![]() At the same time, she has also served as prosecutor, representing “law and order” in ways that cross color lines and political divides. How can they make peace with fellow Americans who apparently define “the true America” as white America? Harris actually knows what it feels like to be marginalized and diminished on a daily basis because of both gender and skin color. Yet for so many Americans of color, the failure of a majority of white Americans to repudiate Trump’s unapologetically racist politics creates a gaping moral divide. A President Joe Biden will seek to be a healer and a unifier. Kamala Harris will inspire an entire generation of new leaders just by being who she is in the office she holds, but she can do so much more than that.ĭomestically, Harris has a critical role to play as bridge-builder. ![]() From 2009 to 2011, she served as director of policy planning for the United States Department of State, the first woman to hold that position. ‘She should assemble her own foreign-policy team’Īnne-Marie Slaughter is the CEO of New America. She will be a perpetual reminder not to neglect the forgotten base, the people of color, especially the Black women and men, who helped elect him, when the white majority turned the other way. Her most critical role, however, may be speaking with President-elect Joe Biden as his most trusted adviser. She can help direct big issues like criminal justice reform, voting rights protections, health care and wage growth for teachers and other workers, as the second most influential voice in the rooms she is in. She is poised to be a pivotal player in international and domestic affairs, thanks to her service on the Homeland Security, Intelligence, and Judiciary committees. The expectations will be high even as we know the opposition to her, especially as a Black woman leader, will be hostile from some quarters. It offers an unprecedented opportunity to push our country closer to justice and equality for marginalized communities, and for all Americans. This is a position of enormous privilege and power. But neither major political party has been eager to embrace women like Bass and Chisholm as legitimate constituents and agents, despite Black women’s fierce dedication and loyalty to them.Īs the first Black and South Asian-American and the first female vice president, Harris will carry the weight of her ancestors into the second-highest public office in the land. She was anti-racist, anti-sexist, pro-choice, pro-labor, anti-war, fiercely independent, and above all principled. Twenty years later, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm of New York broke another barrier as a Democrat by becoming the first Black woman to run for president on a major party ticket. Bass became the vice presidential nominee on the party’s ticket in 1952, the first Black woman to be nominated by any national party. She left the party out of sheer frustration at not being able to find support for a racially and gender-inclusive agenda and joined the newly formed Progressive Party. In 1948, Charlotta Bass, a newspaper publisher and editor from Harris’ home state of California, had been a Republican for over 30 years. There is a long legacy of Black women being unwavering advocates for expanding democratic rights for all Americans, going back centuries-long before mainstream political institutions embraced us. When Vice President-elect Kamala Harris walks into Cabinet meetings and other important rooms, what will she bring with her as the second most powerful public voice in the nation? ![]() Hunter is a professor of history and African-American studies at Princeton University. ‘She will be a perpetual reminder not to neglect the forgotten base’ ![]() And in politics, symbolism can be substance: The very fact of a woman of color occupying that office transforms the perception of donors, political kingmakers and the young women who will, someday, be on the ticket themselves. Some of our experts highlighted her deep record on criminal justice reform, paired with her knowledge of how it affects Black communities others pointed out that she arrives with a personal grasp of immigration dynamics that gives her a unique angle on one of the country’s most contentious issues. ![]()
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