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    Michelle Obama, Rallying Young Voters Near Atlanta, Warns of ‘Apathy’

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    Michelle Obama, the former first lady and among the Democrats’ most popular surrogates, offered a bracing tutorial in the realities of political power on Tuesday night, beseeching thousands of people near Atlanta to vote and to “stop the spiral of disillusionment and apathy.”“It’s natural to wonder if anyone hears you, if anyone sees you,” Mrs. Obama told her audience, many of them students from Atlanta’s historically Black colleges and universities, at an arena just south of downtown. “It is healthy to push your leaders to be better, even to question the whole system.”But, she added, “It’s our job to show folks that two things can be true at once: that it is possible to be outraged by the slow pace of progress and be committed to your own pursuit of that progress.”Mrs. Obama’s pleas and warnings came as Georgia entered the final days of its early voting period, a stretch in which one participation record after another has fallen. Already, more than 3 million people in the state have cast ballots, according to the secretary of state’s office.With the state among the most contested this election year — Joseph R. Biden Jr. beat Donald J. Trump in Georgia by less than 12,000 votes in 2020 — Georgia voters have faced an onslaught of pressure to pick one side or another.Mrs. Obama, addressing a rally that was formally nonpartisan and unaligned with any campaign, made a different ask: Vote.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Harris Responds to Trump’s Comments About Her Identity: ‘Divisiveness and Disrespect’

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      Vice President Kamala Harris carefully hit back at former President Donald J. Trump after he questioned the legitimacy of her identity as a Black woman, saying on Wednesday that he had put on the “same old show” of “divisiveness and disrespect.”“The American people deserve better,” Ms. Harris said at a convention of Sigma Gamma Rho, one of the nation’s most prominent Black sororities. “The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us — they are an essential source of our strength.”But she did not directly quote or refer to Mr. Trump’s comments earlier on Wednesday in Chicago, where he had asked of Ms. Harris: “Is she Indian or is she Black?” He had also falsely claimed that Ms. Harris used to identify as Indian and then “all of a sudden, she made a turn, and she became a Black person.”The vice president is of Jamaican and Indian heritage, and attended Howard University, a historically Black university.Ms. Harris’s precisely calibrated rebuttal was perhaps an early indication of how she will respond to crude and racist attacks from Mr. Trump. Former President Barack Obama largely ignored Republicans, led by Mr. Trump, who falsely accused him of being born in Kenya.Her remarks on Wednesday came after she has sought to place her campaign on the continuum of racial progress in America, referring to it in the same breath as abolitionists and civil rights activists.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Black Sororities and Fraternities Line Up Behind Kamala Harris

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      A united “Divine Nine” could be a formidable political advantage as the vice president, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, looks to shore up the Democratic base. She’ll address another Black sorority on Wednesday.As Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign rushes to shore up its base, its efforts will be bolstered by a ready-made coalition: the more than two million members of Black Greek-letter organizations who have quickly united to mobilize Black voters nationwide.Before Ms. Harris had even hosted her first official campaign event as the de facto Democratic nominee, the heads of the “Divine Nine,” the country’s nine most prominent Black sororities and fraternities, were planning a giant voter organization effort. When President Biden announced on Sunday that he was stepping aside and endorsing Ms. Harris, excitement over her ascent spread swiftly among these groups’ members in group chats, Facebook groups and conference calls.After all, Ms. Harris, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha since her undergraduate days at Howard University, is one of them.“Greek letter organizations who have worked in the trenches, some for over 100 years, never received any kind of publicity, any kind of notoriety,” said Representative Frederica S. Wilson of Florida, who is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha. Once Ms. Harris ran for president, in 2020, she said, that changed. “The A.K.A.s shouted to the highest hills, ‘That’s our soror! That’s our sister!’”On Wednesday, Ms. Harris is expected to address members of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority at their Boulé, or annual national gathering, in Indianapolis — her first such event as the Democratic Party’s likely standard-bearer. Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha cheer for Vice President Harris during the Boulé in Dallas, on July 10, 2024.LM Otero/Associated PressWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More