Misogynoir, the intersection of racism and sexism, was the main reason behind Kamala Harris’ loss in the 2024 general election, a panel of Black women experts argued, noting that post-election reporting has failed to combat with the way white supremacy supported the election results.
In a conversation titled “Views of the 92%: Black Women Reflect on the 2024 Election and the Way Forward,” several academics dissected how and why the vice president lost, especially given Trump’s troubled history.
The panel was hosted by the African American Policy Forum, a social justice think tank co-founded by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and Columbia University.
“Racism is designed to make you question your humanity, but so is sexism. Sexism is truly a power movement,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund. “If you combine those two things, I think that best explains what [Harris] experienced.”
Related: Black women on what Harris’s loss says about the US: ‘Voters didn’t show up for her’
Throughout the 2024 election campaign, Trump and other conservatives launched an onslaught of racist and sexist attacks on Harris: repeatedly claiming that Harris was “talking her way” into political power, was unintelligent and that she was not a Black woman.
Such attacks are not surprising given America’s history of racism against Black women, the call participants said. But what was especially frustrating were the platforms Trump was given to spread disinformation, Crenshaw argued, specifically calling for Trump to be at the 2024 National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention.
Karen Attiah, the convention’s former co-chair who resigned after the announcement that Trump would be interviewed, said the interview was a “deeply painful experience” that many “white liberals” excused. During the controversial interview, Trump questioned Harris’ race and said she suddenly “became a black woman.” ‘Is she Indian or is she black? I respect both, but she obviously doesn’t because she was all Indian and then suddenly she became a black woman. Trump was also repeatedly combative with interviewer Rachel Scott, the senior congressional correspondent for ABC News, accusing her of being “rude.”
“The reactions I personally got to the resignation of white allies or people who are white leaders were, ‘Well, he was racist and he destroyed your conference, but we had to see that,’ and I was like, ‘Ten at the expense of our dignity[?]she said.
After the Nov. 6 general election, exit polls showed that 53% of white female voters still supported Trump, raising the question of who the legitimate allies of Black women’s interests are, said Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. .
“After the last presidential election, we really need to reassess and have real deep conversations about when these people say they are your allies. What does that actually mean?” she said, arguing that the internal organizing of black women needed to continue to happen.
“There was a majority of white women who voted against democracy, against women’s interests, for a racist, for someone who is proud of taking away our right to choose.”
Crenshaw also called out the mainstream media for its failure to hold Trump accountable, as well as post-election reporting that ignored Trump supporters’ suppression tactics, including a multimillion-dollar initiative led by billionaire Elon Musk.
“Donald Trump has been the biggest beneficiary of identity-based preferential treatment in terms of his media reporting,” she said. “It looked like a Teflon-coated pan. Unlike Kamala, who was depicted by the media as a static, clean repository, everything stuck to her over and over again. It’s hard to imagine anyone other than a rich white guy claiming that he could shoot someone in broad daylight and get away with it, and then prove to us that this is, in fact, pretty much true.
In light of Trump’s victory, Black women — who voted for Harris more than any other demographic group — should be prepared for racist attacks from far-right Republicans, argued Barbara Arnwine, president and founder of Transformative Justice Coalition.
“It’s critical for Black women to not just talk about our magic… We need to talk about how we fight, how we become a fighting formation, how we can know that these battles will come, that these kinds of things will happen. It will be said that these types of attacks will be launched.”
Looking ahead, experts emphasized the importance of continuing to organize internally, despite feelings of despondency.
Rebuilding freedom schools – educational programs in marginalized communities – creating communication spaces on social media akin to ‘Black Twitter’, tackling misinformation spread by artificial intelligence, and addressing ongoing attacks on diversity, equality and inclusivity are just some of the possible strategies. , said speaker Fran Phillips-Calhoun, an Atlanta Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta.
“This is really not a time for disengagement or apathy,” Phillips-Calhoun said. “We really need to turn inward so we can build again.”
