Politics and Current
Attacks on Kamala Harris for not having children are harmful to all women
Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
It’s been not possible to escape the headlines about J.D. Vance since he was announced because the Republican vice presidential candidate earlier this month, most recently with a 2021 statement during which he described Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as “a bunch of childless cat women who are miserable with their lives and the choices they’ve made, and they want the rest of the country to be miserable, too.”
Of course, despite recent emphasis, there’s nothing latest concerning the centuries-old stigma that childless women face. (Namely, because there’s nothing original about his loud, daring ignorance.) Mediocrity aside, he’s adding a brand new twist to an old conversation: Childless women are continually subjected to unsolicited opinions about their life selections and overall value. But until they’re viewed with respect and dignity, moms won’t ever experience a society that recognizes healthy motherhood and maternal agency.
When Vance was called to comment on his 2021 comments, he doubled down, claiming that Americans were not concerned about his statement but were as a substitute concerned concerning the Democratic Party’s “clearly anti-family” policies. As much as I hate to say it, I agree with the mustard seed of his perspective — Democrats, however the Republican Party and broader national practices are anti-family. But for black communities and various other communities, that may be a legacy, not a recent change, evident within the medical, educational and financial divide between the haves and the have-nots.
Historically, black moms have given birth, sometimes by force, and have assumed the responsibility of protecting their children from this disordered world. Yet, an increasing variety of black women are opting out.
One of them is Angela L. Harris, PhD, psychologist and founder No bibs, bottles or burpingwhose goal is to empower, highlight, and have fun childless Black women in order that they can accept and live their best childfree lives, free from societal expectations and stereotypes. She notes that childless women challenge societal norms because their lifestyles contradict the gorgeous, ideal image of the perfect family.
“Having a husband, children and a white picket fence is the way to go — or so we thought. Many people think that a girl becomes a woman only for one reason — to have children,” she says. “It’s hard to accept that a woman can be completely happy and secure without the title of ‘mother.’”
I could be lying if I said I wasn’t moved by the picture-perfect image Harris describes. But I quickly learned that the calls to “be fruitful and multiply” were a whistle to whiteness, not something we were excited about. My own work is advocacy confirming motherhood that prioritizes our humanity as we raise children amidst the narrative that Black women exist to serve others, no matter maternal status. We have been robbed, abused, and coerced into funding the American capitalist structure through our reproduction. The significance of reproductive agency strikes multiple chords. The collective struggles of Black moms and childless Black women create an accurate understanding of who we are, despite what Professor Melissa Harris-Perry calls the “Crooked Peace.”
In her book, she uses this image to describe the difficulties black women face in trying to develop a healthy self-image in a world where stereotypes control destiny. The first is Jezebelsexually seductive, hypersexual maneater. The second is Sapphirethe offended, rude, emasculating and never satisfied black woman. And finally, Mommy, “a happy slave and caregiver” who happily puts the needs of others, especially her white slaves, above her own life.
These stereotypes have evolved, becoming more insidious, now emerging because the perpetually pregnant welfare queen with multiple fathers, the bitter single profession woman, and the black woman who lives in service to everyone but herself. As before, they reduce the dynamic, complex identities of black women and force us to awkwardly try to find footing in a structure during which we will barely breathe, let alone stand. These false narratives contribute to higher rates of mental and physical health disparities, generational trauma of “strong black womanhood,” and normalize unfulfilled lives for all of us, not just those that don’t have children. But childless women are categorized as “useless” and “disconnected” from the larger group in nuanced ways.
Harris notes that the belief that all childfree people are self-absorbed, hate children, and don’t contribute to society ignores the reality. These traits describe many individuals, no matter parenting status. “These false narratives, biases, and assumptions harm us all because we never truly engage in mutual understanding, reflection, and peace. The division and hierarchy persist—often the result of years of rhetoric and pressure about what womanhood and motherhood really are.”
I agree. Black women have long been trapped in a no-win situation. As moms, we are judged by the variety of children we have now and are subjected to assumptions concerning the contexts during which we have now them. If you will have one or two, you must have more, but never greater than 4; that is simply too many. I even have personal experience with comments rooted in promiscuity, hypersexuality, and hyperfertility.
