In Mississippi, Waikinya Clanton founded “Black Women for Kamala,” a Facebook group that attracted around 300,000 supporters. Clanton says she created the group immediately after she discovered Harris was running for the presidency.
“The thing that compelled me to support Vice President Harris in her second candidacy for president was the fact that I thought that she represented all of America,” Clanton said. “Like what makes us great. What makes us this place that we all get to stare in awe of.”
She says she felt like the nation was making a moral choice.
“I think we were and have been called to a moment where we got to examine all of who we are,” Clanton said. “We had a choice to make about whether we wanted to mend wounds or whether we wanted to exacerbate them.”
Clanton, who is a native of Canton, saw her Facebook group grow from seven friends to over 30,000 supporters within hours. Once the number of the group reached 300,000, she paused people’s ability to join.
“I was like, oo wee, wait a minute,” Clanton said. “You know, I just didn't expect it to kind of hit that quickly. But it did and it blew up and we were able to keep that group very authentic to its purpose.”
The group launched a multifaceted 100 day strategy that mirrored the amount of time Harris had to campaign. They held Zoom calls, and created toolkits to be used by barbers, hairstylists and makeup artists. “Black Women for Kamala” also reached out to faith leaders to create prayer calls.
“We really did think about all of those spaces where we needed to be infiltrating and talking about pushing her message because we realized that in 100 days she really only has a GOTV [Get out the vote] strategy,” Clanton said. “There was no walking to get to know me kind of thing. No series of town halls. It really is about, okay, how do we speak to the needs of these voters? How do we mobilize these people so that they can understand and connect the dots for her because she couldn't be everywhere at once.”
In the time that the group did have, Clanton says they were able to raise $75,000 for Harris’ campaign. The quick nature of the group’s rise and the sheer amount of support she felt made Clanton feel even more determined.
“This was a moment where I saw hope on the ballot this past November,” she said. “I think I saw the fate of democracy, the fate of humanity really be called to question during this election.”
Clanton says her role at the time was to turn the women in her group into credible messengers for Harris’ campaign.
“Knowing that she would have to face not only racism, she would have to face misogyny,” Clanton said. “Chauvinism, patriarchy, all of these things would be called into question about her and her ability. So we just took that on as a personal part of our fight because in thinking about who she was and what she would represent, it was all of us, right?”
But, when Clanton said she realized Harris lost the election, she was speechless.
“I got real quiet,” she said. “I did. I have not cried. I think I have bottled most of my frustration. I have done that with the thought that I needed to rechannel that energy into something productive.”
This election, Clanton believed, was a moment for Black women to be seen.
“I think as Black women, we have to live and operate under this veil of invisibility,” she said. “And for the first time, the world was being forced to see us, right? To maybe not accept us, but they had to see us in that moment and everything that we brought and will bring to our various industries.”
Clanton says her call to organizing began early. A graduate of Tougaloo College, Clanton says she served as a branch president of the NAACP chapter on campus.
“This is the birthplace of organizing,” she said. “You can't wake up and smell Mississippi air and not know that you've been called to do something greater than your circumstance. So much of who I am came from this very soil.”
Inspired by the work of other Mississippians including Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers and Flonzie Brown Wright, as well as by her own college activism, Clanton says she feels moved to use the lessons she’s learned from Harris’ loss to restrategize.
“Before jumping into the next thing, I needed to spend some time with myself,” she said. “I needed to think about where do we go from here? I spent some time with the last speech from Dr. [Martin Luther] King, the speech that is entitled “Where Do We Go From Here?” And that did me some good because there were some realities in that. When he talks about how freedom is a fire that is budding but not yet bloomed. And that for me said, “Okay, I get it.” That means we’re still in the process of this thing.”
The key to what’s next for groups like “Black Women for Kamala” lies in what Clanton recognizes as rest.
“Rest is revolutionary,” she said. “So if you see a black woman saying she's taking her rest, let her cook. Let her have that moment because this is hard. It is hard physically, emotionally, mentally. For some people, financially, this is hard.”
This rest, Clanton believes, will allow grassroots organizers the time to examine what former President Trump’s administration may look like for them. As President-elect, Trump is naming members of his cabinet. Clanton says people need to pay particular attention to what some are calling controversial cabinet picks.
“These appointments to these positions, people need to be made aware of those things,” Clanton said. “They need to be very clear about what is about to happen. What's about to happen to the Department of Education, what is about to happen to EPA, what is about to happen to health and human services? What is about to happen to national security?”
Clanton says she’s concerned with what seems like hostilities against certain groups.
“We're already seeing speculations rise and attacks happening against nonprofits that are doing the work of justice, that are doing the work of humanity,” she said. “That calls us back into question as a nation. So I think we all just got to lock in and try to figure out how we not only survive in these moments, but thrive in these moments and not let ourselves become depressed by the day, but allow ourselves to be optimistic about what's to come. Because we get to shape our futures and we get to shape democracy as time moves on.”
