Thanks for the data oriented analysis and reporting!
Having said that, it is clear that a Trump win is still possible in 2020 unless the turnout in these communities stays the same or rises to even higher levels.
And that is important because of this striking fact: " . . . white women evenly split between Republicans and Democrats . . . "
I am dumbfounded that the support among white women, even the college educated ones, is as high as 50%. I shudder and wonder what they see in the Trump or Republican agenda that is even marginally women-friendly. Just cannot understand that.
428
@chickenlover I know three five white women who support trump through work I used. to do that cater to women. Three of them are of the religious right and two have enough money to have benefited from the tax cuts. there are many women in our culture who hold by the standards that men should be the "deciders" and of the household.
46
@chickenlover
As a white woman, I keep hearing that so many of us support Trump. I don't know a single woman of any stripe who doesn't find him dangerous and deeply embarrassing for our country.
57
@chickenlover Tribal politics. You can't reason with an angry mob. Many Americans just blindly follow the vibes of whomever they live with & among, & there is a huge tribe of these paranoid, scared, agitated, self-centered people, whose minds & world view are shaped & owned by well-funded operating forces that know exactly what they are doing. Corporate media are a big part of it, especially from the Right, but including outlets like the NYT who try to make today's GOP pass for just a different valid political point of view, when even 'reasonable' Republicans are actually blatantly distorting facts, twisting the law, bullying & buying influence & policy from weak & corrupt politicians. Then the 'mainstream' media ("both sides do it") will avow that the only reasonable opposition is to be found in the Democratic Party, which is itself working hard to stifle the voices of the tiny minority of its members who actually see the true plight of the scores of millions of underserved citizens in this country, & work to really do something about it. It's no reason to give up, but the only people who are fighting for actual change for the better are hopelessly out gunned & outspent by both major parties & essentially all media. And back to those white female voters, some people just want to side with whomever is 'winning', & lack the empathy or the courage to speak up against obvious injustice. Tribal politics, which is basically mob mentality, is what we are up against.
26
So Kamala Harris is the obvious choice for the Democrats in 2020. Trump certainly fears her and the GOP have deployed an army of trolls on this website to fight against Harris in the primaries. You will notice that despite being the ONLY woman of colour in the Democratic field, she is hardly mentioned by commenters on this column. Fascinating.
"It HAS to be HARRIS!"
6
I worked at Norfolk Southern for several years among white working class conservative Christians. Never during those years did I hear a whisper of racism.
Then I went back to school for an advanced degree and all I heard from professors in and out of class was how racist this country is, how whites hate blacks, how deplorable all conservatives are.
Now I believe that academia and the liberal media are creating racial conflicts with the intend to destroy this country. Why? Cui bono?
22
This is the 143rd thing The Times has identified as a Trump "fear" this year. How does the poor guy get any sleep? With all that "fear" he must have nightmares. If all these are "fears" the list of "concerns" (about election politics, one would hope he has valid concerns about the state of the nation and the world) must be in the hundreds of thousands. Wow!
16
I don't for a minute believe that Trump or the rest of the Republicans are worried about any group that plays the identity politics card in the 2020 election. If Trump manages to hang on to the same voters as he had, and the other side decides to go off message and play the white privilege argument on a loop instead of the anti-white supremacists crazies one, even more people are going to be equally put off by any group that uses race or gender to counter his speech. Add in lots of free stuff with current deficits, and even though many voters can't stand Mr Bone Spurs they will close their mouths about supporting him, but re-elect him anyway. The rest of Republicans Pols are content to stay on board the Trump train for 2020 and don't seem to worry that their support of him has compromised any core principals they once had. Republicans will have to fear everyone after Trump starts to leave the scene, and I don't believe that in subsequent years voters will buy the we had amnesia for his years in office, and we have just come to our senses. The biggest land mine out there for Trump and the Republicans is gun control and the environment. They have cynically promised both sides that they will look after their interests (mostly the Republicans), and they aren't going to get away without making someone very unhappy. I just drove past a big bunch of sign toting anti-gun parents on a corner in a staunch Republican neighborhood, if the Democrats persuade these parents, they win big
8
Amb. Albright's credo is the standard bearer women voters need deploy in 2020. After the access tape, I still have a hard time processing how at a historical moment, 53 percent of GOP women voted against their own interests. O Medea, O Patria Mia.
