Black women are trending…

… because dog whistles (and Black excellence!) fuel political campaigns.

“Black women” is trending on X/Twitter. That’s because, with Kamala Harris’ presumptive nomination as Democratic presidential candidate, Black women have become the leading target of GOP political disinformation campaigns. We are seeing this in many ways, but most explicitly in the form of Republican members of Congress claiming VP Harris is a so-called “DEI candidate” simply because she is a Black woman. It has gotten so bad that even Republican leaders are telling their colleagues to calm down the racism and misogyny. Christian nationalist Lance Wallnau is fueling the flames by calling her an outright “Jezebel,” a derogatory label with a violent history used to target Black women.

Why this targeting is inherently racist

The racialized narrative for a Black candidate and specifically a woman, whether it be Kamala or otherwise, is that she’s inherently “unqualified.” That is an unquestioned, racialized belief many people have, and unfortunately, it is nothing new. American history shows, from Reconstruction to the Tulsa Race riots to Dr. Claudine Gay, whenever Black Americans reach positions of leadership, there is a backlash against them. Dr. Koritha Mitchell has even coined a term for this phenomenon: “know your place aggression”.

It is notable that some people will look at VP Harris, listen to her full story, and only focus on her identity as a Black woman. She is also proudly South Asian American. But as Nitasha Sharma, an associate professor of African American Studies and Asian American studies at Northwestern University, stated in a recent Code Switch episode:

“The invisibility of Harris’ Indian-ness is an allegory for the racial position of Asians in the United States. We are generally invisible, irrelevant, it seems, to the conversation of race. So when we talk about Kamala Harris’ race, people often will only speak about her as a Black woman. And that’s the way race operates in the United States.”

How we engage in political dialogue matters.

We’re getting a master class in the ways dog whistles about Black women fuel political campaigns. Identifying and engaging with dog whistles is crucial to creating and maintaining a healthy multiracial democracy. More than ever, we need to be strategic about how we engage in conversations. Countering false narratives is essential, but we don’t want to inadvertently allow our statements to be weaponized by bad actors. Most importantly, we want to avoid discussing issues in a way that harms the communities that are also invariably drawn into these debates.

When we critique Kamala Harris and say that she’s “unqualified” when she is, in fact, one of the most qualified candidates in the Democratic Party, we are doing “a racism” (as my friend Claudia would say.) Kamala Harris is currently serving as a Vice President of the United States! That makes her uniquely qualified at this moment.

And the attacks are not limited to Fox News! Even mainstream media is asking, “Can America accept a Black woman?” More people need to challenge this. As Elie Mystal points out in his latest piece in The Nation, this is not a coincidence:

“This is part of the very serious work of white male supremacy. It’s not enough for white men to be in control of all the levers of power; they — and those who do their bidding — also have to make everybody else feel like they don’t deserve power and won’t be able to have any even if they try. The white guys who are determined to keep running this joint need the rest of us to believe that asking for equal opportunity and a fair shake is asking for too much and that demanding equality now is perpetually too soon. Maybe someday a person like Kamala Harris could be president, but not today, never today; America is just not ready for all that right now.”

“Americans” are diverse.

Based on the overwhelmingly positive response to the Harris candidacy, it is clear that many Americans are excited and energized about the prospect of a highly qualified Black, South Asian, first-generation immigrant woman becoming president! While women of color are still vastly underrepresented in leadership on critical national issues, according to a report by the Center for American Progress, we are a key growing demographic representing 36.3 percent of women in the U.S. and 18 percent of all Americans.

So, when folks ask, “Are Americans ready for a Black Woman president?” we should challenge them by replying, “Which ‘Americans’ specifically are you referring to?”

As a 2021 Pew Research article points out, “Kamala Harris embodies several trends that have been unfolding gradually over recent decades. As a result, many Americans — not just women of color — can see themselves in her story.” This includes immigrants, multiracial people, educated women, people in interfaith and interracial marriages, and members of blended families.

Dog whistles and disinformation

It’s time to reject tired old narratives that don’t reflect who we are or who we want to be. Kamala Harris’s entrance into the presidential race offers all of us an opportunity to redefine ourselves as Americans. That will require a strong understanding of how dog whistles and other political disinformation campaigns function to manipulate voters.

Disinformation expert Joan Donovan states, “Primarily, disinformation is a problem of elites trying to trick everybody into believing lies at scale.” Political and social science experts Ian Haney Lopez and Heather McGee explain that some of the most effective forms of political disinformation rely on dog whistles, which operate in code to trigger racial anxiety, pitting us against one another and positioning people of color as the cause of our country’s woes.

In this context, we can understand the GOP utilization of racist and misogynistic attacks against VP Harris as a part of a larger effort to manipulate and disenfranchise voters.

We cannot allow crusty, dusty, old white guys to define our narrative or the future of our country.

Reclaiming our voice

There are effective ways to dispel propaganda, call out dog whistles, and advocate for our preferred candidates without amplifying right-wing and neoliberal narratives that harm our candidates and our communities. Joan Donovan created this guide entitled, How Civil Society Can Combat Misinformation and Hate Speech Without Making It Worse, and it is some of the best I’ve seen on how to counter dis and misinformation effectively. Another disinformation researcher, Brook Binkowski, has also created a series of posts educating communities on how to effectively fight back against weaponized disinformation.

One of the most effective ways to counter false narratives is to create our own. Many Harris supporters are leading the way by owning and flipping narratives originally created to shame Harris. TikTokers confounded mainstream media pundits this past week with Gen Z slang (“She’s Brat!) and remixes of Kamala’s now-famous “coconut speech”.

Harris’ official messaging team is also flipping the script by embracing her record as a prosecutor to draw a stark contrast with Trump, who is a convicted criminal. Harris’ new slogan, “We’re not going back,” refutes MAGA extremists’ claims that America was great for women and people of color in the past. Her campaign is even challenging the idea that feminists don’t have a sense of humor, flipping attacks on Harris’ laugh to target Trump’s VP candidate, JD Vance.

Even better, the Harris campaign is reclaiming “patriotism” for the Democratic party with Harris’ first official campaign video set to the tune of “Freedom” by Queen Bey, herself. It is no coincidence that Harris chose music by a Black woman artist who, like her, refuses to be defined by anyone but herself.

Ali Collins is a Black teacher, organizer, and public school advocate. While serving on the San Francisco School Board, she was targeted by Chris Rufo and other architects of the anti-civil rights movement sweeping our nation. This gave her unique insight into the right-wing media machine intent on dismantling our schools, rolling back social and political progress, and destroying our democracy.

You can follow her and on social media and via her Just Talks Podcast, where she unpacks the history of racialized dog whistles used in political messaging campaigns and talks with experts to share what we can all do to fight disinformation and defend education equity.