CHICAGO — Fort Worth’s own Opal Lee, the Grandmother of Juneteenth, made her Democratic National Convention debut this week at 97, according to ABC News.
In an interview from the DNC, Lee described her reaction to seeing Kamala Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, at the top of the ticket.
“At 97 to really see a Black woman running for president – I tell you, I could do a holy dance,” Lee said. “It’s about time because the women have always been behind the men who were president, they played a part behind the scene, but to have a woman, and a Black woman President of the United States? That’s off the chain.”
She said she’s hopeful for the future.
“Things are going to become so much better. I grant you things are so much better than when I was coming along, but we still have homelessness and joblessness and healthcare that some people can get and others can’t and climate change that we’re all responsible for,” Lee said. “I just feel with Kamala Harris as President of the United States, a whole lot of those things are going to change.”
Lee received the “Grandmother of Juneteenth moniker for her efforts to turn the day commemorating Black freedom from slavery into a national holiday, received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden back in May and has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. She hosted her annual Walk for Freedom in Dallas for the first time in June.
Watch the full interview with Opal Lee here:
