Clinton’s Secret Weapon: Black Girl Magic

Philadelphia — Here in the Wells Fargo Center, black women received a message this week: The Democratic Party will be looking to them to play a major role in trying to elect Hillary Clinton the next president.

After leaked emails this week threatened to derail a Democratic National Convention scripted to unify Clinton and Bernie Sanders supporters behind Clinton’s party nomination, the party turned to black women and party stars like Donna Brazile and U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio to pull off an Olivia Pope and ​“handle it.” The convention culminated here in Clinton’s rousing nomination acceptance speech Thursday night.

Brazile, a veteran Democratic strategist, stepped in to serve as interim party chair, while Fudge was tapped to be the convention chair. Rev. Leah Daughtry, a Washington D.C. pastor, is the convention’s CEO, and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is the DNC’s secretary.

By the time First Lady Michelle Obama delivered prime-time address that truly galvanized the party’s unity efforts, the bumpy start to the convention appeared handled. At least that was the view black women from Connecticut who served as delegates at this week’s convention, where black women were not only featured in leadership roles, but present throughout the convention, sharing their stories on the main stage.

The visibility of black women throughout this week’s convention was an unspoken nod to the high number of black women who have turned out to vote in elections in recent years. In 2008 and 2012, black women went to the polls at a higher rate than any other gender, race or ethnic group and voted overwhelmingly for President Barack Obama.

Clinton will need them, their connections to the fabric of the black community through their churches and their ability to mobilize — their magic — to beat Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in November. This week in Philadelphia she got off to a good start in inspiring them.

“I think that it is truly amazing,” delegate Talibah Domijan said at the convention this week. ​“I’ve been completely blown away by so many women of color being involved.”

Domijan, who’s from Norwich, joined the Democratic Party only last year. She actually supported Democratic socialist Sanders in the primaries. She knocked on doors all over New England for him. She said she did it because she wanted to be a better advocate for her son.

She came to the DNC in Philadelphia as a delegate for Sanders, but she got to witness the nomination of the first woman for president. She did so thinking about the possibilities for her daughter, if she ever has one. A daughter who could imagine becoming president one day.

Domijan said being at the convention this week has been eye-opening. She said she was disappointed that Sanders isn’t the nominee, but seeing how many women of color, particularly black women, are involved in the business of the party is empowering.

“Coming here and seeing all these amazing women who have done so much for us … fills my heart,” she said. ​“It has to be be very empowering for every young person, especially for young females, males too, but especially for young women.”

Delegate Audrey Tyson, who co-chairs New Haven’s Ward 29 Democratic Committee and serves on the City Plan Commission, said she’s always been a Hillary supporter. She hit the campaign trail for her in New Hampshire for that state’s primary. She praised Clinton’s recognition that black women have something to contribute as not only voters, but party leaders.

“I’ve been extremely proud of the leadership of the black women Democrats,” she said. ​“It’s just a great feeling to see them so high up. I’ve been one who has always respected Hillary. I think that she’s extremely smart. She’s compassionate. She has so much courage. She’s been through so much. I think when you compare the candidates, she is definitely the best candidate.”

Tyson said being at the convention has inspired her to work harder to get out the vote for Clinton — to pick up a suggestion from a Clinton video to young girls that they should think about being the next woman president.

“I am going to do everything I can to encourage our black people to vote and to be active so that we can have more black representation because it’s just so important,” Tyson said.

Our Turn

When Mayor Toni Harp used to watch the Democratic National Convention on television with her father, she couldn’t help noticing all the white men in their black suits. It was the 1950s, so they were watching on a black and white TV. People who looked like her, who wore skirts like hers, weren’t up on the stage or under the lights.

“What you see here is America,” Harp said at the convention this week. ​“What you see, that Hillary values, is the unity of America. It would be easier to continue white privilege and to continue to have male dominance, but when we say we really want this experiment called America to work, it’s of the people, by the people and for the people. And women are over half, in most cases, of the people.

“It’s time we got to lead,” she said.

Harp recalled how Fudge came to New Haven prior to the Connecticut primary to get out the vote for the Clinton campaign. She was one of several black women leaders to make the trip. U.S. Rep. Shelia Lee Jackson of Texas came to New Haven from Texas for Clinton, while Ohio State Rep. Nina Turner came as a surrogate for the Sanders campaign. Clinton organized African-American mothers who lost children to gun violence to support her campaign; some of those moms, too, showed up in New Haven before the primary, and took the stage this week at the DNC.

Harp said Clinton’s decision to tap into the ​“wise woman” leadership to steer the party through the convention shows that the presidential nominee recognizes the value of black women and what they bring to the party.

“That really stimulates me and it lets me know that there are wise women who are leading the policy and the platform of this Democratic Party,” she said.

Raising The Profile

Dea Thomas, director of advocacy for the non-partisan, Baltimore-based organization Black Girls Vote, said that their research has shown that black men in their city often are encouraged to become engaged politically by the black women in their lives whether that be a grandmother, mother, girlfriend or peer.

The not-for-profit had a table set up in the Pennsylvania Convention Center during the DNC to raise money as it prepares to launch itself as a national organization that not only helps people, particularly women of color, register to vote, but also encourages more black women to run for office. But politicians will have to earn those votes regardless of their party affiliation. Thomas said part of the reason that Black Girls Vote is non-partisan so that neither party will take the vote of black women for granted.

New Haven State Rep. Robyn Porter never wanted to be a politician, but she said she has seen the impact holding elected position has on people who see her in that role, especially young black girls.

“Hillary said something that resonated with me,” she said of Clinton’s video message to the convention Tuesday night. ​“It reminded me of a little, Ms. Barbara’s granddaughter. she was with me the other day at Yale. We were doing some work when we were leaving. She looked up at me and said, ​‘Ms. Robyn, are you famous?’ I laughed and said no. She said, ​‘I want to be like you when I grow up. I want to be a state rep. I think I even want to be president.’”

Porter, who supported Sanders in the primary, said she hopes that having black women leading in such a visible manner means that the concerns of the black community will be represented and that it will change the perspective of those who don’t know or understand those concerns.

“For me, being a black woman, elected official, someone in a position of authority and power, I think it gives people an incentive. It gives people that look like me hope. People who never imagined that this is something they can do. I never imagined that I would do it — not that I couldn’t do it — but that I would do it, because I didn’t have the interest.

“But now that I’m here, I can understand the importance of people like me being in these kinds of positions because we get to bring our experience, our life to the platform. And have it represented authentically, not as someone speaking on issues they haven’t experienced, about what they believe or think. I know. And that’s a big difference.”