5
For the politics of now, its not nearly enough to congregate in groups of the same gender and skin color: that over-arching generalizations do not adequately describe our varied life experiences and goals. Skin color alone cannot describe the significant differences among the vast range of our cultures. Women of color from Africa have completely different experiences from Women of color from the Caribbean, the Middle East, South America, Asia, etc. It is simplistic nonsense to claim that Women of color, having already been segregated from Men, not to mention Women without color, will be satisfied by having their political goals represented by anyone other than someone who is truly one of their clan.
10
If this had been written in another time, perhaps about Jews or Catholics , it would have been seen as both an arrogance and an insult.
Arrogant in its premise that hue conveys wisdom and more hue may well convey even more. Arrogant is its symmetry between color and justice made even more offensive by its counter point re White Privilege. Somehow race has become a conceit as in elaborate metaphor for what and whom are good.
Arrogance aside or notwithstanding, it is an insult to those who, save us all, were born people without color. I suppose we are a step closer to " Some of my best friends are without color". Frankly, I am fed up with color as a measure of anything. It is both simplistic to believe and corrosive to encourage. It is a barrier to seeing commonality. It is an excuse for animus.
27
Either Trump has narcissistic personality disorder or he doesn't. I believe he does. He fears being ignored, he fears bad ratings, he fears his tax returns revealing he's not as rich as he says he is.
Trump doesn't fear women of color.
7
Exactly.
3
There's an implication in this promotion of "women of color" that somehow their color will make things better for...
everyone?
Something tells me this is not the case. Things will be made better for people of color, women in particular. Everyone else can just shut up and listen 'for a change.'
The other day, a woman of color was "mobilizing" in her "community" right outside my window. She claimed that the white people were committing "genocide" against black people. The goal was to "mobilize" people to get the white people out of the neighborhood.
Imagine how that would fly in a white neighborhood -- trying to rustle up some activists to get the POC's out.
Never mind the utter misuse of the word "genocide."
I called through the window that she was racist (I avoid the 'r' word like the plague, but sometimes the situation just calls for it);
Her response? Without even seeing my face, or having heard anything I have ever had to say, she called ME racist.
While I wouldn't dare assume all "women of color" are guilty of racism...I find the promotion itself rather...racist.
42
@Ship Ahoy look at our nation's history. I rest my case.
1
@jrgolden
I couldn’t agree more that a complex understanding of history is important.
Especially if this understanding leads to not repeating— or reversing — past injustices (which by the way, not a single one of my ancestors committed if we’re referring to the same ones.)
If the blatant racism I read on the Bed-Stuy Facebook page is any indication of how “women of color” will lead, well, they don’t get my vote — and shouldn’t.
9
@jrgolden,
You mean the part where we fought the bloodiest war in our history and hundreds of thousands of white men died to end the slavery inherited from the British? The part where this nation first and ahead of all others made integration and equality the law? The part where we were and remain the only developed nation to elect a head of state with African blood? I know very well about the horrors of our past, I also know about the transcendent goodness and courage that drives America to overcome that past. Those who cling to the past and obsess over those who haven't yet gotten the message are simply roadblocking the future. There is where I rest my case.
27
I can’t stand these leftist types who are anti capitalist, anti border control, call everyone a racist etc. And I could care less what the color of their skin is. So I guess I’m a racist, too. And so is Pelosi, correct? No one today can argue with a black woman and not be called a racist and misogynist. Its practically impossible. Which is pathetic.
We are all racists. And the more the left keeps insisting we are all racists, the more they will lose and the more racism loses all meaning.
Pelosi is a racist. AOC says so. We are all racists.
Ironically, those who call everyone a racist are actually the most racist. Go figure. AOC and her squad are much worst racist than Trump. Not even close.
28
The better question is, why does Trump fear all women? That is the basis of his misogyny.
9
@NOTATE REDMOND
Not true. Trump isn't afraid of women he can "grab".
Only those who say NO and fight back.
5
@N. Smith
You are uninformed Smith. As a misogynist, he fears all women and grabbing them is an articulation of his fear.
4
@NOTATE REDMONDl believe he has many women working in his administration.
3
Trump fears any person or group that isn't blindly loyal to him.
If you're not his lackey, you are his enemy.
8
Trump does not fear women of color. He is attacking them to motivate his base, some of whom in fact do fear both women and men of color.
