By the time Vice President and presidential hopeful Kamala Harris took the stage at her UAW-inspired campaign rally just before 7 p.m. in an airport hangar near Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Wednesday, Aug. 7, the crowd of nearly 15,000 supporters had been gathered for nearly four hours.
They stayed engaged with music blaring over the speakers, a performance by the Detroit Youth Choir, and energetic speeches from elected officials including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, and UAW President Shawn Fain.
The height of the event, though, was when Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz emerged hand-in-hand from the Air Force 2, just beyond a sea of waving “Kamala-Walz” signs, to the sounds of Beyonce’s Freedom. The moment electrified the spectators, many of whom called the moment was both “iconic” and “historic.”
But beyond Harris’ and Walz’s take on how dangerous another Donald Trump presidency would be, and beyond the promotion of the November election being the most important presidential election of our lifetime, there were some unique underlying themes that emerged in the wake of her 20-hour visit to Michigan. Here are five of the most important takeaways:
Harris Understands the Importance of Detroit and Michigan
This was Harris’ fifth campaign visit to Michigan this year, and she’s campaigned here perhaps more than any other state in 2024. She’s been on the west side of the state twice and she’s been in and around Detroit on three occasions.
Although this was her first visit on her own presidential campaign (her previous visits were promoting President Joe Biden’s candidacy for re-election), her visit in May ahead of the NAACP Fight for Freedom Fund dinner was held at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Her campaigning in Michigan has centered on winning the Black vote and bringing together women voters on the issues of women’s rights – particularly as it pertains to healthcare.
Michigan’s place as the nation’s leader in automotive manufacturing also makes it prime battleground territory, and Harris has paid her dues with the unions around the state, earning key endorsements from the United Auto Workers and other unions. She has relied heavily on telling her story as the child of a blue-collar family, and her own journey as a teenage McDonald’s employee to gain favor and respect from working-class voters in Detroit and around the state.
Keeping Michigan Blue will be absolutely necessary in her quest to earn the 270 electoral college votes needed to claim the White House in November.
UAW President Shawn Fain is NOT a Fan of Donald Trump
Aside from Harris, Fain delivered the longest speech to rally-goers. He spoke at length – for more than 18 minutes – about his love for Michigan, his love for unions, his great disdain for Donald Trump, and the Biden-Harris administration’s support for the UAW. He talked about how Harris was on the picket lines with workers and stood by the million-plus current and retired UAW members during trying times in the automotive industries. At the same time, he slammed Trump at every turn.
“To me, this election is real simple. It’s about one question, and it’s a question we’ve made famous in the labor movement: Which side are you on? On one side, you’ve got a billionaire who serves himself and his millionaire buddies. He lies, he cheats, and he steals his way to the top. He’s a lapdog for the billionaire class. And on the other side, you’ve got a strong, intelligent, and – I’m just gonna put it bluntly – a badass woman who stood on the picket line with striking workers,” Fain said.
“Kamala Harris is a champion for the working class, and like all great leaders, Kamala Harris knows it’s not all about her. It’s about the people. …But we know who we’re dealing with. Donald Trump is a scab. And his sidekick isn’t any better. JD Vance is a vulture. Every time Donald Trump gets a chance, he trashes our union, and he trashes the working class. …Well let me tell you something: Donald Trump doesn’t know shit about the auto industry, and he doesn’t give a damn about the working class.”
Fain and Trump have been at each other’s necks for more than a year, with the two regularly going back-and-forth insulting each other publicly. Trump has called Fain stupid, and Fain has had valid criticisms about Trump and his refusal to show up for striking autoworkers during their fight to keep plants open and stop automakers from shipping their operations to other countries.
Fain continued, saying Trump cannot be trusted because of how easily he’s swayed by money. He pointed out how critical Trump was of Elon Musk, owner of X (formerly Twitter) and Tesla, until Musk promised huge campaign contributions and funding to Trump in exchange for the then-president to remove red tape associated with Musk’s business endeavors.
