Kamala Harris Addresses Howard-Hampton HBCU Rivalry

During a latest interview about traditionally Black schools and universities (HBCUs), Vice President Kamala Harris waded into “the actual HU” debate that pits Howard College in opposition to Hampton College within the proverbial battle for HBCU supremacy.

Harris was talking with Get Up! Mornings With Erica Campbell touting a number of the Biden-Harris administration’s accomplishments as the 2 marketing campaign for reelection subsequent yr. One of many issues Harris stated she was most happy with was the work the U.S. authorities has carried out on behalf of HBCUs.

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“People stated, take note of our HBCUs,” Harris informed Campbell. “Now you understand I’m a proud graduate of an HBCU. For cash into these unimaginable academic establishments, and since individuals voted in 2020, we’ve got now put greater than $5 billion into our HBCUs. These are the sorts of accomplishments we’ve made to date.”

Later within the interview, Harris supplied some selection commentary about Howard College, her alma mater.

Harris stated she returns “as usually as potential,” declaring how she was simply there lower than a month in the past to ship her first remarks because it was introduced that she and Biden could be formally working for reelection.

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at an occasion with the Larger Washington Partnership at Howard College on March 30, 2022, in Washington, D.C. | Supply: Drew Angerer / Getty

Throughout that speech, for instance of her satisfaction in Howard, Harris did a well-known call-and-response after the viewers on the Washington, D.C. campus shouted “H-U!” by saying in return, “You realize!”

And so it was no shock that throughout the interview with Campbell, Harris addressed the longstanding respectful rivalry between Howard and Hampton College in Virginia — each of which lay declare to being known as “H-U.”

Sounding as if she was about to say “I really like my HBCU,” Harris seemingly corrected herself earlier than telling Campbell, “I really like H-U,” prompting playful laughter from them each.

“Individuals who went to Hampton — the opposite H-U,” Harris added to extra laughter.

Hearken to the interview under.

To the uninitiated, Howard and Hampton have probably the most contentious rivalries in all of faculty sports activities, and is probably probably the most broadly referenced rivalry within the HBCU group. From teachers to athletics to marching bands to Greek life to campuses and extra, the faculties have commonly been pitted in opposition to one another for many years in a neverending debate over who’s “the actual H-U.”

Harris, the shrewd politician that she is, possible knew higher than to name Howard “the actual H-U” and probably alienate not solely anybody with sturdy emotions on the subject — this author simply so occurs to be a delicate Hamptonian — but additionally trustworthy members of the better HBCU group, which is united by the frequent bond of the unmatched Black faculty expertise.

To make sure, Hampton and Howard are persistently ranked among the many prime HBCUs within the nation, many occasions competing with predominately white establishments that usually have outsized assets compared to the Black schools. Whereas “the opposite H-U” and “the actual H-U” are phrases which might be bandied about loosely by alumni and others within the HBCU group, when push involves shove, there’s all the time a mutual and powerful love between the 2 H-Us — no matter what you might even see and listen to after they play one another in soccer yearly.

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