As a Black and Jamaican woman, the implications of someone with Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity being seated in the highest office in the land isn’t lost on me. While Harris’ South Asian background has featured strongly in her campaign lore, including through frequent references to her being raised by her mother Shyamala Gopalan, an immigrant from India, her Black heritage (courtesy of her Jamaican father, who was also an immigrant) is just as relevant to her story. In fact, Black Democrats and other attendees at the Democratic National Convention and related events held in Chicago, IL last week are clearly aware of the power inherent in Harris potentially becoming the first Black and South Asian woman to be president of the United States.
At a meeting of the Black Caucus during the DNC, one speaker encouraged those present to “claim what is ours, claim our power.” And the chorus echoed from stage and in the audience was, “When we hold the line, we win.”
Caroline Wanga, the CEO and President of Essence Ventures, described Black women as the CEOs of home, culture, and community, and said in remarks that, “our intent at this stage is to ensure that they are treated as such.” Wanga was clear that Harris’ run to be the first Black and South Asian woman president is a floor-raising moment, one that voters should not squander. A Pew Research Center poll shows that 77% of Black voters say they would vote for Harris.
Black men and Kamala Harris
But the quickly acknowledged elephant in the room was the question of whether Black men will show up at the ballot box to vote for Harris. While Pew says there is no significant difference by gender in Black voters’ support for Harris, Trump won about 12 percent of Black men’s votes in 2020 and, before Harris entered the race, polls showed that Trump’s support among Black men had risen to 20 percent, reports PBS.
“It does not make a Black man less than a man, to support and uplift the Black woman. In fact, it makes you more of a man,” said Reverend Marcus David, who facilitated a panel of Black men at the caucus meeting titled, ‘Chop It Up: Reimagining Power + Black Men Engagement.’ “We’re not competing when we’re supporting one another.”
Party loyalists are still clear-eyed about the potential challenges Harris may find in connecting with Black male voters, particularly with the spread of attacks online that claim, among other things, that she targeted Black men in her time as a prosecutor.
“Most of the stuff you see on social media is coming from foreign, hostile actors,” said celebrity actor Wendell Pierce, who was a panelist at the caucus gathering. “It is from Russia, it is from China, AI [artificial intelligence] that’s happening now is perpetuating that mythology.”
Black women mobilizing
Panelists at the Black Women’s Roundtable event in Chicago.
Meanwhile, across town on another day, the Black Women’s Roundtable met to discuss how they will be mobilizing voters across the country, but the South especially, to show up in their droves in November.
Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph gave a rousing speech to the Black women present, “You are voting for much more than ‘that woman.’ You are voting for the future, you are voting for the doors that those before her could not open. This is a woman like all of you here — and the men that love us. Know that when you empower a Black woman, you empower everybody.”
Celebrity co-signs aside, the significance of Harris’ candidacy is also motivating Black women on the ground to move the needle in her favor this election. According to the data firm TargetSmart, voter registration is up more than 175% among young Black women.
Deborah Scott, CEO of Georgia Stand Up encouraged folks to ensure they are registered to vote, “In Georgia we know that they are pushing people off the polls, so check your status and check your family’s status and check your polling location — because in Georgia they are closing poll locations and switching polling locations. Then you need to organize, organize, organize. We need everyone to come out and get involved with this election.”
Black women famously helped turn Georgia blue (or technically, purple) in 2020, mobilizing droves of voters to put Biden and Harris into office. The state will again be one to watch when votes are counted in 2024.
Policy and history
Helen Butler, executive director of the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda shared, “This moment means to me that we are almost fulfilling the legacy of all those civil rights leaders who fought for the right to the ballot. And what a culmination of that right to vote, and being able to choose representatives that will represent our interests.”
Simply put, the resonance of Harris’ would-be historic presidency has connected with the Black community — but those I saw and spoke to are still keen on the policies.
Delegate Woodrow Parker, who represents the third congressional district of Louisiana, shared with URL Media that reproductive rights are a key concern for him.
“This is about my three daughters, that they continue to have rights,” he said.
What was clear from the show that Democrats put on in Chicago is that theirs is a party that boasts inclusivity — race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, and other forms of identity aren’t a barrier to becoming one of their leaders politically. Regardless of the outcome of the presidential election, that was gratifying for this Black woman to witness.
