When Carla Brailey became Vice-Chair for the Texas Democratic Party in 2018 she never anticipated this moment.
“I can honestly say I did not see this coming,” said Brailey.
But the more she thought about it, she said the more it made sense. Like the Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris, Brailey is also a graduate of Howard University, one of more than 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States.
“Howard did a very good job of having us embrace that character of truth and service. We were expected to have a voice,” she said. “I think it impacts, even in terms of data, how we’ll be able to start looking at the impact that HBCUs are having even in the workforce.”
And like Harris, Brailey is a member of a Black sorority within a council made up of nine historically African American Greek letter organizations.
“I don’t know if people understand the impact of the Divine Nine,” said Brailey. We were all founded under public service. And we were founded to work together.”
While Harris’ nomination is historical, there are critics. While serving as Attorney General in California, some claimed she didn’t do enough to support social reform.
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"She did not turn out to be from our perspective, the progressive prosecutor that she promised to be when many of us supported her,” said David Campos, Chairman of the San Francisco Democratic Party.
Others point out the fact that she clashed with police unions as District Attorney. Those who know Harris have come to her defense.
“When I decided to go work for Kamala, I knew that she, like me, envision a day where fairness is truly fair and this thing called justice is truly just and that justice can, in fact, be blind,” said Lateefah Simon, who worked with Harris in San Francisco.
Brailey said this moment is about more than politics to her.
“Now it’s happening, and I have a little black girl who can grow up and believe that she can be anything, any person she wants to be,” said Brailey.
