recently served as provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs.
As for White, she shares another connection with Harris, the vice president-elect: She is an AKA.
“I told somebody I can’t decide on any given day whether to wear pink, or whether to wear green,” she says with a chuckle.
Opinion Editor Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.
