December 15, 2017
As Zora Neale Hurston famously wrote, Black women are the “mules of the world,” carrying the burdens that no one else will bear. In Alabama on Tuesday, 98% of Black women (along with 93% of Black men) made history and elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate for the first time in twenty-five years. Although Black people are only 25% of Alabama’s eligible voters, they were 29% of Tuesday’s electorate. Black organizations surmounted formidable voter suppression to organize an incredible GOTV operation. The state NAACP endeavored to call every Black registered voter in the state that had failed to vote in 2016 and The Ordinary People Society registered 5000 people in the jails in the weeks leading up to the election (Source: @AlGiordano, Twitter thread, 12/13/17).
In the days since, the hashtags, #ThankyouBlackwomen and #TrustBlackWomen have been trending on social media. What if, rather than being empty slogans designed to garner “likes,” those statements represented an actual intention to recognize the leadership and the work of Black women? Let’s conduct a thought experiment and imagine what that might look like in real life.One – Imagine retiring the tired trope of blaming Democratic electoral losses on Black voters’ lack of engagement. Imagine recognizing that Black women are the Democratic Party’s most consistent voting bloc and fielding candidates that appeal to their concerns and devote resources to their communities, instead of expecting Black women to be excited that a politician merely isn’t actively working to make their lives miserable.
Two – Imagine supporting Black women candidates like Stacey Abrams, who is running for Georgia Governor (staceyabrams.com), or Tamara Harris, who is running to replace conservative Republican, Rodney Frelinghuysen in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District (tamarafornj.com). Better still, imagine contributing to Higher Heights (higherheightsforamerica.org) the progressive PAC that invests in Black women’s leadership.Three – Imagine supporting Black women entrepreneurs. Although there was a 265% increase in Black women-owned businesses between 1997 and 2014, Black women only receive .2% of venture capital funding (Source: “The Tech Industry’s Missed Opportunity: Funding Black Women Founders,” by Bari A. Williams, Fast Company, 5/25/17).
Four – Imagine closing the wage gap for Black women. According to the National Women’s Law Center, Black women make 63 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. The gap persists across low and high wage occupations and levels of education. A Black woman has to earn a Master’s degree in order to exceed the income of a white, non-Hispanic man with an Associate’s degree. Even among high wage professions, the gap persists. Black women engineers, physicians and lawyers make 64 cents for every dollar earned by a white, non-Hispanic man in the same profession. (Source: “Black Women’s (Un)Equal Pay Day is Another Reminder of the Discrimination Black Women Experience Every Day” by Kelli Garcia, The National Women’s Law Center, www.nwlc.org, 7/31/17)
Black women are the ones who show up, consistently repudiating policies and politicians that want to take our country backwards. Black women don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good and consistently show up for those who frequently don’t respect us or our communities. If you truly want to #ThankBlackWomen, why don’t you try showing up for us?