A Moment for Women of Color — Including My Daughters

Kamala Harris is kicking down doors while simultaneously destroying the glass ceiling

Amid all of the reactions and gifs and videos on social medial today, it was a single tweet of thirteen words from a man and writer that I respect that struck me the hardest.

It’s easy to forget, living in the shadow of New York City, where races, cultures, genders, and backgrounds mix and blend seamlessly, that huge swaths of America are much more homogenous, where scores of people have never seen a mixed race couple or a Muslim, their only experience with such things is being told to fear and hate such things.

My wife and I have been together for fifteen years and, on a day-to-day level, I don’t even think of the fact that she is a full-blooded, second-generation Puerto Rican-American. We live a mundane life — we go to work, come home, change diapers, and make dinner — but if our situation was presented to some outsiders, I’m sure they would have strong opinions. Not only is her last name Cruz but she decided to keep it, even after marriage.

I’m a white man so everything I’ve seen since 1980 looks like me or was targeted to me. Growing up that way, particularly in a relatively small town where almost everyone looks the same, can make it…