Looks like the Queen of Soul is a Kamala Harris endorser. In a new campaign ad, the Democratic presidential candidate talks about “the all-out assault on tough freedoms,” as Aretha Franklin's 1968 classic “Think” plays in the background. As Harris reminds voters of the freedoms won against throughout the decades in historical footage, including the right to vote for black Americans and women, as well as a woman's right to “make decisions about her own body,” the song's “Freedom” chorus plays.
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Bulletin board learned that Franklin's estate had reached out to Harris' campaign, making her music available, and specifically suggested “Think” as a good choice. The campaign fully embraced the get-out-the-vote concept, which ran on YouTube and other online outlets, as well as connected TV/premium streaming services. Bulletin board will update as soon as he knows more.
Franklin has supported Democrats for decades, including performing the national anthem at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. He sang a soaring version of “My Country, Tis of Thee” at Barack Obama's 2009 presidential inauguration. He also sang at a farewell event for Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder, in 2015.
When Franklin died in 2018, Obama released a statement that read in part: “Aretha's work reflected the best of our American history — in all its hope and heart, boldness and undeniable beauty.”
While Harris' ad uses “Think,” which Franklin and her ex-husband, Ted White, co-wrote, her signature song “Respect,” also played a vital role in the civil rights movement of the '60s. In her autobiography she wrote of the song that it spoke of “the need of the average man and woman in the street, the businessman, the mother, the fireman, the teacher — everyone wanted respect… It was also one of the battle cries of the civil rights. The song acquired monumental importance.”
