Enough already with all this sexist and racist crap about Kamala Harris
Democratic Senator Kamala Harris announced her candidacy for president, and the backlash was immediate and predictable. News outlets started reaching out to former San Francisco Mayor, Willie Brown (whom she briefly dated more than 20 years ago). Insinuations that she used her personal relationship with Brown to advance her career began circulating and right-wing commentator, Tomi Lahren, directly accused Harris of “sleeping her way to the top.”
Brown, chose to address the absurdity by contributing a brief op-ed on the matter. Brown admits to helping her career (a couple of commission appointments), but points out he helped many aspiring politicians, and made it clear that there was no quid pro quo involved.
The overtly sexist overtones and racist undertones cannot be ignored. Few politicians (male or female) in this country would be able to say they haven’t received help from friends along the way. Commission appointments, committee assignments, are largely based on who you know. No one delves deep into the backgrounds of male candidates to see what political favors they might have gained from personal friendships, and if we do learn of them, they are shrugged off as being the norm. However, with a woman, society assumes that she couldn’t possibly have gotten there based on merit, just her body. Especially, when it comes to black women.
Black women have been overly sexualized by society for far too long. It is a pervasive and destructive force in this country. Harris is an educated woman and a published author who has held numerous publicly elected offices (San Francisco District Attorney, California Attorney General and US Senator). These accomplishments were not handed to her because of whom she dated. She was chosen by her constituents, repeatedly, to represent them based on her qualifications and because they believed she was the best person for the job. I don’t know if Senator Harris is the best person for the presidency, as that too will be decided by voters. What I do know is that we have to stop tolerating sexist and racist attacks such as these.
