But after 11:00 p.m., to the rhythm of the results falling, if it’s not yet a cold shower, faces gradually close and the heart is no longer in dancing. Everyone’s eyes are glued to the giant screens.
The first results are in favor of former President Donald Trump.
Discover the results of the American election
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. Fiddling with 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 scared.”
Filmed in front of the giant screen where the red of the Republicans appears more and more, Ken Brown, a former Howard student, 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.
“Torn Nation”
It was with the hope of seeing “change” that Kwame Anderson arrived at the start 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.”
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.
At the foot of a large tree with fall colors, the thousands of Kamala Harris supporters sang and danced a lot to beat the wait.
Some didn’t hesitate to take out their Sunday best, others their stiletto heels.
American election: “We have the impression of being faced with a huge victory for Donald Trump. But be careful!”
But the applause became increasingly rare with the announcement of the first results. The evening grew darker.
No one dares to talk about a “historic night” anymore, an expression that 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.
