Black Women Call a Recess – Part 2

Black women political organizers are calling a timeout. “The presidential election proved black women are on our own,” declared Michelle Duster, author and public historian.

Duster continued, “If we’re to believe the presidential election results, the majority of non-black people who voted in the United States have spoken loud and clear. There is no ambiguity. No guessing. No questioning. The majority chose hate over love. Division over unity. Misogyny over women. Themselves over racial solidarity. So black people overall, and specifically black women, are distinctly aware that our allies are in the minority and it’s time to rely on ourselves.” 

America voted for the man who, during his first term in office, threw paper towels at hurricane victims, separated children from their parents at the border, appointed right-wing justices to the Supreme Court who overturned affirmative action, abandoned federal protection of abortion, and made many other decisions that caused great hardship to communities of color. The voters in the United States again chose this same white man who campaigned on hate, division, insults, and threats instead of selecting a highly qualified black woman who spent her life in public service. The white man the majority voted for was convicted of sexual assault, 34 counts of fraud, and spent the last four years saying the 2020 election was “rigged” only when he lost. Most non-black people voted for the white man who encouraged people to storm the Capitol, where police officers were injured or killed. This same man made it no secret that the only way the 2024 election would be considered fair is if he won. 

Against this, black women worked hard for the alternative. Now they are tired, including Kamryn Davis, Philadelphia regional director for a group called PA Youth Vote, and Sommer Foster, executive director of Michigan Voices, a nonpartisan group that works with about 100 organizations across the state on pro-democracy issues. “I will say that black women are tired,” Foster said. “Black women feel like we have saved democracy over and over and over again. And sometimes, we haven’t seen the same solidarity from other communities. And folks are rethinking, you know, the best way to utilize resources and the best way to move forward.”

AP VoteCast provides a clear picture of black women’s concerns. Black female voters were most likely to say that democracy was the most important factor for their vote, compared to other motivators such as high prices or abortion. More than 7 in 10 black female voters said they were “very concerned” that electing Trump would lead the nation toward authoritarianism.

According to AP VoteCast, about 9 in 10 black female voters supported Harris in 2024. This is similar to the share that backed Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. In both years, Trump received support from more than half of white voters, who made up the vast majority of his coalition.

For Isabel Wilkerson, author of the 2020 book Caste, which explores how the racial caste system shows up in the United States, Trump’s victory was not a surprise. In an interview with Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC days before the election, Wilkerson explained why she would not be surprised if Trump gained substantial support during the election.

“People are not voting against their own interest,” she said. “They’re voting for the interests of what matters to them. And for many Americans, this means maintaining their position at the very top of the American hierarchy—at the very top of the American caste system, with all the rights and privileges that accrue to that.”

As Wilkerson points out, by the 2040s, white people are expected to be the majority race in the country no longer. This, of course, fuels people’s insecurity about immigration.

And “here’s the thing.” Vice-President Harris gave her concession speech at Howard University on the steps of a building named for Frederick Douglas, who taught us long ago: “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” So struggle we must. But for a moment, black women will pause, rest, and reflect.