Nia Prater writes:

More than half a century after New York Representative Shirley Chisholm became the first Black major-party candidate for president, Kamala Harris could do what seemed impossible in 1972. And while the vice-president’s rise to the top of the ticket has energized the entire Democratic Party, it has particularly thrilled Black voters and especially Black women. Still, Harris’s first week at the top of the ticket has been beset by a recent wave of racist attacks from commentators and politicians on the other side of the aisle.

In 2011, Kimberly Peeler-Allen co-founded Higher Heights, a national political organization dedicated to growing the political power of Black women across the country. Recently, I spoke with Peeler-Allen, now a visiting practitioner at Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics, about what Harris will bring to the ticket, how her nomination could motivate Black voters, and why fears of a backlash are never far from her mind. She also talked about what the energy was like on a much-discussed Win With Black Women Zoom call that took place after the vice-president announced her run.

Were you surprised at how quickly the party coalesced around Harris, especially given how hesitant many had been about the idea of her replacing Biden?

I was. The wave of support that came within the first 12 hours was really quite overwhelming, because I think a lot of Black women who have been in this space for decades all kind of felt the same way: Are people actually going to support her? The weeks before actually had been really quite painful, hearing people say, “Oh, we need to find a candidate. We need to find somebody, draft somebody” when we had an extremely qualified vice-president sitting right there. If it had been a white man who was vice-president, there would be no discussion. So when the endorsements started coming and the energy around her just really reached a fever pitch, it was overwhelming. It was reassuring. There aren’t even words for it, because I think so many of us were prepared for her to be passed over. Historically, that is what has happened time and time again.

What do you see as the biggest strengths Harris brings to the ticket?

I look at her and I look at how people are responding to her and I see a joy in people’s faces that I haven’t seen since ’08. You see people actually looking like, What are the possibilities that exist? There was some of that around Hillary, but it’s different, and I think that is a huge strength of hers. I think the fact that — though she has not gotten nearly the credit that she deserves — she has been walking lockstep with the president on so many important issues and has been leading and, where she can, charting her own path, particularly on international affairs. What she has done domestically around gun violence and reproductive freedom. She’s done the work, in addition to being an accomplished senator and two-term attorney general and district attorney. Her record is tremendous and her experience is tremendous. And then just being able to see someone, frankly, under the age of 60 running and with that experience and with that energy. [Continue reading…]