I had a classmate who transferred to my middle school when I was in the seventh grade. Her name escapes me, but her laugh is a core memory. She would open her mouth wide and stick out her tongue, and a joyous, raucous sound would erupt from the back of her throat with the rhythm of a car ignition that wouldn’t start.
It was contagious. Soon after she started laughing, my friend group of Black tween girls would join her. But even in middle school, the laughter of Black girls was something that people in charge wanted to silence.
My friends and I would shush one another, desperate to snap out of our communal display of delight, before a teacher would yell at us for being too loud. The same thing is playing out on the national stage with the Democratic nominee for U.S.
president . People who spend a decent amount of time online have become familiar with Vice President Kamala Harris ’ laugh since footage of her phone call to then-President-elect Joe Biden hit social media shortly after Election Day 2020 . In the whirlwind few weeks since Biden announced he would drop out of this year’s race and endorse Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee , memes more ubiquitous than campaign ads have left the sound of Harris’ laughter etched into my brain.
I could play “Name That Tune” with these clips: Is it the soundbite from her cutting up in an interview with her sister, Maya ? Or is it the chuckle after her rendition of “Wheels on the Bus” ? Or is it the definitive .