I remember exactly when it rang. The 8:07 a.m. phone call that startled me awake in Maryland on Election Day eve was from a D.C. number I didn’t know. My gut told me it was the vice president’s office, who had called me in the weeks prior about a story I wanted. But when I answered, it was an NBC News anchor. He wanted me at Howard’s campus, in front of a camera, within the hour.
The news segment was one of five interviews I did with media outlets that Monday: SiriusXM Urban View, Reuters, 7News DC and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The irony was daunting. They wanted to know The Hilltop’s plan to cover Vice President Kamala Harris’ return to campus the next day on Nov. 5, as her presidential campaign would host its election night event on The Yard. Being covered for covering something is never a good feeling. Our editors felt what seemed like the pressure of our lifetimes.
Nonetheless, The Hilltop published more than 25 stories in the span of a week relating to the presidential election. In the field, we were reporters, photographers and videographers. In the newsroom, we were writers, editors and debaters. For five days, we slept little, talked a great deal and virtually didn’t sleep at all. Our work became our week, and we had fun with it.
However, in the backdrop of our hard work and dedication to Hilltop readers, there was a different kind of profundity that permeated among us, as Howard Bison, as Black men and women. It was that we, while reporting and documenting with zero partisanship, were doing so about the most historic event on Howard’s campus in recent history. We were reporting on a Howard Bison, a Black woman, who was running for the most powerful position in America and who chose to do it on The Yard at Howard in the final stretch.
As student journalists at Howard, we could not cheer on Harris through our reporting. We could not give personal views about her candidacy or share feelings about her opponent. But we allowed ourselves to be proud.
So, Howard community, if there is anything we should be after Harris’ run, it is proud. Proud that there are Bison in the world who are still willing to bring it back home, even when stakes are at their highest. Proud that we are part of a continuum of Howard-educated trailblazers who pave the way for us. And proud that today, there are thousands of young Bison that draw inspiration from alumni who do great things.
