Dehumanization by Deification: On Kamala Harris and "Black Women Will Save Us"

[natyanayaki]

My introduction to the politics of Kamala Harris came from the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) and other sex worker organizations and activists in the wake of the federal shutdown of Backpage’s adult section in January. Backpage was a website that a number of sex workers used to advertise and screen potential clients. The closure and federal

Comments

[blackjedii]

the democratic party doesn't do well when it caters to corporatist, centrist republicans as seen in the recent election when hrc paraded all the republicans who endorsed her over nasty trump

^^^ As the saying goes, if you put a fake Democrat up against a Republican, the fake Dem will lose every time. (ofc Trump is a Republican only in the sense of his paranoid, EVERYONE IS OUT TO GET ME!! mentality that has taken hold of the GOP ever since the birth of Rush Limbaugh soooo)

But yeah.

I get the idea that Sanders's bunch could be seen as dismissing non-white concerns with their focus on economic justice, but to me economic justice is kind of the cornerstone where you can build on making EVERYONE'S lives better. As it stands, pledging how you're all about minority rights has become a way for Dems to claim they're helping and focused on the right thing while they can also keep their hand out to the very same corporations and economic systems that routinely throw minorities and the most poor (and the two are often intertwined) under the bus.

[lightframes]

Making everyone's lives better is great, but it won't erase racism. We need racial justice and economic justice together - just one of them won't work. Right now it looks like centrist dems want to focus only on racial injustice and leftists want to focus mostly on economic justice and some racial justice when it's convenient, but both are equally important to me.

[blackjedii]

I absolutely agree. I just feel like short term economic justice is easier to untangle because it's something you can control - or at least get a foothold on - with laws / regulation whereas racial justice is a lot more systemic and relies on long term policies and changing people's values. Neither are easy though so I'm not hopeful that national Dems won't just use it as another "Get us in and we'll make it better this time! Really!!" On the local level... I'm a lot more optimistic.

[lightframes]

I agree that it's looking better locally. I explained better below to another user why I feel so strongly about racial justice and economic justice being treated equally, too.

[icetypejim]

It's also patently incorrect for people to continue to act as if focus on economic justice means leaving behind minorities since minorities tend to suffer the most disproportionately from economic issues. Refusing to raise the minimum wage, for example, means refusing to pay lots and lots of people of color and women and lgbtq people more money. Like, you want to make sure my boss can't fire me based on race but don't want to make sure (s)he has to pay me a living wage?

[blackjedii]

+20

[redstar826]

Yeah. I've personally been involved in campaigns in my area pushing to include lgbtq people in local anti-discrimination laws (we aren't covered under my state's laws). That stuff is certainly important. But the biggest thing that would improve my quality of life would be to make enough money that I don't have to work 2 jobs, and to not be constantly afraid about if/when I will lose my health care coverage. If I can't afford to eat or if I can't afford to treat my mental health issues, everything else is secondary.

[lightframes]

I understand what you're saying and I don't doubt that it's true for you at all, but do you understand why someone would feel differently? If I suddenly have the same economic power and buying power as a white man, but I still have to worry about the police shooting me or a family member because they're having a bad day, that's not secondary to me. (I'm not trying to minimize how you would interact with the police in any way, since if I recall correctly you also fall into a couple of groups the police have a history of mistreating as well - I'm just trying to explain why racial/social justice is still a primary issue for me and I assume a lot of people equal with economics.)

[redstar826]

No, I totally get that. And I am very politically active on both social and economic justice. I don't want to minimize anyone else's concerns. I'm just saying for me that there is a lot of overlap with economic and other concerns.

[lightframes]

I think there is a lot of overlap, too. As the other user said below poorer black people definitely get the brunt of police brutality but I doubt it would be completely erased if economically everyone was equal.

[redstar826]

I agree 100% Class is hugely important, but is not the only issue.

[icetypejim]

There are forms of racism that disproportionately impact poor and working class black people more than middle and upper class black people. For example, studies show that many high-profile police shootings occur in areas with heavy economic inequality gaps. So it's not at all a side concern that black men like Keith Lamont Scott, Terence Crutcher, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling and Sylville Smith were shot and killed by police in areas where the black unemployment rate was anywhere between 2-5 times that of whites and the median income for black households was anywhere between 1/2 to 1/3 that of white households. Poor and working class black people need both economic and racial justice and do not have the luxury of an approach that sees these things as separable.

Anyone who can afford to make that distinction and decide that the two can be neatly separated is likely fine economically, in which case the reason they can treat the issue as separate is because they're privileged in one area of the matter: wealth.

[lightframes]

I mean you can make whatever assumption you want about me - we don't know each other.

Poor and working class black people need both economic and racial justice and do not have the luxury of an approach that sees these things as separable.

That's exactly what I'm saying - we need both. It doesn't seem like you really read my comment.

[icetypejim]

I mean you can make whatever assumption you want about me

I'm not talking about you, though. I'm talking about what forces might allow the hypothetical "someone" you mentioned think that police shootings don't have an economic component as well as a racial one.

[lightframes]

They have an economic component but economic equality wouldn't completely end racial inequality. As for your other comment, same - I wasn't explaining racism, just my position that both economic equality and racial equality are vitally necessary.

[lightframes]

It's not the only problem. Both economic justice and racial justice are necessary.

If both myself, a black woman, and my friend, a white man, are making the same amount of money in the same job and have the same buying power, but I'm consistently pulled over and harassed by police while he isn't, that's not an economic problem.

People need to be educated to reduce racism. Economic justice is a big factor but it doesn't solve all of my problems.