The argument against the argument against Harris – A white woman’s primer

Most of the negative reactions to Kamala Harris’ presidential candidacy (with at least one notable exception) have landed in two camps:

Camp 1 (Republicans): Kamala’s a terrible black woman who didn’t earn the nomination!

Camp 2: (Democrats): They’re going to say Kamala’s a terrible black woman and that she didn’t earn the nom! (What do we dooooo?!)

Let’s review how both arguments are deployed in bad faith, and how to start pushing back.against them.

“She didn’t earn the nomination,” aka “Democrats scrapped the will of the voters”

For the people bemoaning the lack of a democratic process here, how democratically have your last presidential candidates been chosen? Was Biden your first choice when the last presidential primary began? Was he your second? Or even third?! Set aside the fact that it takes an ungodly amount of money and connections to even enter a primary…the candidate is usually chosen by the time the 3rd or 4th state primary rolls around.

My state’s primary is in May. In 2020, I wanted Warren, but there was no chance I was ever going to cast a meaningful vote for her. So until we have a national one-day primary, miss me with your “disrespecting the primary voters” BS. This was 14 million voters out of the coalition of 81 million that elected Biden to office. Voting for him unopposed. I was one of them. But that’s less than 20% of his electorate, and less than 10% of the electorate overall. Once he declared his candidacy for a second term, there was no real choice for voters. I didn’t hear many people complaining about the legitimacy then.

“She’s a terrible black woman,” aka misogynoir

We have to fight it everywhere we see it. Periodt.

Debunk stupidity about childfree women. Why someone does or doesn’t have children is none of your damned business. (Side note, I personally find living a childfree life very not miserable.) Living in America gives you a direct stake in America. If Vance’s statement were remotely true, they’d praise Joe Biden for being a family man acting on behalf of America’s future. Instead, they bludgeon him with his strong paternal values to bloody him as corrupt. This is not a serious, good-faith criticism. We have to call it out.

Push back on racist tropes. We white people have diminished people of color since before the founding as stupid and lazy. Primitives not worthy of citizenship or of meaningful participation in society. Every time we credit a Black person (often with a whiff of surprise) for being “so articulate,” we reveal this racist inheritance. Kellyanne’s “She does not speak well” is just flipping the “compliment” back to the historical status quo. Then she doubles down with the laziness trope, “She does not work hard.” Kellyanne’s arguments appeal to her audience’s racism. And we have to call it out.

Dispense with garbage that black people and immigrants are ungrateful. JD Vance plays to his audience’s self-superiority by positing that he’s grateful to his country, and that you have a responsibility to give back. In 2019, Kamala Harris literally started her campaign talking about how much she loves this country, and how she feels a responsibility to give back. JD Vance just isn’t listening. Instead, he’s stirring up anti-immigrant, anti-black sentiment towards “ungrateful” freeloaders who do nothing for their paychecks. Our work as white people in this campaign it to call it out.