Unless Democrats win in 2020, there will be no need to fear any political force on the left. What will be left of our democracy will not resemble anything like a government of, for and by the people. It will be a neo-fascist oligarchy with a lot of glossy imagery and slogans to disguise the fact.
4
trump won in 2016 and can win in 2020 by dividing and discouraging his opposition. His base is solid with him. What identity politics (like this) does is trump's work for him. So here's a little truth: Stacey Abrams did NOT win in Georgia and the ONLY reason Roy Moore lost in Alabama was enough republicans didn't vote (thank God).
Keep it up and trump will have left us high and dry in 2024.
7
One thing that strikes me when I read a lot of these comments is that “women of color” seem to be spoken of as one homogeneous group that will forever be of one mind and one political sensibility. I understand this for the purpose - the very worthy purpose, I might add - of shoring up votes in order to defeat Trump, but this strikes me as incredibly short sighted. After the election, when different women have different priorities and act accordingly, will the progressive powers-that-be accuse these women of turning their backs on democracy?
5
Because women of color will send him back to Kalistadt, his native land in Germany, from where his grandfather Freddie, the German barber crossed the Atlantic in 1885.
2
Everything discussed in this article is true, but I think it overlooks an additional, and simpler, reason why Trump fears women of color. All of his life, Trump has been told, either explicitly or implicitly, that he's superior to women, especially women of color. He's convinced himself of it. That's why it rattles his cage when someone like Stacey Abrams stands up to him; it challenges his entire self image and world view.
Can you imagine someone like Abrams or Kamala Harris going toe-to-toe with him on a debate stage? She would clean his clock in front of the entire world, and he knows it.
8
He fears women, period.
He fears color, period.
The combination is unbearable.
13
Why does everyone try to take the victim's-center stage when discussing Trump? Self political interest, maybe? Trump will do whatever it takes to command the 24 hour news cycle. He doesn't care whether it's Arabs (Remember when the Arabs were our greatest threat---before he and Saudi Arabia's Crowned Prince became best financial buddies.) or Mexicans or Guatemalans or Blacks or women. He's a con man with a con man's interests at heart.
7
@rl It's a little hard to understand your question, especially "take the victim's-center stage" and what that has to do with a fear of women of color.
4
A day of reckoning for Trump appeals for a lot of people on several levels. But women of color hold a special place in the process. For decades Trump dissed women generally. As President women of color felt his barbed vicious sting. Maxine Waters followed by the Squad caused a rise in Trump's twitter temprature. Sympathy for Congressman Cummings certain to motivate women of color. Judge Curiel not far from the thoughts of Latinos.
Chained to the train signalling his arrival a pivot to reconciliation with these groups of voters impossible for Trump. The "other" his political focus relies on immigrant bashing and skin color linked to crime and socialism as tried and true election strategy. Replacement theory threatening to those within earshot of Trump.
The Democratic party has folded African Americans into Persons of Color, which includes anyone not of European descent. The author tries to straddle the new rubric here but fails. African Americans have already been pushed aside for Hispanics in Democratic circles. Hispanics have not been regular and dependable Democratic voters but are becoming so. Shortly African Americans will no longer even be heard.
7
Blacks in general are only about 1/8 of our population. That means only 1/16 of us are black women. That little group only has power in Democratic primaries, and even that can be exaggerated now, since the CA primary by itself will outweigh all the black-dominated SEC primaries put together in delegate-count. Wall St. Dems have given black women delusions of grandeur by using them in 2016 and now to vote as a block for the “moderate” neoliberal candidate—Hillary/Biden—chosen by the fat cats to block economic progressive candidates like Bernie and Warren. Black women have thus become menaces not only for progressive politics in general, but also for lower-class blacks who desperately need the economic reforms Bernie and Warren are pushing.
3
@Fred White, To enact these much needed reforms, you first need to be elected. Any of the 20 or so candidates running would do better than Trump. So their electability is the utmost of importance. I disagree with your comment that Hillary and Biden are chosen by the fat cats to block economic progressive candidates like Bernie and Warren." The VOTERS will choose the candidate in the primaries. And not all the voters but those in the toss-up States that the Democrats need to win. We need to watch these very carefully as clues about who can win the Electoral College.
The people are confusing the racism with hatred and love.
It has nothing to do with the human emotions.
The racism is organizational principle in which a society is dividing the people based on a color of their skin instead of using their individual abilities like ingenuity, creativity, intelligence, character, diligence and persistence for distinction.
