Derecka I’d like to turn to the piece that
you wrote most recently for The Guardian,
“Why Black progressive women feel torn about
Kamala Harris.”
You write in the piece, “Progressives will
have to defend the California senator’s
personal identity, while maneuvering against
her political identity.”
Could you explain what you mean by that?
Yeah, of course.
I mean, Kamala Harris, she graduated
from Howard University,
a prestigious HBCU in D.C., right down the road.
You know, as Amy says, she’s a biracial
woman with Jamaican and Indian heritage.
We’ve seen her break so many barriers.
And we know that with the ascension and attention
that comes with women of color in office,
even walking down the street, but particularly
in a public spotlight, it, unfortunately,
in this country, has invited sexist and racist
and xenophobic responses.
And so, we already have seen some of that,
with the birther conspiracies that are being
used against her right now, which is why last
night she spoke to the exact hospital where
she was born in Oakland.
You know, so that’s like one end.
The other end is that, you know, women of
color, particularly those who are progressive,
progressive Black women, are also frustrated.
You know, they’re frustrated by this narrative
that the lack of indifference in America ended
with Barack Obama and started up again with
Donald Trump, you know, are frustrated because
of her record as a prosecutor, her refusal
to investigate or prosecute police officers,
her fight to uphold wrongful convictions,
her support of the death penalty as attorney general.
I mean, the list, unfortunately, goes on.
So, when she says last night, you know, “I
know a predator when I see one,” it’s
ironic, because one of the wrongful convictions
that she fought to uphold was based on a technicality,
of someone who was serving 70 years in prison
who might be innocent.
So, it’s just, you know, unfortunate that
you have to protect someone because of their
identity, and against this notion that their
hands are going to be tied because they’re
a person of color or Black or a woman or a
child of immigrants, while at the same time,
if you care about the masses of Black people,
the masses of poor people, the masses of immigrants
in this country, you know that you have to
speak truth and be honest about their record
and be critical of them in a public spotlight.
They have to make Kamala Harris left enough
to bring in progressives, but also make sure
that she isn’t pulling the party too far
left.
And it’s an unfortunate tactic that works.
You know, so, my former professor, Cornel
West, says,
“I’m a part of the radical left. 
Kamala Harris is a moderate.”
And so, this tactic from Pence is trying to
use
this radical left idea to push the party further right.
And it’s working, frankly.
You know, it’s why Republicans were able
to speak longer than
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
You know, it’s to affirm that the Democrats
can reach across the aisle.
It affirms that the party is not too moderate.
It affirms Joe Biden saying that he believes
that police should have more money, as people
are hitting the streets to demand that departments
all over are defunded.
You know, so this is a tactic that’s working.
And there is no way that Kamala Harris is
a part of the radical left.
If anyone is a part of the radical left, it’s
probably Shirley Chisholm, who Kamala Harris
invoked last night, who was 
one of the first people that was endorsed
by the Black Panther Party, right?
So, the first time the Black Panther Party
engages with electoral politics,
it’s to endorse Shirley Chisholm.
And so it’s ironic that we are excited about
the women who paved the way, but we don’t
actually talk about the record — or, more
people, rather, should be talking about their
actual records and beliefs, their policies.
In the middle of a movement against police
violence, you have Joe Biden coming out and
saying that he believes that police should
receive more funding, and is touting community
policing — a failed, vague reform that we
know at this point does not work.
You know, in the middle of a pandemic,
where Black and Brown people, poor people, 
are dying at disproportionate rates,
you have Joe Biden doubling down on his refusal to support universal healthcare.
And so, all of the reasons why people are
hitting the streets, all the reasons why people
are suffering, we are seeing a doubling down.
You know, we hear President — I’m sorry,
Vice President Joe Biden, rather, you know,
decide to continue to not cancel, like, all
student debt.
You know, so all of these policies that people
have been demanding to push the party further
to the left, to say that we actually should
give a care about the people who are suffering,
we see a doubling down on the moderate positions
of the party, and it’s just unfortunate.
