EJ Scott, an African-American delegate from Virginia, took into account the stylistic suggestions of the organizers of the closing night of the Democratic National Convention, the phenomenal spectacle that served as the vice president's nomination this Thursday. Kamala Harris will accept with a vibrant speech prime-time, the party's nomination as the White House candidate. Like the rest of the delegates, he had been asked to dress to the nines, in tribute to the achievements of the suffragists and to mark the historic opportunity for a woman to become the first female president in U.S. history in November. And so he did: Scott showed up at the Chicago Bulls basketball stadium, where he the democratic conclave held this week wearing a skirt, shirt, boots and hat cowboy whites.
He added the cowboy touch, he said, as a further homage to Beyoncé, the main protagonist of the night's absence, and for a symbolism that will be familiar to fans of the singer. “This country needs to be saved,” Scott warned a few hours before the vice president's speech, “and I imagine Kamala riding a white horse to fulfill that mission.”
After days of speculation about a possible descent into mortal flesh of Beyoncé from the Chicago sky, there was finally no trace of the artist, one of whose songs, Freedombecame the anthem of Harris' campaign. In the end, the public had to settle for the consolation that Texas Hold'Em, Tejano singer's recent foray into the country, rang out early in the day, as delegates spread out across the basketball court and in the first ring of stands waved small American flags as if tearing up leaves to see if the singer would finally appear or not; one gossip site began reporting that yes, he would perform; and another, specializing in Hollywood news, denied it shortly after speaking with his representative.
It turns out, he told them, that “the singer was never supposed to perform.” The whole operation has led to questions about whether the Democratic National Committee had deliberately played on the nerves and hopes of Beyoncé fans to keep the audience glued to their screens for the five-hour-plus duration of one of these shows. do so in the United States.
Freedom also accompanied the stage release of the candidatewho, surprise, arrived on time, after four days of delay and broken chronological promises. She did so “dressed in dark clothes, as usual,” walking slowly, almost in slow motion, as if she had been waiting for this moment all her life and had only been there for 32 days Joe Biden He announced on X as a surprise that he was abandoning his re-election bid and supporting Harris as his successor. Everything that followed—the showering of millions in donations, the closing of party ranks around the vice president, the tightening of the polls, and the unbridled enthusiasm and energy that has been felt in Chicago these days—was certainly not predictable. But when, at 9:44 p.m., Harris spoke the words accepting the party’s nomination, all the pieces suddenly seemed to fall into place.
Knowing what's happening outside means understanding what's going to happen inside, not missing anything.
After receiving a deafening four-minute ovation, the speaker thanked her husband, Doug Emhoff, precisely on Thursday, the day they celebrated their wedding anniversary; to Joe Biden, for the trust and work already shared Tim Walzgovernor of Minnesota, whom Harris chose for vice president. The candidate then launched into a review of her biography so faithful that it sometimes seemed as if she had given the technicians of the teleprompter the first chapter of her memoirs, in which she repeats anecdotes, advice from her mother and even musical references to the tastes inherited from her father: “Aretha [Frankin]Thousands [Davis] And [John] “Coltrane.” It will be up to fact-checkers to verify whether the names of jazz legends Coltrane and Davis have ever been mentioned in the history of the conventions, but that seems unlikely.
The evening was otherwise filled with music. 90s pop diva Pink performed (who is definitely not Taylor Swift, another name that had been speculated), and around 8:00 p.m. the members of Chicks, a rock band country Formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, a name they shortened due to its racist connotations, they have achieved a real feat: singing the harmonically devilish American anthem in three voices.
Her intervention marked the beginning of the evening's prime time segment, and the show recorded one of its highlights with the presence of actress Kerry Washington, famous for her intervention in scandal, series of political squabbles in the White House.
“I know a lot of people are going to be on social media now asking me to shut up, to dedicate myself to acting and not to speak. But I am not here as an actress, but as a daughter, a mother, a proud union activist, a granddaughter of immigrants and a black woman descended from slaves to remind you that when we the people want to, we speak with one voice.” She then welcomed Harris’ two great-nieces, Amara and Leela, whom she asked to help her teach her how to pronounce Kamala. (comma) to the world, but especially “to those who have difficulty or claim that it is difficult for them,” Washington announced, referring of course to Trump, who has mocked his rival's first name in recent weeks. “Confusion is excused, disrespect is not,” Washington added.
Chicago woke up in the morning eager for the pop stars who ultimately failed to shine and on the verge of a nervous breakdown after nearly a week of street closures and hellish traffic. Convention attendees arrived at the perimeter much earlier than in previous days to avoid the risk of missing the big event. A free seat in the stands quickly became the most valuable asset in a packed stadium.
Among the various delegations organized by territory on the ground, the representatives of the State of Washington and their caps attracted attention. cowboy with little lights. Or the Illinois team, who were playing at home and debuted blue sequined “Everything at 100” hats that many hadn’t even had time to remove the tags on.
The fact that the number of Democratic delegates (about 4,600) practically doubles that of the Republican Party, made the logistics throughout the convention particularly complex, to the point that at one point, the security officials of the event closed for a few hours. hours to access the court. If it was possible to go down to the trading floor, journalists and guests found themselves pushed (literally) into a begging procession, forced to walk the corridors to avoid gangrene and let volunteers with an apparently vital mission pass; They ran from one place to another with the posters so that the public could show them on television and they changed their messages: from those that said “USA” to those of “When we fight, we win”, the campaign slogan, and, finally, to some elongated banners with a stick included and a single word: “Kamala”.
Outside, the corridors were filled with people coming and going: guests with tired faces after so much enthusiasm and unity of the Democratic coalition, coveted celebrities (like the actor from iron man Don Cheadle) and foreigners who have not been well received here (Vivek Ramaswamy, also known as the “anti-woke millionaire,” who rose to prominence by running in the Republican primary), philosopher and third-party candidate Cornel West, and San Francisco Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, who had just won gold for the United States at the Paris Olympics, have probably never received a standing ovation as loud in a foreign country as the one he received on Thursday.
Although the applause that threatened to burst the eardrums of the spectators on the field was the one that came when, after Harris' speech, Emhoff, Walz and his wife came out to congratulate her, and the balloons that everyone was carrying The week was suspended. On the roof of the stadium, waiting for their turn to be released, as is tradition, they began their slow descent. Below, the delegates waited with open arms to engage in a sadistic game that capped an unforgettable week: popping as many red, white and blue balloons as possible.
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