If you don’t promote the best candidates just because of their skin pigment, then the real indicators of the racism are social stupidity, incompetence and shortsightedness.
It means the racism stands for the use of completely wrong and inadequate criteia in social organization.
Thus it’s very similar to the religious and ethnic bias. In all those categories the people are judged based on their name, language, skin, and rituals instead of the critically important human traits.
Because of such organizational incompetence, the Nazis and the fascists let the best physics and scientists like Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi flee to America.
It cost them dearly at the very end.
4
Why women of color love Trump.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/14/us/politics/diamond-silk-facebook.html
3
If our elections are just going to be about people of different races fighting each other for money and power, why bother having an election? Why not just fight a real war and get things over with? If everything is about race, everyone knows this will end up happening anyway.
12
Democrats already know how to "energize" and "appeal" to women of color - pander to them with promises of free everything while ignoring the real problems in "communities of color," such as fatherless homes, ridiculous schools, rampant crime, etc.
The authors and those like them would do well to chart a different course if their real goal is to empower and lift up minority women.
18
I am trying not to be shocked by the virulent hatred of women that is so evident in some of these comments. I know it is there but, from day to day, doing the everyday things of living, I am, blessedly, not being made aware of this. To have it jump out of the screen at me reminds me of how deep and angry some men are at women who dare to hold agency and power over their own lives.
Sad and horrible as it is, it is helpful to be reminded, yet again, how far we have come and how far we have to go.
14
@MJM
It is horrifying, especially when we think about the policies, systemic inequalities and transgressions that impact women who struggle with their families and communities for resources, access, opportunities and safety as they navigate racial and socioeconomic discrimination. This is why Trump won.
5
@MJM
If it's any comfort, those comments all come from bitter, jobless Trump-supporting "men" who are angry at the world full of women who aren't interested in them.
7
Reading the comments is sad. It a!so confirms my belief that a woman can't be elected president. Unless the woman is Oprah. I keep wishing and hoping.
2
Some wishful thinking on display here methinks. Trump has never shown even the most remote sign that he is "afraid" of women in general, or women of color in particular. Quite the contrary in fact.
He's not afraid of Pelosi. He's certainly not afraid of AOC and the squad (though they like to fancy that he is.) They may have power in the Twitterverse, but that's like dominating in Fortnite. In the real world, they are simply four members of Congress, with junior committee positions and single votes on the floor. Trump uses them to his own ends quite successfully, and they seem only dimly aware of it.
Know who's actually afraid of the squad, and some factions of black women? Pelosi, and Biden, and a great number of moderate Democrats. What happens when one of the squad gets into a back and forth with Trump?
Well, it further solidifies his base (who loves the petty fights as much as Trump does), and reinforces the perception that the Democratic party is moving even farther left of the mainstream electorate than it already has.
Beating Trump requires understanding him, and anyone who thinks he is afraid of women of color hasn't really understood either his psychology, or the basic numbers. Black women of voting age, for instance, are about 7% on the population, and most certainly many of them do not vote. And the vast majority are concentrated in a few eastern and south eastern states. So ... not negligible, but certainly not at the top of Trump's campaign strategy list.
14
@JRC
Bullying others is based in fear.
Trump is the most fearful person I have ever seen in public life. Fear and cowardice dictate his every move.
6
@gratis
All evidence to the contrary ...
“Women of Color” don’t have a monopoly on virtue or intellect.
I contributed to Hillary Clinton’s campaign fund, and if I could vote for Nancy Pelosi, I would.
But I think “The Squad” is a gaggle of fools, regardless of their color. Their skin/culture doesn’t automatically confer righteousness.
26
As a committee member, AOC asks very significant and in-depth questions to those who testify before that group. And she’s concerned about the future of her district and the country. That’s an exceptional first year congress person.
10
@David G
Try to look past the Fox News version of AOC and her collegues. Hard to do, I know.
9
There is non so blind as those who will not see.... or those who aren’t paying attention.
7
Trump fears and hates all women, and most other people. He is only free of fear and hate when people or crowds are fawning over and adulating him--people like Kim Jong Un.
12
I'm surprised that the number of minority women voting Democrat is not higher.
3
Trump doesn’t fear women of color. Trump fears women and and all people of color. That’s call misogynist and racist.
10
Stoking more hate is all this story is about. Trump is in the headline but 'The right' is in the byline. Its all about trying to brainwash you into believing 'the right' are evil deplorables. I am a Trump supporter - big time - and I am not afraid of anyone of color and not hating anyone. I just think all of you on the left are pathetic and ignorant.