Childless black women challenge these images directly, but experience a relentless invalidation of their value beyond their ability to care for others. However, false narratives that black women’s only value is their ability to sacrifice harm all of us, not just those that don’t have children. Harris notes that it’s vital to emphasize that women are also childless for a wide range of reasons, including intentional selection, circumstance, and infertility.
“Our stories of being childless by choice or childless by circumstance are just as important as someone’s birth story—and guess what—it’s all OK!” she says. “Women have a CHOICE, but the ‘choice’ is really directed at your girls when a pink dress, a baby apron, and a baby doll are put in their hands!”
As a mother, my advocacy for childless Black women is rooted in my advocacy for reproductive justice: the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, to have children, not to have children, and to raise the children we have now in protected and sustainable communities. This also means ensuring access to resources—like in vitro fertilization and maternal health care options—for Black women who want children but are unknowingly childless.
My support can be rooted in a full awareness of what it takes to purposefully raise children and maintain a way of self-worth and identity beyond them. Mothers are celebrated publicly. But left to cope with the isolation and struggles of raising children in a pro-birth, anti-family society in private.
I do not know why Kamala, the proud stepmother, and others did not have children. But I do know childless women who keep showing up as aunts, godmothers, and friends to bridge the gap. Childless women show up for the community; we have now to show up for them, too.
“Whether you choose to be childless or motherless, it’s not a perfect life, but it can be a good life,” Harris says. “As women, our freedoms and rights are at risk, and exercising our right to vote is what really matters now.”
Politics and Current
Biden will meet with Trump over a White House tradition that Trump broke four years ago
President-elect Donald Trump, the forty seventh latest president of the United States of America, will meet with President Joe Biden within the Oval Office on Wednesday as a part of the tradition of a peaceful transition of power on the White House.
The peaceful transfer of power dates back to 1801, when the president of the outgoing administration transferred power to the brand new administration and the opposing political party. At that time, the nation’s second president, John Adams, peacefully handed over the presidency to Thomas Jefferson.
But on Wednesday morning, President Biden will offer Trump something he couldn’t afford after being elected in 2020: a meeting with the present president within the White House Oval Office.
This 12 months, then-President Trump falsely accused Democrats of stealing the presidential election from him so as to install former Vice President Biden because the forty sixth president of the United States.
Trump’s vice chairman, Mike Pence, selected to follow the Constitution and certify the outcomes of the 2020 election, declaring Biden the winner of the Electoral College – against Trump’s wishes. As a results of President Trump’s election lies, which included encouraging his voters to “fight like hell” or “they won’t have a country anymore,” a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol constructing after attending Trump’s “Stop the Steal” conference. ” so January 6, 2021
For Trump, the tradition of outgoing and incoming presidents is ironic because, as president-elect, he needed to face then-President Barack Obama during his meeting within the Oval Office to rejoice the approaching peaceful transition. The meeting got here after Trump fiercely attacked Obama and his Democratic presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton, in 2016.
Trump and Obama met within the Oval Office on November 16, 2018. The two politicians had never met in person before, which was very true after the rancorous and racist presidential campaign.
To the dismay of Black Americans and Democrats, Trump softly launched his presidential bid based on the racist claim that Obama was not a U.S. citizen. In this fashion, based on critics, Trump desired to delegitimize Obama’s historic victory within the 2008 presidential election.
During the planned and expected meeting, Obama was then described as “presidential” and “professional,” putting aside his hatred of the campaign and meeting with Trump for about 90 minutes, well longer than the scheduled time. The discussion on the agenda included various topics intended to assist the brand new president achieve a peaceful transfer of power.
While President Biden is extending presidential courtesy to Trump’s latest but familiar White House transition team, sources say there may be bad blood there. Once again through the 2024 election cycle, Trump used racist and slander tactics against his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
During his first appearance on the Oval with President Obama, next to whom a bronze bust of Martin Luther King Jr. stands on the best side of the hearth, Trump told the press within the room: “It was a meeting that was supposed to last maybe 10 or 15 minutes and we were just getting to know each other.” “.