“Donald Trump is bought and paid for by the billionaire class. Trump is a sellout, and his presidency already showed us that under him, America is for sale to the highest bidder,” he said. “He’s the epitome of what’s wrong with America.”
Kamala Harris is a Black Woman – Racially, Ethnically, and Culturally
The topics of race, ethnicity, and nationality really have people in a chokehold, and it’s time to sort out some facts – facts not rooted in the deliberately false attacks made by Trump during the National Association of Black Journalists conference a couple weeks ago in Chicago about how Harris “was never Black before.”
Over the past decade, there has been a small but loud movement amongst Black people in the United States that has only served to further divide us and sabotage Black unity globally. They identify as “Black Foundational Americans,” and if you’re not a Black person who descends from American slaves, then you’re an outsider to them. According to this group, Harris isn’t a Black American. Many of them don’t even consider her Black at all. Because of her Jamaican and Indian parentage, they claim that Harris doesn’t know the Black experience. But this, like many things said about her, is an outright lie.
Harris was born in Oakland, Calif., and spent her childhood there living with her Black Jamaican father. She attended a Black church growing up and even sang in the choir there. After spending her teen years in Montreal, Canada, she returned to the U.S. to study at Howard University, an HBCU, where she would go on to pledge to the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. She even served as President of her chapter of the Black Law Students Association while pursuing her law degree at UC Law.
Long before running for public office had even crossed her mind, Harris identified as a Black woman. She sought out Black spaces and joined them. Now that she is a public figure, she has not shied away from her Blackness like many other Black politicians have in the past. Harris’s Indian-ness does not offset her Blackness, and her Jamaican blood doesn’t make her any less American. To ostracize a Black person who has been raised in Black communities, educated in Black schools, and established themselves in Black organizations simply because they’re not the right kind of Black is insanely dangerous and disingenuous.
But aside from that, her Blackness is evident culturally – in the way she walks, in the way she talks, in her tone and mannerisms, in the way she dances, and in the way she exudes “aunty” vibes down to her facial expressions. But the thing that’s most noticeable about Harris’ demeanor when she’s unjustly criticized about the authenticity of her Blackness, is that her hair is pressed and her suits are pressed, but she ain’t. At all.
Protesters Are Gonna Protest
Pro-Palestinian protesters at presidential rallies in Detroit are a common thing. Most of Harris’ and Biden’s rallies have been impacted by protestors exercising their First Amendment rights. This month’s Harris-Walz rally was no exception. Nearly four hours after the rally started, a few Pro-Palestinian supporters began chanting “Kamala! You can’t hide! We won’t vote for genocide!”
Calmly, at first, Harris said with a smile: “I’m speaking now.” The crowd cheered, but the protestors continued. The supporters drowned out the protestors’ chants with chants of their own. “UAW! UAW!” and “Ka-ma-la! Ka-ma-la!” rang out.
Her patience with the protest quickly faded, and like a Black mama delivering a second warning to a disruptive family member, Harris said: “You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.”
She stared directly at the protestors, with her jaws locked and with a stern jeer. It was a different take than the one Biden had with protestors at his Detroit rally earlier this summer, when he responded to the protest by saying “Look. I understand their passion,” and noting that he was working to end the Israel-Hamas War.
Harris’ reaction wasn’t wrong, but neither were the protestors for showing up just as passionately as the other 15,000 people at the rally. It’s politics. Some people will agree with the way politicians solve problems and some people won’t. But ultimately, the protestors backed down and agreed to peacefully leave without further disruption. They weren’t arrested or forcibly removed, so that’s a positive immediate outcome for both sides.
During her time in Michigan, Harris met with Layla Elabed, co-founder of Uncommitted and Listen To Michigan, and Abbas Alawieh, DNC Delegate for Michigan Uncommitted and co-founder of Uncommitted and Listen To Michigan.
“I had a moment yesterday to briefly engage with Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz in the photo lineup when she was visiting Detroit. In that brief engagement, I did get really emotional. I introduced myself and was introduced as one of the co-founders of the Uncommitted National Movement. The first thing I said to Vice President Harris was, ‘I’m Palestinian,’ and I got really emotional after that because I was thinking of my community members who are losing hundreds of their family members,” Elabed said.