12
@miken
That's great you were able to post a comment in the middle of your celebration of the two-year anniversary of Charlottesville.
6
@miken:
What is it about Trump that garners your support?
Using the word, "brainwash", is compelling, although in a contrary manner, one that you may be identified by. I'm sorry for you and those you intend upon influencing. The US is in a sad state of affairs.
Please let us know about how the left is ignorant, in comparison.
Does Trump have sound economic policy (He has no idea what he's doing.)? Is he anti-socialist (except for farmers)? Does he take your tax dollars and give them to the wealthy? Is it that he has a ridiculously suspect track record re sexual assault? That he has six bankruptcies (Would you hire him in a financial capacity?)? That he cozies up to the likes of Putin (our arch-enemy in the past who may have influenced the likes of you), Kim and Erdogan? That he adopts policy via Twitter? That he has lied to the American public ~ 12,000 times in office, including you? That he benefits personally from government contracts with Trump, Inc? That he attempts to degrade the environment for the short-term financial gain of his comrades? That his "immigration" policy is being conceptualized by a white supremacist in Miller?
There are more but, those like me on the "left" are surely not ignorant.
8
And where are the men of color?
7
This column is on the money !
3
Baloney.
Skin color has nothing to do with it.
It's about rabid anti-American statist-socalist leftism.
Crying racism to distract attention from the real issue is a cheap stunt.
19
@Objectivist
Yes, trying to rebuild American infrastructure with tax money and American workers is about as rabid anti-American statist-socialist leftism as I can possibly imagine.
5
Yeah, those Republican-voting Nazis and white nationalists who wave confederate flags, swastikas and Trump flags, and gun down people by the dozens praying or shopping with their kids, are the *real* Americans.
8
@Objectivist:
That's very objective. . .
May I suggest you change your avatar name to something. . . . less objective.
4
I am Sicilian. Am I a "woman of color"?
12
Women of color (mayors) have not done much for Baltimore.
15
America will be saved from its hateful ways if more women of color vote. Vote WOC. Vote.
4
Any thoughts on women by our illegitimate president should be tempered by his misogyny.How you could possibly suggest the left in anyway takes women for granted, is idiotic.See midterms 2018.If we could have fair elections, no gerrymandering, weekend voting instead of Tuesdays[ridiculous],paper ballots[what's Ivanka planning to do with all those voting machines she bought from China?]outright cheating by the GOP,as in Atlanta,attacks on our elections by hostile nations etc. etc.Despite all these roadblocks put in place by the GOP,we Democrats campaigned hard for our brilliant women and won so don't even go there.
7
Down the road, I see Black American women breaking with the ungrateful Democrats and forming their own party!
7
Donald Trump fears women of color? Donald Trump doesn't like anybody, except possibly his wife/daughter, who is as close to his clone as could be. Trump is just a miserable human, a total vacuous, narcissistic mess, who finds fault with everybody and everything, in a twisted circle that keeps changing.
You are giving him way too much credibility to think that he has any deliberate fear or dislike toward women of color. He cannot think that deeply. He just hates.
7
The human race (The only race any of us is a part of) produces only one skin pigment: the brown skin pigment melanin.
Some of us have more of it, some have less, but it has no effect on anything we do other than protecting us to some degree against sun damage to our skin. We are all different shades of melanin. It's even different on each person; look at the palms of even the darkest brown of us.
There is more difference between the skin tones of Al Sharpton and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez than between her and President Trump, but you call the first two members of the "black race" (Neither of them nor any other human being is black) and him a member of the white race (Neither he nor any other human being is white).
There are no "races of Man." There is just the human race.
Your obsession with "race" is a pure ideological ploy. You use "racisim" as a goad to drive as many of us as possible into your chosen political corral. And we fools let you do this to us.
Try arguments based on historically proven results. Those are the actual way the world will respond.
Or are you too obsessed with the thirst for power?
13
"Our democracy itself is at stake. "
Why is it that the leftists always end with the above nonsense? Many of the "women of color" named here are socialist/Sandinista types who would like to put a stake through democracy.
19
@Robert
When 40% of the country holds the government in control, has no idea of what it is doing, and aggressively attacks those with whom it disagrees, IMO, democracy itself is at stake.
