Identity Politics Aren’t The Problem, Double Standards Are

This column is part of HuffPost’s “She the People” series, stories by Black women exploring Kamala Harris’ historic candidacy. To read more, visit our hub.

GOP leaders have a tough time with Black people and respect. From the insistence that former President Barack Obama was not a native-born U.S. citizen to the Republican Party going on the record with 210 of 211 of its congresspeople voting nay on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act — unsurprisingly, the lone “yes”-voting Republican, Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) later affirmed that his yes vote was accidental — Republicans seem to have a chronic and seemingly incurable allergy to putting some respect on any Black person’s name.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — whose lack of integrity, marriage to Jan. 6 insurrection accessory Ginni Thomas, and widely documented corruption have recently earned him an articles of impeachment filing from Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — may be the exception, along with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who’s on the home team and called resurrecting the legislation a “nonstarter.”

As we watch America respond with unprecedented enthusiasm around now-official presidential nominee and sitting Vice President Kamala Harris, this context is important. The disrespect hurled at her since President Joe Biden endorsed her as he declined to seek reelection runs deeper than Donald Trump being a proud bigot, criminally liable sexual predator and 34-time convicted felon . VP Harris’ very being is offensive to the vast majority of the GOP.

The offense is not limited to her professional ascension, accomplishments and current stature. It is rooted in her very existence. VPOTUS Harris represents a strident middle finger to the flawed notion that