Harris pens Essence op-ed addressing Black women: ‘This is our time’

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) in an op-ed for Essence magazine underscored the importance of Black female voters on the eve of Election Day in a race that is expected to hinge on a handful of battleground states.

“Black women hold the power in this election. So we need to talk to everybody in our lives, including young people, to encourage them to vote,” the Democratic nominee for vice president wrote. “We need to get our families, our neighbors, our whole villages to the polls.”

“Generations of Black women marched and organized and fought to give us this right … knowing that, one day, Black women would be a force in our democracy,” Harris added.

Black voter participation declined for the first time in 20 years in 2016, prompting both campaigns to spend considerable resources on courting Black Americans. Increased turnout from Black voters could be pivotal in states that President Trump narrowly won in 2016.

While the president garnered double-digit support from Black men four years ago, only four percent of Black women voted for him. Conversely, 94 percent of Black women voted for Hillary Clinton, more than any other voting bloc.

“After almost four years in office, Donald Trump has no record to stand on when it comes to the Black community. As usual, he’s all talk,” Harris wrote. “Instead of even attempting to tackle our challenges and lift us up, we have a President who stokes fear and division—one who fans the flames of racism and refuses to condemn white supremacists or say Black lives matter.”

The Trump campaign has often focused on the president’s prison reform bill and his economic “Opportunity Zones,” as policies that have benefited Black Americans. Trump himself has repeatedly said that he’s done more for Black Americans than any president other than Abraham Lincoln, who abolished the institution of slavery. 

If elected, Harris noted, she and former Vice President Joe Biden would implement policies within their first 100 days in office aimed at combating the problems that are affecting Black communities, such as the disproportionate effect of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The pandemic has exposed how Black women shoulder much of the burden of caregiving of children and aging loved ones. Joe and I will ensure access to paid family and medical leave, and expand childcare and universal preschool,” Harris wrote. 

“We’ll work to root out the systemic racism in our courtrooms, our prisons, and our criminal justice system. In our first 100 days in office, we will create a national police oversight commission. … This is our time. Let’s use our vote, our power, to choose the America we can be—and the future our children and grandchildren deserve.”