It's not yet a cold shower but, at the very least, a huge worry. The early evening was festive on the lawn of Howard, Washington University nicknamed the “black Harvard”, where Kamala Harris was to speak during the night. But, little by little, the noisy, singing and dancing crowd, who had come to experience a “historic moment”, began to doubt. And anxiety has now taken over in the middle of the evening in Washington.
At the end of the day, supporters of the Democratic vice-president repeated over and over again their hope of seeing for the first time a black woman at the head of the United States, barely daring to envisage defeat. But after 11 p.m., as the results fall in, faces gradually close and hearts are no longer in the mood to dance. Everyone's eyes are glued to the giant screens. The first results are in favor of former President Donald Trump.
“We won't give up, but I'm afraid”
It's too much for Charlyn Anderson who leaves Howard even before the vice-president arrives: “I'm anxious, I'm leaving, my legs can no longer carry me.” If Donald Trump wins, “I think about the path that awaits us,” she explains, her face closed. Fingering a small American flag, she blurted out: “how can we preserve democracy now? “. “We won't give up until this is done, but I'm afraid. »
Filmed in front of the giant screen where the red of the Republicans appears more and more, Ken Brown, a former student of Howard, is in shock: “he's a very bad candidate, it doesn't make sense” . Behind him, the crowd, very young, seems stunned. “I don’t know who votes for him. I don’t understand,” he adds.
It was with the hope of seeing “change” that Kwame Anderson arrived at the beginning of the evening with several friends. “I pray that this nation is not even more torn apart than it already is, we need peace,” she said. “We don’t want any more violence, we don’t want any more hatred. »
Nobody talks about “historic night” anymore
Behind this woman with long braids, stands have been installed in the middle of the imposing university buildings made of red bricks and white columns. The thousands of supporters of Kamala Harris sang and danced a lot to beat the wait. But the applause became increasingly rare with the announcement of the first results. The evening grew darker.
No one dares to speak of a “historic night” anymore, an expression which was on everyone’s lips at the start of the evening. And the singer dressed all in white, silver crown on her head, who regularly came to sing the American anthem, has disappeared.
Howard University is a central institution in the training of black American elites and occupies a pivotal place in the vice president's personal narrative. Since her graduation in 1986, she has returned often.
“Howard University is one of the most important aspects of my life”, it is “where it all began”, she said on site in 2019, then a candidate in the Democratic primary for the 2020 presidential election.
