Black prosecutor felt 'hopefulness and joy' seeing Kamala Harris become U.S. vice-president
CBC Radio | Posted: January 20, 2021 11:53 PM | Last Updated: January 20, 2021
'We thought she had been written off. And here she is now, she's our vice president,' says Runako Allsopp
When Kamala Harris raised her right hand to be sworn in as vice-president of the United States on Wednesday, Runako Allsopp said it gave her a hopefulness that she hasn't had over the past four years.
Allsopp, who is Black, is a prosecutor who has been working in Washington, D.C. for 15 years. She had planned to watch the speech in person with her 11-year-old daughter Thandiwe, but after the violent riots at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, she said she didn't feel comfortable going.
Allsopp spoke with As It Happens host Carol Off about the inauguration ceremony. Here is part of their conversation.
Runako, what did it mean to you to see Vice-President Kamala Harris swear her oath on that balcony today?
It meant so much to me as an African American woman who also attended a historically Black college and the same sorority. We have the same profession. It just, you know, filled my heart with just so much hopefulness and joy for this country.
I've observed Kamala in Senate hearings and in trials. I know she has a laser focus and she's always looking out for the underserved and the underrepresented.
And to know that someone is in the room, making decisions on my behalf and people who look like me ... it just gives me a lift in my spirit. A hopefulness that I definitely have not had over the past four years.
And when you mentioned that laser focus, we saw that on the balcony, didn't we? Even with the mask, you could see just how dead serious she was.
Oh, absolutely ... for example, the Brett Kavanaugh hearing, and she was so pointed, so deliberate in her delivery and how she asked him questions [that] he actually broke down and cried on the stand.
Two weeks ago, we saw hordes of pro-Trump supporters swarming that balcony, breaking in, vandalizing, looking for people to kill, apparently. What effect does that have on you when you consider those contrasting events?
I couldn't believe my eyes.
They didn't have the same reverence for that building and the institution that they claim to have. You could tell ... by the way they were treating the building and the way they were, you know, threatening, and their intentions towards our elected officials.
It was almost as though someone had broken into my own house, because everyone who lives in this area has a certain respect and awe of that Capitol building, the White House and all of those institutions. And it was just, it was so insulting and hurtful.
What impact has the past four years of Donald Trump's presidency had on you and your daughter?
I figured out who Donald Trump was in 2016, and so I was very energetic in my advocacy for him not to be elected.
What was hardest for me, I remember when he was first elected, the first thing I did was calculate [how old] my daughter would be in four years. I said, "She's seven now. She'll be 11 when he leaves office ... hopefully during this time period, she's too young."
I knew he was a racist and he was divisive, but I didn't want it to trickle down to [my daughter's] school and her summer camp and friends. And unfortunately, it did. She had been to this camp where there were kids walking around with Make America Great Again hats on. In the lunchroom at her old school, [kids were] yelling, you know, "Trump, Donald Trump" and [there were] teachers who supported Donald Trump.
So I was relieved. That's a good word: not only happy for Biden and Harris to be elected, but relieved. Because I didn't want my daughter — now that she's coming into her preteen and teen years — I don't want her to be processing these things as she would as someone who is becoming an adult. She'll understand why I don't want her to become jaded, resentful or prejudiced against people because she felt they thought a certain way about her.
What would she have learned about herself and about her country had she gone to [the inauguration]?
It's the same [as] when Barack Obama was elected. I was not only proud of him, but like with Kamala, I'm also proud of us, the people.
When she was being sworn in today, downstairs with my family, we're celebrating and hugging each other. And I said, "You know, we all did this." This wasn't just Black people or brown people, it was white, everybody. It was a cross-section of people who came together and decided that Donald Trump was taking this country in the wrong direction.
I think for my daughter, I want her to see that, you know, there are some bad people, but there are also good people. I want her to also see that there can be someone who looks like — you know, Kamala is Black, like my daughter; she's also Caribbean. She's the child of immigrants. I wanted her to see that success story.
You know, Kamala dropped out of the race…. [and] we thought she was going to be a footnote in history, and here she is, now the vice-president. So it's an important lesson in sort of dusting yourself off and always being prepared.
They say preparation plus opportunity equals success. And I think that's the perfect [anecdote] for how Kamala came to be. We thought she had been written off. And here she is now; she's our vice-president.
Written by Mehek Mazhar. Interview produced by Jeanne Armstrong. Q&A edited for length and clarity.