Harris Vs Biden, A Look At How Black Politicians Are Viewed On The Stage

Last week in the politics of the United States, Democratic leaders, twenty of them to be exact, participated in the first round of debates for the 2020 Presidential run. The candidates have been busy making their cases around the country for the past few months and will continue to hold town hall discussions on a handful of critical issues to try to convince as many voters as they can.  One key moment of the 2-day debates, which were held in Miami, Florida involved the only Black woman candidate, Kamala Harris.  Technically, Harris is biracial, as her mother is from India.  She looks like a Black person however, just like our forever President, Barack Obama.  Harris stood up, which some critics are now calling an ambush, against former Vice President Joe Biden on the issue of racial discrimination within bussing, an issue that sends us back into the hayday of civil right unrest.  How come when a Black woman speaks up its considered hasty? 

I watched the debate during the live telecast and I felt, well a sort of affiliation when Harris would overspeak her time (something all the Dems did at one point) and when she used a firmer tone to delegate her personal relationship with the issue.  Harris says she was apart of a community that introduced the bussing legislation in her hometown of Berkeley, California.  She was also the only person that is Black, on the debate stage, that can candidly speak on the effects and the legal ramifications caused by bussing laws. Harris additionally told the Vice President about how she felt about him working with Segregationist leaders back then. Tsk tsk Joe.  Yet when it comes to the world of American politics, no one ever forgets.  In the VP’s defense, he has been a lifelong advocate for civil rights and continued with that language over this past weekend at speaking engagements in Northern California.  In the hours after the debate, political commentators across the spectrum were tallying the scores to find a winner, the favor was in Harris’ court. 

Now critics, and let’s be frank, mainly White people, are now openly stating that the verbal ambush against Biden was an awful move for the Senator and she is being criticized for being overly ambitious and calculated for her words.  Was it her words that offend or is it her tone? I honestly think it is the shade of her complexion.  As a Black woman who has worked in a handful of minority deficient industries, it is all very familiar, and it is sad.  The way it translates: how dare she talk down to Biden about race, she should be thankful to be up there in the first place.  It honestly does not share any new light on how our countrymen view women, both white and black in general, women in power, and more specifically for Harris, Black women in power on a mission, but it sure makes you wonder if and when will temperatures ever shift.  The angry Black women line is old and washed up but so many of us are forced to either defend our honor or keep quiet in fear of having our words be misguided and misunderstood.  Kudos Kamala, for not giving into the backlash.  But will it affect her with white voters? Probably.  

It is hard for them to hear us speak about race. Moreso to directly address a politician such as Vice President Biden who is a perfect candidate for clearing white guilt. When Harris spoke, Biden looked, appalled at the accusations.  Did he or his many high paid advisers not think that his long history of political work particularly regarding the Black and Brown communities, would be called into question? Maybe they underestimated how far Harris would go to make her point regarding race.  It was her emotional stance on the issue that got the best of him and it provided Harris an opportunity to tap into a voters own personal humanity, an aspect which is egregiously lacking in our current Administration.  She stands on the shoulders of all the women who have made a home on the political stage regardless of their skin color.  Former First Lady Michelle Obama took some heavy blows during her husband’s Presidential run in office, most notably being compared to an ape in heels by a public official.  In more recent times, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, was accused by Donald Trump of having a low-IQ, and has been criticized by Fox News officials for her hair and a Whitney Houston crack comment.  Bruh.  The list goes on.  The time goes on.  But we keep hearing how bipartisan this country is.  Based on the current leadership I would claim that it is not and that the more racist you are, the more people tend to give you a pass around here.  We can only walk in the shoes provided to us, whichever race we identify with.  In order for us to collectively understand true bipartisanship, we must learn to swap our socks with one another and listen without character judgments.  I await the day that race is no longer a subcontext to what anyone has to debate about.  Afterall, this is the United States.