How Kamala Harris was treated resonates with every Black woman
This is about more than politics. It’s about racism and misogyny.
Senator Kamala Harris dropped out of the primaries. As a Kamala supporter, I’m disappointed. As a Black woman, I’m devastated. Kamala is educated and successful. She is more than qualified to lead this country. Yet she drew less support than every white person running. This reverberates further than just the primaries. It settles into the hearts of every Black woman who has faced the same fate of being the most qualified and losing to a white person.
Black women can tell you story after story of being passed over even though we know we’re the best candidate for the job. Many of us have walked out of interviews knowing in our gut that those interviewers have no interest in hiring a Black woman. They don’t come right out and say it, but their cool tone and disinterested demeanor tell us all we need to know. We’ve sat in meetings where no one looks like us and silently fumed as we’re talked over, corrected and marginalized all because the white people assume we’re incapable of matching — let alone exceeding — their own intellect.
But they’re wrong. Black women continue to excel at earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Unfortunately, Black women also must constantly prove we…