The New York native continued: “We have never met. That’s why I have great respect for it.”
“The meeting lasted almost an hour and a half, and for my part it could have lasted for much longer. We really discussed a lot of various situations,” Trump said on the time.
Trump, clearly impressed and in need of help dealing with his latest job within the White House – which former first lady Michelle Obama famously described as a “dark job” when prodding him at this 12 months’s DNC conference – told reporters: “I’m looking forward to being with the president in the long run, including with an advisor.”
As Democrats and others attempt to shake off the collective depression attributable to Harris’ stunning loss to Trump, many are looking forward to what to anticipate from a second Trump administration.
In the 2024 presidential election, Trump won the favored vote and the Electoral College – the primary Republican to achieve this since 2004. Trump received barely more electoral votes than within the last election, giving him a bonus. But the primary obstacle for Democrats was voter turnout, as apathy among the many party appeared to rear its head.
Regardless of the end result, Johnson offered hope to the country, stating: “We have to keep pushing and hoping.”
Politics and Current
A Washington police officer who shot a black man with his hands in the air over a stop sign, then dragged his body and slammed it into the ground, remains on the force despite an $8 million payout to his family
The city of Lakewood, Washington, has reached an agreement with the family of a 26-year-old black man who was shot thrice by an officer who claimed he was acting in self-defense.
He said Joquin died on May 1, 2020, after Officer Michael Wiley stopped him for running a stop sign. The $8 million settlement announced last week is coming to an end federal civil rights lawsuit Joquin’s parents filed a criticism against the officer, who claimed their son had lunged for a gun lying on the floor of his vehicle.
According to the lawsuit, Wiley approached Joquin’s automobile with a gun drawn and told him, “Shut up or you’ll get shot.” The lawsuit states that Joquin, as Wiley requested, had his hands up when he was shot. After the shooting, Wiley allegedly pulled Joquin out of the automobile and “threw him to the ground.”
Wiley was involved in one other expensive suit v. Lakewood in 2017. He was one in every of three officers found by a jury answerable for the death of one other young black man, Leonard Thomas, for a record $15.1 million. A post-trial settlement was reached in exchange for $13 million and a promise not to appeal.
Thomas was holding his 4-year-old son when he was shot in the stomach by a Lakewood SWAT sniper. Wiley reportedly announced “Jackpot!” Testimony shows he spoke on the police radio after Thomas was shot and later praised his colleague for taking the “million-dollar f–king shot,” according to trial testimony. Thomas bled to death, begging cops not to take his boy.
Evidence from Thomas’ trial “revealed that Wiley was an exceptionally aggressive officer who had an insufficient understanding of the use of force, was willing to use weapons, explosives and unnecessary force, and who demonstrated a striking lack of concern for life,” Joquin filed the family’s lawsuit.
Wiley remains in service. Joquin’s lawsuit alleged that Lakewood police were “unreasonable and reckless” in continuing to employ him regardless that a jury in Thomas found that he had violated the victim’s civil rights.
A previous attempt to dismiss Joquin’s lawsuit was blocked by the US District Judge David Estudillo. Wiley, the judge wrote in his August order, had a “documented history of using force against people he helped detain.”
He said there was enough evidence for the jury to find that “Joquin did not engage in furtive or threatening behavior during the encounter.”
Dawn Kortner, Joquin’s mother, he said in a 2021 interview, she never believed Wiley’s account.
“I feel like it’s overkill,” Kortner said. “He took steps he shouldn’t have taken. I believe he was too aggressive and I would like him to be held accountable for what he did. He shouldn’t receive a pension and sit at home and enjoy his children when we will not enjoy Said.
Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office Attorney Mary Robnett declined to press charges against Wiley for Joquin’s death.
In a letter to Lakewood Police Chief Mike Zaro, Robnett cited Joquin’s “unpredictable and dangerous behavior” in running a stop sign in front of police on a busy road. She also concluded that bullet trajectory evidence showed that Joquin didn’t raise his hands when Wiley shot him.
