- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
Black sororities could be key advantage for Harris campaign
As Kamala Harris heads into the November presidential race against Donald Trump, a social club she joined in college four decades ago might just pay its biggest dividends yet.
"Whatever it is that she needs our coalitions to do, we're going to be there to help push it out and get it done," said Tanya Baham, a member of Harris's college sorority, in attendance at the recent Democratic National Convention.
Sororities and fraternities abound across US college campuses -- with their Greek-letter names, exclusive memberships, and promise of community, usually along same-sex lines.
But Harris's membership in Alpha Kappa Alpha, a historically Black sorority, provides her campaign a direct line to a network of 360,000 women across the country, many of whom are excited to see one of their own in the White House.
And the Democratic Party, which counts women and Black voters as key constituencies in their electoral base, is paying attention.
While the sorority itself is non-partisan, many, like Baham, are ready to individually tap their networks for fundraising and voter registration in an election that could come down to the wire.
"We're... going to make certain that our kiddos, the young folks, the old folks, get a chance to register and then get to the polls," said Baham, a social worker in Louisiana.
- Built-in network -
Harris joined AKA at Howard University, a historically Black school in Washington where the sorority was founded in 1908 -- the first such organization for Black undergraduate women in the United States.
Over the next few decades, more Black sororities and fraternities emerged, providing African American students refuge amid the scourge of American racism and also serving as bases for civil rights organizing.
AKA has chapters for both undergraduate students and college graduates, making it far more than just a college-level organization.
As vice president, Harris has hosted Black sorority and fraternity leaders at the White House, and ahead of rising to the top of the Democratic ticket she headlined AKA's convention in Texas, in July.
Later that month, within days of President Joe Biden ending his reelection bid, she was at a convention for another Black sorority, Zeta Phi Beta, in Indiana.
AKA members were among those on a "Win With Black Women" Zoom call which raised $1.5 million, and Glenda Glover, the sorority's former president, is leading outreach for Harris at the country's historically Black colleges.
In a historic first, AKA has alo formed a political action committee, used for fundraising for political candidates.
"We're just all ready to work and do this," Donna Miller, a county official in Illinois who was on the Zoom call, told the Chicago Sun-Times. "It invigorated so many people from young and old, across generations, across ethnicity."
- Tight-lipped -
But while AKA and other Black sororities provide a network for Harris to tap into, it is hard to gauge how much that will translate into actual votes come November.
The sorority and its members have generally been tight-lipped -- multiple members declined to speak with AFP about the election.
Some referred AFP to the sorority's headquarters, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A half dozen individual chapters also did not respond to requests for comment.
"Mobilization through sororities can't hurt," said Daniel Hopkins, a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania.
But Hopkins cautioned that "there are only so many voters in the US in general who attend four-year colleges, who are members of these organizations."
And while African Americans are overwhelmingly Democratic voters, they have been peeling off from the party in recent years -- a decline that has mostly come from younger and infrequent voters, according to his research.
At the same time, Amanda Wilkerson, an assistant professor of higher education at the University of Central Florida who has studied Black voters, said organizations like Black sororities and fraternities are "hidden apparatuses," often ignored by polling or the media even as they've organized for previous elections, both nationally and locally.
Their members and alumni are well-versed in campaigning, she said, and the 2024 election isn't their first go-around.
Harris "is the first candidate of her kind to be able to leverage those networks of support," Wilkerson said. "But it's not altogether new."
L.Harper--AMWN