The Hillary Clinton campaign dropped an inspirational video Saturday about some of the strongest Black female voices in the Democratic Party and why they think Hillary Clinton is the best choice for president.
The five women who make up the self-titled “Colored Girls” are a group that in the span of 30 years have risen to top of the party’s political apparatus — from running presidential campaigns and Democratic National Committee to being advisor to both Bill and Hillary Clinton. They are Minyon Moore, senior advisor to Hillary Clinton, Yolanda Caraway, President and CEO of the Caraway Group, Tina Flournoy, Chief of Staff for Bill Clinton, Reverend Leah Daughtry, CEO of the Democratic National Convention and Donna Brazile, interim director of the Democratic National Convention.
They represent the important role Black women have always played in politics, and stand as living legends to young Black women working within the political machine that is the Democratic party.
“I am Black and female. Only those two points would you know just by looking at me,” Flournoy said. “But both are just facts if they’re not informed by the experiences that each engenders…I have always known my sisters, the Colored Girls, get all of this. I know that though informed by different experiences, Hillary does too. She has never led a life on the sidelines. And Black women get THAT – because life has not afforded us that luxury.”
And like Flournoy, all five women are behind the front lines, ensuring that Clinton is elected come Nov. 8.
“I’m not supporting Hillary because she’s a woman. I’m supporting her because I believe she is the most qualified presidential candidate we have ever had in this country,” Caraway tells ESSENCE. Caraway’s firm does consulting work for the likes of Google.
“The fact that she is a woman makes it even sweeter. I want more women in office because I think we will govern better than men,” she said.
The new video shows how the group came about, a triumphant story of Brazile and Moore taking a stand when, as staffers on the 1988 Michael Dukakis campaign, they protested the move of their office, which would have shifted most people of color away from the power center of the campaign. The two ladies set up shop inside a conference room on the floor they had been told to move from and posted a sign on the door: “For Colored Girls Only, We Shall Not Be Moved.” Their protest worked, and all five have been making waves within the party since.
“If you get a seat at the table, be willing to pull up a chair for someone else – you are only one voice,” Moore tells ESSENCE. “Today as Hillary blazes yet another trail, she has hired some very talented and equally as committed young women in her campaign. They give you hope for the future and share the values that we all hold dear,” she said.
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At the National Association of Black Journalists conference this past summer, Clinton talked about how her friendships with Black women have been key relationships both personally and professionally. “They’ve supported me, they’ve chastised me, they’ve raised issues with me, they’ve tried to expand my musical tastes,” she said at the time. “So we’ve had a lot of great, great times because of our friendships.”
“When I met Hillary Clinton, I was a feisty young organizer,” Brazile said. “I’ve known Hillary Clinton for a long time, and the woman that is running for President is the same woman that I recall meeting back in the 1980s. Full of vigor, full of resiliency, but importantly, full of faith.”
Daughtry agrees, but also knows the work Black women are doing to put Clinton in the White House will affect generations to come.
“One of the great things about the Obama administration was that my nephews who are 9 and 12, don’t know anything but a Black President,” she says.
“It lifted the ceiling of their vision of themselves. What will that do for young girls having Hillary Clinton as president for young girls, and young boys, to know that a woman can lead, and can lead with integrity, and can lead with strength, and can lead the nation, America, which is a leading nation in the world, into a brighter future.”