She’s Speaking. Are You Listening?

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.

The past few days have been a miracle in American politics, where much of an electorate previously resigned to a rematch of two old white men is now inspired and invigorated at the prospect of making history.

Almost immediately after President Joe Biden announced that he wouldn’t be running for a second term, Vice President Kamala Harris declared her candidacy and received the endorsement of various working people, unions, moderate and progressive Democrats, and nonprofits (as well as George Clooney, who appears to be quite powerful in domestic politics). Within a day, not only did Harris raise $81 million, but Gen Z influencers, young activists and the boys on Fire Island were already sporting “Brat” tees emblazoned with “Kamala” and other “HARRIS 2024” gear.

Undermining forces have long tried to obscure the reality of who Harris is and what she has accomplished, with comments like: “She’s locked up 100,000 innocent Black men.” “She’s Biden’s puppet.” “She’s a radical socialist.” “She’s a conservative centrist.” “She’s not Black enough.” “She’s too Black.” “Her family owned slaves.” “She hasn’t done anything as VP.” “She laughs too loud.”

Given our country’s shameful legacy of racism and misogyny, it’s no surprise that a woman of color who has broken so many barriers in her career (first Black and South Asian woman to serve as attorney general of California; first South Asian senator; second Black female U.S. senator; first female, Black, and South Asian vice president) would be subject to a disproportionate number of misinformed personal attacks and attempts to