Vice President Kamala Harris addresses the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Aug. 19, 2024. | Source: Tom Williams / Getty
The Democratic National Convention opened Monday night with a rousing lineup of speakers taking the stage in front of an adoring crowd at the jam-packed United Center in Chicago.
And while every speaker stressed the importance of making sure Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are elected in November, each one also took the time to explain to the audience and viewers at home why it was so important.
MORE: DNC: Democratic Leaders Push For Deeper Connections With Black Male Voters
As such, a parade of card-carrying Democrats including elected officials, business leaders and other dignitaries alternately took turns sounding the alarm about the consequences of Donald Trump having a second term in the White House, underscoring the urgency of the moment.
Among those speakers were notable Black people who raised awareness on a variety of pressing issues pertinent to the 2024 election.
Keep reading to find the Blackest takeaways from the first night of the 2024 DNC.
Black women are leading
Obviously, Democrats are rallying around Kamala Harris, who would become the first Black and Asian woman president in the history of the United States, should she and Walz be elected in November. But a veritable who’s who of Black women leaders are not only expected to grace the DNC stage this week, but a handful of them were there on day one to open the convention in ways that only they could.
They included California Rep. Maxine Waters, who made the historic connection between Harris’ candidacy and the resilience of voting rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer 60 years earlier at the DNC in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., walks on the stage during the 2024 Democratic National Convention at United Center in Chicago on Aug. 19, 2024. | Source: Robert Gauthier / Getty
Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett — a former public defender — laid out the argument of why Harris is a more qualified candidate than Trump:
“One candidate worked at McDonald’s, while she was in college at an HBCU. The other was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and helped his daddy in the family business: Housing discrimination. She became a career prosecutor, while he became a career criminal, with 34 felonies, two impeachments, and one porn star to prove it.”
“Kamala Harris has a résumé. Donald Trump has a rap sheet. She presides over the Senate while he keeps national secrets next to his thinking chair — y’all know what I said the other time — in Mar-A-Lago.”
Other Black women — often described as the backbone of the Democratic Party — who spoke on night one of the DNC include Los Angeles Mayor and former Congresswoman Karen Bass; California Sen. Laphonza Butler; former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge; Illinois Rep. Lauren Underwood; Minyon Moore, Chair of the 2024 Democratic National Convention Committee; and Stacey Johnson-Batiste, Harris’ lifelong friend from Berkeley, California, where they met as kindergarteners.
Black women will continue to lead at the DNC as former First Lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to speak on Tuesday night.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, speaks during the 2024 Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Aug. 19, 2024. | Source: Bill Clark / Getty
Tribute to Jesse Jackson
Rev. Jesse Jackson, the iconic civil rights leader, appeared at the DNC in his hometown to a standing ovation 40 years after waging his own presidential campaign. While Jackson did not address the audience, likely due to his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, he did flash two thumbs up to the crowd as his sons, Yusef and U.S. Rep. Johnathan Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton accompanied him on stage.
Pro-Palestinian protests were raging
A series of pro-Palestinian protests have been going on in Chicago since Sunday night. And while they continued outside of the United Center on Monday, some protesters managed to gain access inside the arena and interrupted President Joe Biden’s speech in an effort to raise awareness of the Israeli-led violence in Gaza that critics have called “genocide.” The issue is particularly near and dear to the hearts of Black Americans, many of whom have found a parallel between the Israeli treatment of Palestinians and the colonialization of the U.S. that involved slavery.
A protest banner is covered with signs in support of President Joe Biden as he delivers the keynote speech during the first day of the Democratic National Convention on August 19, 2024, at the United Center in Chicago. | Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Sen. Raphael Warnock’s speech
One of the many highlights of night one of the DNC was the impassioned speech delivered by Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, whose words could have been mistaken for a sermon being preached to a faithful congregation
“I’m convinced tonight that we can lift the broken even as we climb,” Warnock, who is also the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta — Martin Luther King Jr.’s former church — told the audience. “We can heal the wounds that divide us. We can heal a planet in peril. We can heal the land.”
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) speaks onstage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 19, 2024, in Chicago. | Source: Andrew Harnik / Getty
Warnock also took the time to express sympathy for those who have been killed in the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
“We are as close in our humanity as a cough. I need my neighbors’ children to be okay so my children will be ok,” Warniock said. “I need the poor children of Israel and the poor children of Gaza. I need Israelis and Palestinians — those in the Congo, those in Haiti, those in Ukraine, I need Americans on both sides of the track to be okay. Because we are all god’s children.”
Biden passes the torch to Kamala Harris
The first night of the DNC doubled as a victory lap for Biden, whose selflessness was celebrated for stepping aside to allow Vice President Harris to run in his stead. Chants of “Thank you, Joe” rained down from the rafters and spread throughout the audience, particularly after he was introduced and took the stage. After running down the list of some of his most notable accomplishments as president, Biden passed the proverbial torch to Harris.
“Selecting Kamala was the very first decision I made when I became our nominee, and it was the best decision I made my whole career,” Biden told the crowd. “She’s tough, she’s experienced and she has enormous integrity.”
Biden added later: “Her story represents the best American story. And like many of our best presidents, she was also vice president.”
The DNC is scheduled to end on Thursday.
Follow NewsOne’s coverage of the DNC via The Black Ballot.
SEE ALSO:
‘Is This America?’ Maxine Waters Links Kamala Harris, Fannie Lou Hamer In Triumphant DNC Speech
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