Wiley was also cleared for internal examination.
In a statement, Lakewood officials said: “Any life cut short is a tragedy and we can only imagine the suffering and pain they experience. The decision to reach an agreement was made with the best outcome for all parties involved in mind.”
Politics and Current
Without Kamala Harris in the White House, Democrats are turning to Hakeem Jeffries
As Democrats proceed to lick their wounds following Kamala Harris’ stunning defeat to President-elect Donald Trump, all eyes are on Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), whose party in Congress has little likelihood of regaining the majority in the House of Representatives.
If Democrats manage to win the House, it’s going to give the party its only hope of slowing Trump’s agenda. Jeffries, a 54-year-old congressman from Brooklyn, New York, also became Speaker of the House, making history as the first African American to hold the position, just two steps of separation in the line of presidential succession.
As Donald Trump begins to appoint members of his second administration’s Cabinet to be tasked with implementing his agenda – which incorporates proposed mass deportations, the elimination of racial equity programs and big cuts in federal spending – Democrats’ ability to play defense will probably be crucial to mitigating this. , which they see as potentially critical blows to vulnerable communities.
Democrats view Jeffries, the current House minority leader, as a key leader of the party, especially if his caucus can gain a majority. This would involve the commission’s control – which incorporates significant subpoena power – and shaping the federal budget. At the very least, it might enable Democrats to force Republicans to make concessions where possible.
As a six-term congressman known for sticking to his word, Jeffries is a respected and admired politician in the Democratic Party.
Payne said Jeffries, who represents a “generational turn” in the party, “has shown that he is a truly gifted communicator and communicator.” He added: “He has some different skill sets that other Democrats may not be able to. And I think that’s something that Democrats will really benefit from.
Payne continued if elected Speaker of the House, “(Jeffries) will become the most important Democrat in the country with any power. She is essentially taking over the mantle that Nancy Pelosi took on when she was re-elevated to speaker during Trump’s first presidency.”
But Payne cautioned that even when Democrats manage to amass a razor-thin majority in the House, it’s going to still be an uphill battle.
He noted that the caucus will include many Democrats “from districts where Donald Trump is popular.” “You still have to hold together a club that will come under cross-pressure from Donald Trump, who is more popular than he was four and eight years ago.”
At this point, Plaskett noted that Democrats would want to take a leaf out of her book as a member of Congress representing a U.S. territory.
“I have limited voting rights, so I understand what it means to punch above your weight,” said Plaskett, who said that being a political minority in Congress requires “cooperating with members of the Democratic caucus, as well as the Republican caucus when it is advantageous to do so for the interests of (our) voters.”
Policy
Democrats also see an incredible opportunity to strengthen Black political power in Washington with the elevation of Hakeem Jeffries.
“Him coming out as a black man from Brooklyn and being a major foil for Donald Trump — I think that’s important at a time like this,” Payne said.
But Congressman Clyburn cautions that Jeffries must overcome a few of the challenges Harris faced as the first woman and first person of color to function vice chairman.
“It’s a big burden that needs a lot of help to carry,” said the lawmaker who served as House majority whip and deputy Democratic leader.
“Kamala Harris suffered for this reason. I took it upon myself to check many individuals who kept telling me that she wasn’t this and he or she wasn’t that, she didn’t do that and he or she didn’t try this,” he recalled. “I’d ask them what number of women have been vice presidents before? She took office two months before you criticized her conduct.
As the first speaker of the Black House, Clyburn had doubts that Jeffries could be “allowed to get his sea legs… to master this job from day one.”
Seawright, the Democratic strategist, said Jeffries won’t only be speaker of the House but additionally leader of the entire national party, which he believes must “rebound, learn and grow as the next election cycles approach” in 2025 and 2026. The role Jeffries will play will probably be crucial “whether we win a majority or not.”
After the devastating defeat in the 2024 election, Seawright said Jeffries and other Democratic Party leaders need to rethink their message to voters.
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