On July 21, President Joe Biden ended his bid for re-election and endorsed Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for President. That night, 44,000 Black women congregated via Zoom and raised more than $1M for the Harris campaign. The next day, Black men gathered online with similar results. These efforts inspired white women to come together in bold support of the Harris campaign. Reports suggest that white women’s mobilization resulted in the largest Zoom call in history, and they raised more than $8.5 million in less than 24 hours. This is only the tip of the iceberg, though. Gatherings are happening for Black queer men, South Asian women, Latinas, Native women, and white men.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]This enthusiasm is significant as Harris heads into the final months of the campaign, but given that American culture discourages this kind of “identity politics,” many people will see this list of identity-specific calls and think, “If you want to support Harris, do it, but why all this separation?” Why gather in specific groups?
These affinity gatherings might feel odd because of a very American idea that even those joining these calls typically find persuasive. It’s therefore worth understanding the sentiment and why flouting it matters.
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Many Americans have been taught that it is generally bad and probably insulting to mention categories of race and sexuality. This is because American culture bombards us with positive portrayals of white people and straight people while insisting that such depictions have nothing to do with demographics; they simply tell the truth. At the same time, we’re bombarded with negative depictions of people of color and of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people while being told that such depictions aren’t related to their race or sexuality; those, too, simply tell the truth. Consider the fact that we feel the need to specify that someone is a Black patriot or a gay hero – as opposed to simply a patriot or hero. In our admirable attempt to be inclusive, we’re also highlighting that people from these groups are not who we typically think of when we hear these terms.
In other words, whiteness is accepted as the norm and as a benign umbrella category, even though it is far from neutral or universal. If we were a more honest nation—to take a seemingly harmless example—our bookstores wouldn’t stop at labeling sections of works by “African American Authors” and “Asian American Authors.” They would also label “White Authors” because neither a white writer nor the work they produce is racially neutral.
Being considered white comes with very particular experiences, like shopping without consistently being followed as if you’re a thief. Because I am never mistaken for white when I enter a store, I am routinely treated less as a shopper and more as a potential criminal. This experience is incredibly common and widespread. Dare I say it approaches being universal for entire populations?
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But because their experiences are often negative – and this negativity is silently attached to their identities rather than to others’ prejudice – people of color are encouraged to avoid bringing attention to their specific truths. If they name whiteness, the concern goes, or if they point out how race shapes encounters with other Americans, they risk offending, encountering backlash, and limiting themselves.
This is why seeing Black women, Black men, Black queer men, Latinas, and Desis organizing for Kamala Harris warms my heart. It means the people on these calls have chosen to reject the lie that they must keep their distinct experiences to themselves.
However, it is equally encouraging to see white women and white men organize as white women and white men. Despite all the ways American culture teaches them that whiteness hasn’t determined their life chances, and in stark contrast to the way white women, primarily, congregated in a “secret” Facebook group before the 2016 election, these Harris supporters are insisting upon publicly acknowledging the specificity of experience. Doing so doesn’t automatically erect barriers between them and people of color. Instead, it facilitates an honoring of differences that makes those differences strengths.
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By coming together as white people who recognize that the United States has given them very different experiences than it offers Americans of color, they are pinpointing precisely why joining a broad coalition matters. Coalition requires acknowledging that there are very real differences, but that those differences matter less than working together to make gains that benefit people far beyond one’s family and friends. Groups that operate in solidarity with groups that are undeniably different are taking steps that run counter to what American culture encourages and are operating in ways that will ultimately make the United States less hostile for more people.
As activist author Audre Lorde explained decades ago, “We have all been programmed to respond to the human differences between us with fear and loathing and to handle that difference in one of three ways: ignore it, and if that is not possible, copy it if we think it is dominant, or destroy it if we think it is subordinate.” Lorde urged Americans to become more practiced in “relating across our human differences as equals” so that what distinguishes us from each other would cease to be “misnamed and misused in the service of separation and confusion.” As various groups work both among themselves and in harmony for the purpose of supporting Kamala Harris for President, they show what it looks like to be determined to claim freedom not just for yourself but also for someone who will never be mistaken for you when they walk into a store.
