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You are in the Harris 2020 Group. Only members who have selected Kamala Harris as their preferred Democratic presidential candidate are permitted to post in this Group.
Why are Democrats leaving Kamala Harris to stand alone?
Why are Democrats leaving Kamala Harris to stand alone?
If you are in any way active in Democratic politics, or even just on social media, you will probably have heard the phrases “Vote like black women” and “Listen to black women.” These refer to the power that black women have as a constituency within the party, the consistency with which they vote blue, and the potential that they have to sway elections. But yet, for a party who says those things, we far too often leave black women to fight and stand alone.
When Tulsi Gabbard lied about Kamala Harris’s record in the July debate, Kamala Harris was left to stand alone. The claims were debunked by independent fact-checkers, yet not one person in the Democratic field rushed to defend Harris’s integrity. In contrast, many of them did rush to Tulsi Gabbard’s defense when Hillary Clinton suggested that somebody in the primary was being groomed for a third party run. Many of them did rush to Joe Biden’s defense when Julián Castro jabbed at him in the September debate.
When Kamala Harris called for Donald Trump’s Twitter to be suspended because of the threats that it causes to people’s safety, particularly black people and people of color, she stood alone. Not one of her Democratic colleagues in the primary backed her up. Elizabeth Warren scoffed in her face when she brought it up at the debate, as if the notion was ridiculous to begin with. Primarily white pundits on social media ridiculed her. (When you’re sent a pipe bomb in the mail by someone inspired by Trump’s tweets, tell us again about how ridiculous it is.)
It’s a pattern we see far too often in media, too. People love to point out how much they value black women and their voices. Yet, when a qualified black woman dares to actually run for higher office, that notion of solidarity too often disappears. People love the idea of a black woman running for office, until she actually does it. The self-proclaimed allies often sit on their hands when that black woman is unfairly attacked. And as exemplified by Harris’s run, the concerns she lends her voice to are then deemed “trivial”, or dismissed as “political stunts” by commentators.
We have not seen an example of this on the national stage in a long time, because we haven’t seen many black women run for president. But the way Kamala Harris is being made to stand alone, and the way her candidacy is being erased in media, should not go unnoticed, or unchecked. If we truly are a party that values black women – not just in theory, but in practice – we will all have to do better.
More at link --> https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/10/27/1895398/-Why-are-Democrats-leaving-Kamala-Harris-to-stand-alone
If you are in any way active in Democratic politics, or even just on social media, you will probably have heard the phrases “Vote like black women” and “Listen to black women.” These refer to the power that black women have as a constituency within the party, the consistency with which they vote blue, and the potential that they have to sway elections. But yet, for a party who says those things, we far too often leave black women to fight and stand alone.
When Tulsi Gabbard lied about Kamala Harris’s record in the July debate, Kamala Harris was left to stand alone. The claims were debunked by independent fact-checkers, yet not one person in the Democratic field rushed to defend Harris’s integrity. In contrast, many of them did rush to Tulsi Gabbard’s defense when Hillary Clinton suggested that somebody in the primary was being groomed for a third party run. Many of them did rush to Joe Biden’s defense when Julián Castro jabbed at him in the September debate.
When Kamala Harris called for Donald Trump’s Twitter to be suspended because of the threats that it causes to people’s safety, particularly black people and people of color, she stood alone. Not one of her Democratic colleagues in the primary backed her up. Elizabeth Warren scoffed in her face when she brought it up at the debate, as if the notion was ridiculous to begin with. Primarily white pundits on social media ridiculed her. (When you’re sent a pipe bomb in the mail by someone inspired by Trump’s tweets, tell us again about how ridiculous it is.)
It’s a pattern we see far too often in media, too. People love to point out how much they value black women and their voices. Yet, when a qualified black woman dares to actually run for higher office, that notion of solidarity too often disappears. People love the idea of a black woman running for office, until she actually does it. The self-proclaimed allies often sit on their hands when that black woman is unfairly attacked. And as exemplified by Harris’s run, the concerns she lends her voice to are then deemed “trivial”, or dismissed as “political stunts” by commentators.
We have not seen an example of this on the national stage in a long time, because we haven’t seen many black women run for president. But the way Kamala Harris is being made to stand alone, and the way her candidacy is being erased in media, should not go unnoticed, or unchecked. If we truly are a party that values black women – not just in theory, but in practice – we will all have to do better.
More at link --> https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/10/27/1895398/-Why-are-Democrats-leaving-Kamala-Harris-to-stand-alone