Black Women Rise, but Suffer Harm in Western Federal Politics

Did you ever think we’d see the day when black women would be tapped to lead major political parties in federal politics in white-majority nations? You’d be forgiven if your answer is, NO! Of course, we had reason to despair and to wonder if the day would ever come. Of course, our doubts have nothing to do with the intelligence, education, preparedness, and leadership abilities of black women (who have been running things since time immemorial). It has everything to do with the still rampant casual and structural racism that places ceilings on our abilities to access the opportunities which we have so richly earned. But as Canadian Annamie Paul’s testimony about the sabotage she suffered from the internal ranks of her own federal Green Party of Canada exemplifies, it is not just about “getting a shot,” but getting a fair one, without your peers and colleagues actively trying to do you in. Sound familiar?

As the activist and lawyer bravely exposed at her press conference on September 27^th, 2021, doing basic elements of her job had become a “fight” and “struggle” especially after peers within her party launched an unorthodox leadership review. Paul also exposed how her own party had hobbled her election campaign through problems with funding, staffing, and the lack of a national campaign manager. With a grace and dignity (not extended to her, mind you), Paul spoke of her determination to continue to run in the federal election, understanding the importance of her identity and what her accomplishment represented for so many. She also spoke about having broken a glass ceiling as the first black and Jewish person in Canada to attain the role of leader of a federal party. But as she so poignantly expressed, she did not know at the time that the glass of that ceiling was going to fall on her and leave a lot of shards that she was going to have to crawl over! Exaggeration? Absolutely not if you are, or know, or love, any black woman who works in the spheres of Canadian government, education, corporations, healthcare, academia, and well – anywhere! We salute Paul for her accomplishments, talent, truthfulness, and extraordinary bravery in sharing her harrowing experiences so publicly so that the racist treachery can be exposed, the necessary public conversations can be had, and some (mainly white) Canadians can finally stop patting themselves on the back for the lie of a supposedly racism-free nation.

However painful, Paul’s run as party leader was groundbreaking and we have seen the same movement south of the border and across the pond also. In the UK, Kemi Badenoch (a British politician of Nigerian descent) won her Conservative Party’s leadership race in November 2024. But taking over the reins of this decimated party will not be an easy task. (Remember David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak?) Plus, it remains to be seen if her brand of conservativism will veer away from the typical neglect of addressing structural social injustices like racism.

And what’s up with our southern cousins? Well, when Joe Biden was finally cajoled, no – pushed, no – shamed, no – embarrassed, no – manipulated into stepping aside and out of the 2024 US federal election race on July 21^st, 2024, it was the South Asian Jamaican American Vice President Kamala Harris who was tapped to step in. But Joe’s delayed decision, only after a disastrous presidential debate in which he mumbled about “killing Medicaid,” meant that the first BIPOC and black woman to lead a major party (but recall seven-term Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm’s run in 1972) was left with a clear deficit. Importantly though, the Democratic Party did forgo a leadership race and seemed (at least publicly) to rally around her.

But the idiocy of elements of the American public and the incompetence of much of the sound-bite-loving American media made for a potent mix. What do I mean? Well, have you observed how often Americans frame their desire for a president through the lens of wanting a person with whom they can share a beer? In real talk this should mean someone who is not pretentious, down to earth, and “like the people”. But it apparently means grossly uneducated, unintelligent, undeserving, unintelligible white men whose daddies and granddaddies have brokered their futures through inheritances and legacy admissions.

I am not saying that the Democrats didn’t play a role in their own demise. Did they misread middle America’s appetite for certain types of identity politics? Did they fail to have a more complex and intelligent conversation about distinctions between gender identity, sexuality, and biological sex? Did they fail to fully distinguish Kamala’s path for the country, from President Biden’s? Yes, that’s all true.

But Donald J. Trump’s unmasked racial hatreds, hyperbole, criminal convictions, and perverse antics also served to unleash the once mainly subliminal racial animus of a large swath of the American public who are clearly looking to blame a common, non-white enemy for their woes (like the price of bacon). Therefore, just about any non-white group will do and just about any egregious lie (pet-eating Haitians), insult (Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage”), and attack (VP Harris’ “pimp handlers”), will do.

But it was abundantly clear that VP Kamala Harris – former District Attorney of San Francisco, Attorney General of California, and State Senator from California – was undeniably more qualified, intelligent, competent, dignified, trustworthy, and prepared for the office of the presidency than Trump. Is that even a real question?