By Phenix S. Halley
You can always count on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to keep it real and cut through all the BS. So when it came down to how the first presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris went, you better believe that students and staff at the nationâs most prominent HBCUs had a lot to say on the subject.
Itâs no secret that Black Americans are skeptical of the U.S. government. In fact, a Pew Research Center study found 67 percent of Black Americans donât trust U.S. politics. But Trump appears to have made a concerted effort at targeting the Black vote during this presidential campaign, with specific pleas to HBCUs.
âI got them all funded,â he claimed in his June debate with President Joe Biden, referencing a bipartisan bill he signed as president in December 2019 to permanently provide $250 million per year to HBCUs. Educators have given mixed responses about the effectiveness of the bill, and about whether Trump deserves more credit than Biden for helping HBCUs.
Still, Howard University student Laila Hinton is among those who distrusts the political system. The senior political science major tuned into the presidential debate expecting âcraziness,â and was still caught off guard by Trumpâs antics.
âA lot of the things he said were very shocking,â Hinton told The Root. From the former president spewing falsehoods about abortions in the ninth month of pregnancy to his blatant racism regarding Haitian immigrants âeating the pets of the people that live there [in Springfield, Ohio],â Hinton said the former president came across as âunprepared.â
Morgan State University senior Thalya Baptiste had a lot more colorful words to describe Trumpâs debate performance. âHe obviously proved heâs not competent,â she told The Root, âAnd he cannot go toe-to-toe with somebody of Kamalaâs stature.â
Baptiste, also a political science major, admitted that she hasnât always sung the Kamala Harrisâ praises. When the vice president first became the Democratic nominee, Baptiste said she was âskepticalâ that Americans would never elect a Black woman to the Oval Office.
But after the debate, the HBCU senior told The Root that Harris gives her hope. Baptiste even said sheâs âseeing myself in her [Harris].â
But another Morgan State University student doesnât think that Harrisâ stellar debate performance will be enough to move the needle. Colin Carr said that itâs unlikely that Trumpâs supporters will change their minds about their candidate, regardless of what they watched with their own eyes. âI want to believe there are enough people that are able to put aside their political bias and differences to really look at [the election] at the end of the day,â he says, but he knows American voters typically stick and stay behind their pick.
More than 67.1 million viewers tuned in to watch the Sept. 10 showdown. Itâs safe to say the stakes were high for both candidates, but for Bowie State University professor Dr. Karen Cook Bell, one nominee clearly came out on top.
âShe [Harris] presented her policy initiatives, underscored the ways in which Donald Trump will bring chaos to the White House, [and] presented herself as a champion for womenâs reproductive health,â Dr. Bell told The Root. In contrast, the professor said, âthe chaos that Donald Trump presented really disqualifies him from serving in the White House.â
Political analysts and most American viewers clearly named Harris as the winner of the Tuesday debate. But the goal for the Harris campaign wasnât just to win the debate. It was to also win over undecided voters. Dr. Bell called Harrisâ performance âeffective enoughâ to not only convince independent voters, but to also inspire change.
âI put her in the same category as [former President] Obama with regard to the hope that sheâs bringing to Americans who have their eyes open,â she said. Harrisâ optimism for the American future in direct contrast to Trump makes her âa change agent,â according to the professor, and that will be vital to Harrisâ path to victory in November.