*taps microphone* Ok, is this thing on?
What’s good, CotL community? HP guesting here (and apologizing for the lateness of this thread going live!) this week to pose some thoughts.
Like a lot of folks, I did not have a positive reaction to Joe Biden stepping down as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate. There are a number of reasons for this, but this isn’t the PT thread, so I’ll try to keep it relevant: this happened IN SPITE OF vociferous support from a number of PoC groups:
We know that Black folks consistently turn up and turn out for Dems, so this felt like a betrayal of a voting bloc that should have more of a say than it ultimately did.
But the other issue, for me, was thinking about Kamala Harris as a viable presidential candidate. There was euphoria! There was optimism! There was (maybe) a renewed energy around the US presidential election that was reflected in record donations towards her campaign.
I mentioned, in my initial reaction, that this level of optimism seemed unwarranted given that Harris is a Black/South Asian woman running against a white man in the United States of America. And even the GOP already figured out that they should maybe back off the instant bullshit of calling Harris a ‘DEI candidate’:
House GOP leaders urge members: Stop making race comments about Harris
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/23/gop-race-comments-harris-00170735
And of course the discourse among Dems was that They Would Never. Right?
Then, as I thought it would, it started.
“How do you pronounce her name again? Sorry- white person here!”
So here’s a personal anecdote to get at this. Last year, I applied for a job as a Dean at a different Elite University than the one I’m currently at. The first interview went great. Second interview- also fantastic. They flew me out as a finalist to give a talk about my ‘vision’ of the department I would oversee. There was applause. There were smiles. Someone hugged me after the group lunch. But this also happened:
“Gosh, with your resume and cover letter, this is almost too impressive, after hearing your presentation today!”
I did not get the job. I was ‘too impressive’. “There was a bit of an intimidation factor”- someone slipped word to me after I was officially turned down.
The thing is, for Black women of a certain education level, with certain ambitions, with intelligence and competence and leadership qualities, there is only so much of that that will be tolerated by the dominant culture. We all know this. And so, I watch Kamala cautiously, because I know what it’s like to be Black at Work.
And so I watched the conversation about Harris skip right past the crucial issue of intersectionality with a heavy sigh. Because all the positivity in the world only got us to: ‘How do you say her name again?’ A microaggression (Yes, I’m aware that the pronunciation of her given name is different from its typical pronunciation). An instant reminder that no matter how brat she is, no matter how formidable she might be, no matter how well suited, Kamala is still Kamala. Not Hillary. Not Elizabeth. “Everyone” can say those names. But Kamala? People seem eager to hope for a woman president, but they hesitate at the intersectionality of Harris’ subject position, and this is a problem. And dismissing the concerns of Black women and PoC about this exact kind of ‘Hey, this is great, but still, let’s remember that her acceptance is predicated on white comfort’ as uniformed or naive is subscribing to the same notion that makes intersectionality so unpalatable to conservatives- it threatens to center the fact that the lived experiences of Black women (and the consequences of our lives), are inherently different. And rather than thinking through that fact, which threatens white comfort, people would rather not have that conversation at all- they will act as though it’s not their place to speak on it (it’s not, but that’s not the point), they will act as though we should move past it, they will claim that ‘they haven’t seen any racism’ rather than letting PoC name and articulate the harm in good faith, etc. And it’s frustrating. And I know that this will be the conversation, and I’m tired, and so forgive my slow coming around to Kamala Harris being a presidential candidate. Because the thing is, Black people are already aware of American institutions being hostile to our very existence:
Black people understand the various ways in which their views and experiences in the US labor can be described in terms of discrimination, equity, and inclusion.
And this has EVERYTHING to do with Harris as a candidate. She is a Black/South Asian woman applying for a job in this same social context. It makes no sense to act as though this is not the case. I’ll leave this with a final two thoughts about these research surveys:
1.) I’m not posting these specifically to bring them to the attention of PoC so much as I’m making space for what I call a ‘sanity check’. My fellow Black women colleagues in the humanities come together every now and then to talk and share stories, and this is what we call it- it’s a ‘no, you’re not crazy, your experience is not isolated, and you should know that if you’ve had these experiences/reactions, that is not crazy.’ In other words, if you find yourself nodding in agreement at these stats, this is a sanity check. You do not need to adjust your TV set, as they used to say.
2.) The other absolutely crucial and remarkable thing here is the disparity between the Black perception of discrimination and the price one pays for ‘working while Black’ and the understanding of these realities by other ethnicities. For example: “Among Black workers, 51% say that being Black makes it harder to succeed where they work. By comparison, 41% of Asian, 23% of Hispanic and 18% of White workers view being Black as a disadvantage in their workplace. And about four-in-ten or fewer among Asian (39%), Hispanic (29%) and White (7%) workers say that being their own race or ethnicity makes it harder to be successful where they work.”
So to all of us who continue to try to have conversations about Working While Marginalized, and those who understand that the conversations around Harris should ALWAYS take her subject position into account- you are not crazy. You are not ‘overreacting’. You are not being pessimistic about this country. You are not trying to have an unnecessary conversation. Check it.
As for a prompt, I have 2 of those as well:
1.) Please feel free to reflect on your own experiences Working While Marginalized.
2.) I want to leave space for those who might want to reflect on the difficult, horrific story of the murder of Sonya Massey. We do not need to traumatize ourselves with details (and please use spoilers liberally), but if you have something you’d like to express, please know that this is a supportive environment.
Thread Rules
- We ask that only those who identify as people of color participate in this discussion. White Avocados, while valued members of this community, should remain in ‘lurk’ mode.
- Shaming and hateful speech are unacceptable.
- Please keep potentially traumatic content safely behind spoiler tags.
- Nobody on this thread is more or less a person of color than anyone else. (We will not set clearly delineated boundaries on who qualifies as a ‘person of color.’ As a starting point, this thread uses the definition of ‘non-European heritage of sufficient prominence to affect one’s navigation of a society built on white normativity.’ However, we recognize that there are identities which skirt either side of the divide. If people feel that they meaningfully experience the identity of being a person of color, then they are welcome to participate.)