And why supporters are wearing them today.
The Powerful Meaning Behind Kamala Harris’s Signature Pearls
Kamala Harris made history on January 20 when she was sworn in as vice president. As the first Black woman and the first woman of South Asian descent to have the position, she's an inspiration to many. “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” she said after winning the election. “Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities."
Those little girls—and all of Harris’s supporters—are standing in solidarity with our new VP today by wearing pearls and Chuck Taylor sneakers. The accessories are two of Harris’s signatures, and they have special meaning.
The Kamala Harris pearls ode is a nod to Alpha Kappa Alpha, the oldest historically Black sorority in the country, which Harris joined while at Howard University. The sorority’s founders are known as the Twenty Pearls, and Harris wears pearls in solidarity with her sisters.
As for Chuck Taylors, Harris is just a fan. “You know, I grew up with Chucks. I just love them. They’re comfortable,” Harris said in an interview with CBS This Morning, per Yahoo!. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, corroborated this, saying, “When I met her, it was Chucks and jeans.”
Now Kamala Harris’s supporters are wearing the accessories to show their excitement for her vice presidency. “All of my social media tls are full of pearls and chuck Taylor’s lol. Y’all cute,” one person tweeted.
https://twitter.com/MissPatchesMD/status/1351912820888248321https://twitter.com/dyeyell/status/1351693422399086592https://twitter.com/JanaiBrugger/status/1351914060514795522https://twitter.com/PrincipalEWill1/status/1351881943349157889https://twitter.com/ElanLifeCoach/status/1351910347494592512https://twitter.com/CVCruz17/status/1351913457822691333https://twitter.com/JudyAndMeka/status/1351917416989806594“It’s a Converse and pearls kinda day,” one woman tweeted. Yes, it is.
“Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourselves in a way that others may not, simply because they’ve never seen it before,” Harris also said in her VP acceptance speech. “But know that we will applaud you every step of the way…. Now is when the real work begins.”
For more information on what to expect this Inauguration Day, click here.
This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Christopher Rosa
