Following Vice President Harris’s attendance at Divine Nine conventions, one of the top Black sororities in the country is denouncing the insults made to her by former President Trump during a recent presidential debate.
Speaking earlier this year, Harris was present at several Divine Nine sorority boulés, including one that took place during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s July congressional address.
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When they first started going to “very unimportant” events, Trump criticized her for doing so. He reiterated this criticism during the ABC debate in Philadelphia.
However according to Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., one of the Divine Nine chapters founded in 1920 at Harris’s alma school, Howard University, the remarks “undermine” the importance of the boulés.
Sept. 11, 2024, the sorority announced in a statement, “Former President Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine the credibility of the importance of our national convention is not only disheartening, but also disrespectful to us and the other historically Black Greek Letter Organizations that make up the Divine Nine.”
Divine Nine boulés frequently provide networking opportunities, workshops, and keynote speakers. They are occasionally explained as a means of enhancing the sororities’ sisterhood relations.
Harris belongs to another Divine Nine sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.
The emergence of Jim Crow legislation and pervasive racial violence coincided with the founding of several Black Greek-letter societies. They gave Black students the chance to participate in Greek life at primarily White universities where they were not previously able to.
Zeta Phi Beta noted, “Collectively, our organizations have been on the forefront of historic social action and change that have helped Black Americans, women, and other disenfranchised communities gain access to the same civil rights that were once legally denied our communities.”
For the communities it serves, the sorority said, it will keep supporting initiatives to uphold and advance social, health, and economic justice.
“We will not let the hard work and legacy of our members be framed as a “sorority party,”’ the group said. “Currently, our organization has joined forces with all Divine Nine organizations on an unprecedented voter mobilization effort and these continued attacks on our organization’s character will only fuel our momentum to educate and mobilize voters.”
