He made quick pivot to Harris while staying focused on serving Detroit

Arthur Harrington is a proud 2021 graduate of Detroit’s Cass Technical High School. But for a day, he was very excited to be seated inside one of Cass Tech’s friendly academic rivals — Renaissance High School. 

It was Friday, July 12, and Harrington was part of a spirited crowd that gathered at 6565 W. Outer Drive between Greenfield and Hubbell for a rally that supported the 2024 reelection campaign of President Joe Biden. 

When many among the thousands in attendance chanted: “Don’t you quit,” in support of Biden, Harrington’s voice joined in repeatedly, with more gusto each time. 

Fast-forward to 1:46 p.m. on Sunday, July 21. As the world was learning about President Biden’s historic withdrawal from the 2024 presidential campaign, along with his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris to head the Democratic ticket, the 22-year-old Harrington took a moment to examine his own inner feelings.

And the young man who grew up in the West Outer Drive neighborhood, near the Avenue of Fashion, liked his findings. 

“I love President Biden, but when I read the news on my phone, it felt in my heart like a breath of fresh air,” recalls Harrington, who came across the news shortly after coming out of a church service with his grandmother, Dr. Ernestine Harrington, 80 miles west of Detroit, in Jackson. “I said: ‘Oh my God, Grandma, he left the race.' Then I began thinking that the Democratic Party and the Democratic coalition is in prime position to win. When I got on Instagram Live that day, I had 200 people join me and I was saying that we must do everything we can to support Kamala Harris.” 

During his Instagram Live broadcast, Harrington explained that he happily answered questions about Harris’ qualifications to be president, in the same manner surrogates defend their political candidates on the Sunday morning political news shows. It was a task that Harrington certainly could not have been expecting when he accepted an invitation from his grandmother to join her for church, which led to Harrington riding an Amtrak train from Detroit to Jackson. However, the ability to complete important tasks in relatively short periods of time — even when challenges are thrown in — is a talent that the former Coleman A. Young Scholar has already demonstrated.  

For example, after graduating from Cass Tech, where Harrington also completed college courses through a dual enrollment program with the Wayne County Community College District, he had earned a year’s worth of college credits. And with college credits in hand, along with scholarship assistance, including a $20,000 scholarship from the Coleman A. Young Foundation (CAYF), Harrington began making plans to attend historic Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. But before his bags were packed, Harrington felt a real need to make a phone call. 

“My scholarships were going to cover my tuition, but I didn’t have any money after that,” explained Harrington, who was preparing to enter a private Historically Black University, which cost new students $42,798 to attend on campus for the 2023-24 school year according to the “Schedule of Fees” published by the university. “So I called the university’s admissions office and the woman I spoke to said she had never received a call from a student who had already been accepted. Afterward, she asked if I had received any scholarship money from Hampton. Then she said, because I stepped out on faith and called, that the university would give me $40,000 in scholarship money.

"It was a blessing and I give God all the glory and all the praise.” 

Harrington says he attempted to reward Hampton’s faith in him by locking in on his studies, which resulted in Harrington graduating within three years, as he walked across the stage during a commencement ceremony held this past Mother’s Day (May 12, 2024). As a student at Hampton, Harrington also completed legislative summer internships on Capitol Hill, serving in the offices of Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters and Democratic congressman Shri Thanedar, both of Michigan. And just like Harrington needed some extra assistance to attend Hampton, he said another organization that had faith in him came through to make the legislative internship opportunities a reality. 

“I would not have been able to live in D.C. for those summers when I had the internships on Capitol Hill if not for the Coleman A. Young Foundation,” Harrington said about the foundation started by Detroit’s longest-serving mayor, which has provided scholarships to students from Detroit that have been accepted to colleges in Michigan or Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) since 1986. “The Coleman A. Young Foundation paid for me to live in D.C., and that was additional money beyond the $20,000 scholarship I received from them. They did that out of the trust they have in me.” 

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CAYF’s mission is to develop leadership among Detroit youths through college scholarships, mentoring and developmental services. Recipients of CAYF scholarships are encouraged to give back to their community after completing their education. And that comes naturally for Harrington.

“I told Mr. (Khary) Turner (CAYF executive director) as soon as I got back home in Detroit after graduation that I am ready to get involved,” said Harrington, who also earned a full-tuition Judge Damon J. Keith Scholarship, which he will use to attend the Wayne State University Law School this fall. “There’s a change taking place and I want to be a part of it, and there’s a need in our community for a youth uprising. Young Black men like me need to pour into younger Black men and young Black women.”

A day after Harrington was on Instagram Live talking up the Harris presidential campaign, he displayed his passion through another platform when he participated in the “Win with Black Men” video call on July 22, organized by journalist Roland Martin and his Black Star Network, in support of the Harris campaign. Martin reported that more than $1.3 million was raised from approximately 17,000 donors.

Martin’s records should show a donation from Harrington, who on the afternoon of July 23 was proud to describe how Black men “showed up and showed out,” just as Black women had done the evening before during a now well-publicized Zoom call in support of Harris. But moments later, Harrington spoke with equal enthusiasm about volunteer community work he is doing with the Cass Tech School Advisory Council, as well as a scholarship he plans to create in the near future for Cass Tech students. Harrington also was proud to talk about community service that he will be performing with his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi. The joyful, detailed way Harrington described his upcoming agenda seemed to reveal that his brand of “giving back” will likely take place in many forms during the coming years, now that he is once again a full-time Detroiter. 

“I plan to be a campus organizer for any Kamala Harris event that takes place at Wayne State,” said Harrington, the proud son of Sherry Mattice and nephew of Kimberly and James Smith, who, in addition to his family, identified Khary Turner, Rotary Club of Detroit President Renee Yancy and Cass Tech Principal Lisa Phillips as his greatest supporters. “But with anything I do, I just want to help. Mentorship has been so important in everything that I have done. All of these people have believed in me, so honestly, I just want to be able to help my community in any way I can.” 

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.