'She's going to win,' says Detroit judge who has a HBCU connection with Kamala Harris

Retired Wayne County Judge Craig Strong had heard the news about President Joe Biden bowing out of the 2024 campaign on Sunday. And by 4:05 p.m., the 1969 Howard University graduate already knew where his support was going.

“She’s going to win,” Strong said about his fellow Howard alum, Class of 1986 grad and current Vice President Kamala Harris, who received Biden's endorsement Sunday following his historic withdrawal from the race.  

The 76-year-old Strong, who at the time of his retirement from the bench was Wayne County’s longest-tenured judge (1978-2020), says his confidence in Harris stems from knowing her for close to three decades through mutual friends connected to Howard University — the historically Black university in Washington, D.C. — along with people they both know in California.  

“I’m excited, I’ve known Kamala for about 20 to 30 years and she has all of the ingredients to be president of the United States,” said Strong a native Detroiter, who recently returned to his Indian Village home from Las Vegas, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Bar Association. “She’s intelligent and has held several political positions on the local and national levels, and now as the vice president of the United States, so she comes qualified. 

“And Kamala is a prosecutor (former attorney general of California) and (former President Donald) Trump has been convicted of all of those (felony) crimes, so there are so many considerations working in her favor. They can't talk about age anymore either, because Kamala is young (59 years old) in comparison to Trump (78 years old).”

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A familiar face at many community events, Strong took time to speak Sunday afternoon shortly before he was expected to attend a picnic at Erma Henderson Park hosted by the Detroit Chapter of Michigan State University’s Black Alumni Association. Strong said he has no doubt that a Democratic presidential ticket with Harris at the top would energize the Detroit community. 

“Kamala will receive overwhelming support from Detroit,” proclaimed Strong, the recipient of the George N. Bashara Jr. Distinguished Alumni Award at Michigan State University’s College of Law Commencement in May. “It was a dull election before, but not anymore. The community and all of the women’s rights groups will be energized. I also believe Detroit has become a lot more sensitive to the importance of voting. Today, we have a new group of voters in our community and they will be heard in this election. 

“And what our community will find out about Kamala through this campaign is that she loves people and she is concerned about safety in our community and neighborhoods. Kamala is hard on crime, but fair, and that’s very important.”  

Strong, a longtime fundraiser and founding board member for the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, says the potential historic impact of a Democratic presidential ticket with Harris at the top, vying to be the first female president of the United States also would have special meaning to Detroiters. 

“Kamala is a woman and women vote for women,” Strong said. “But think of all of the girls in our community who will be inspired to do great things in their own lives. This is history.” 

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.