“I told Vice President Harris that Michigan voters right now want a way to support you, but we can’t do that without a policy change that saves lives in Gaza. I asked, ‘Will you meet with us to talk about an arms embargo?’ And she nodded, she agreed, ‘Yes, we will meet.’ In that moment, it felt reassuring and like a window of openness to meet with uncommitted leaders, to meet with Michigan voters, to talk about what is necessary in this moment to save lives.
“I really felt that Vice President Harris’s empathy towards me and towards the plight of Palestinians was incredibly genuine, and also understanding that Palestinian children, men, and women need more than just empathy or sympathy. We need a policy change that will save their lives. When I stood there straightforward in front of Vice President Harris and looked her in the eyes and told her of the very real human impact of our U.S. policy decisions and what that means for voters here in Michigan, particularly among Arab American and Muslim American voters, she nodded with me. She said, ‘It’s horrific,’ when I explained to her that tens and hundreds of our community members are losing their family members.”
Black Men Know Their Role in this Election
Shortly after Harris and Walz left Detroit – after having met with hundreds of union members at UAW Local 900 – there was another meeting of the minds. This time, it was Black men, led by a coalition of powerful Black Detroiters including businessmen, elected officials, clergy, educators, and entrepreneurs, for an event sponsored by Brothers Under the Dome.
The list of attendees was a who’s who of Detroit, including Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, Sheriff Ray Washington, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, Rep. Tyrone Carter, Dennis Archer Jr., Jamaine Dickens, Tyrone Saunders Jr., Rudy Hobbs, and Buzz Thomas, just to name a handful. But also in attendance were Minority Leader of the U.S House of Representatives Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
The group spoke passionately about the responsibilities of Black men in the fight to get Kamala Harris to the White House this year.
“This narrative that Black men don’t know what we’re doing, this is the most non-Trump room in America right now. But let me just say how proud I am to represent Chicago and the Midwest. In order for history to be made, America has to come through the Midwest,” said Mayor Johnson.
“This is a room full of Black men who understand what responsibilities are… I was one of the first politicians in the country to endorse (Harris) to become the President of the United States of America. As Black men, we cannot ever flinch. What that means for this moment, is that as Black men…we have to prepare, we have to provide, and we have to protect. That’s what this country needs right now.”
As Mayor Johnson passed the microphone to Minority House Leader Jeffries, it was clear that he understood the assignment to continue the momentum and continue to rally the Black men in attendance.
“What an honor and a privilege to be here. What up doe?” he said. Jeffries went on to tell a story about his experience as the fifth highest-ranking member of the House during the Jan. 6 insurrection and getting word that the traitors had breached the Capitol Building. He recalled security coming to retrieve the higher-ranking members of the House, then telling him to take cover.
“As Debbie (Dingell, who was in the audience Thursday and in the Capitol Building during the insurrection) knows, they never came. And so, I had to think to myself, ‘Well. It’s a good thing I’m from Brooklyn.’ Because at the end of the day we’ve got to be prepared to fight for our freedom, fight for our democracy, fight for our liberation, fight for economic opportunity, and fight for the change that we believe is possible and necessary,” he said.
“I tell you that story not because the most important thing that happened on the floor that night was that we were run off the Capitol grounds. No, we came back the Capitol, we completed our work, we certified the election, we made sure that Joe Biden would become the president, and that Kamala Harris would become the vice president, and peaceful transfer of power will endure. Because a setback is nothing more than a setup for a comeback. And though we’ve been dealing with turbulent times, as long as we continue to show up, as long as we continue to speak up, as long as we continue to stand up for what we know is right, and for the people we know that will serve this country well, the I believe that brothers will continue to win the day, win the week, win the month, win the year, win the hearts and minds of the American people, make sure Kamala Harris becomes the 47th president of the United States of America, take back control of the United States House of Representatives, and continue our countries march towards a more perfect union. Let’s go win!”