4
So, you're trying to tell me that Democrats don't attack Republicans at every turn? Just read The NYT, the Democrat Newspaper. Nothing but negative about Trump and the Republicans.
8
You forgot to mention that Trump loves dictators.
3
Biden Abrams = Dream Ticket
2
The NYT seems fixated on 'race' and 'gender' issues. I'm not convinced ALL Americans are on the same page and don't wake up every morning to read articles about these two subjects.
My wife and I are focused on getting our kids to school and making sure we have a roof over our heads. Like most Americans, are focus is much more on the basics of day to day life. I realize 'middle class' issues are not as interesting to the folks at the NYT but 'bread and butter' issues are what is important to us and what influences our vote in November.
Please remember this when our idiot president is reelected and how the Times is complicit in his victory.
23
Most white men of the GOP fear women of color. Many women of color are from ethnic communities that are equitable across sexes - or where maternal factors actually dominate family life.
This is anathema to good white Christian males, who are similar to the Middle East Taliban, attempting to retain a male dominated, paternal society, where women are considered chattel.
8
Waving the cudgel racism Black women are scaring the heck out of the Democratic Party, who will do nothing without their consent.The bigot Omar escaped from her Anti Semitic comment with a slap on her wrist.You better divest from Israel, or your profits will decline.
They will lead the party into the trash heap, and are the best thing that happened to Trump.
17
"The left takes them for granted." Where is your evidence for this or did the headline writer just fail to read the entire article before writing this subhead?
5
Ridiculous, untrue, and more of the fake news from The NY Times, whose motto now is: "all the fake news that we can fabricate".
Sorry Socialist Progressives, a.k.a. Democrats (of old; very old).
16
If the gimme girls get together with the millennials, under Democrat leadership, you can kiss the country bye bye.
10
White is a colour too.
10
It’s cheap-shot articles like this that causes CNN and the NYT to keep flaying and falling in viewers and readers...sorry if the truth hurts.
Considering that the debates were just plain boring and badly formatted this newspaper is getting on my last good nerve.
I would prefer balanced, unbiased, and independent reporting please!
17
Trump should not be fearful of those four women.
Actually, he should be very proud of them because he served as a role model.
Trump and the Squad talk rudely, constantly, loudly, selfishly, intrusively and about the things they don’t really understand. None of those features prevents them from speaking all the time.
All of them share another important trait. They are the masters of turning the social attention to themselves and sucking the oxygen out of room.
None of those characteristics makes them smart, knowledgeable, friendly and team players.
That’s why they are attracted mutually.
By the way, has any of the Squad existed as celebrity before the Trump era?
3
@Kenan Porobic
I wonder if you know anything about these women aside from what Fox tells you.
2
@gratis
Trust me, I know much more about them than you think. I know how to help them too...
1
Fears, likely because, when he was a young guy, one beat the bejebus out of him when he tried to grope her. Hasn't been the same around WOC since.
5
What an amazingly self-serving article. How does the NYT allow itself to be used like this.
21
The Times obsession with race is never ending.
22
When you have the NYT playing identity politics 24/7...everything is sadly political here...even your gym membership. The white guilt is just too much.
Heck, I can’t even enjoy a chicken sandwich or a Sunday afternoon drive anymore because it’s either not PC and/or kills the environment.
21
The war waged by each extreme side has already been won. These skirmishes are only small battles in a cultural upheaval. Trump can do and say what he wants but history and facts are not on his side or the side of old white conservative, which is what the GOP is exclusively made of.
2
Trump and men who have dominated women are afraid of their new found power and the lose of their own power that they think this portends. Partnership just does not occur to them. This is so for their fear of white women, but it is especially true of black women who have had even less rights in our society. The result of this fear is not to seek understanding, but in weak threatened men the impulse is to strike out and abuse to reassert what they think they have lost. Despite our so called 'enlightened' society and perhaps because of the changes it portends the abuse of women becomes more obvious and we still have along way to changing it.
4
Once again, the NYT features an op-ed about a grievance movement, with the ultimate message that what we need is for more people of color to be born, and fewer whites. Well, let them be born. I have no problem with being the citizen of a country that is majority non-white. But really? Is that the solution? Do you know that non-whites will upend the status quo? Do you think that the color of people's skin will dictate how they vote, and what values they will uphold? Are there not a few problems today - eg. economic inequality -- that identity politics in itself cannot address? Or do you think that inequality is only a problem for people of color?
21
Women of Color are better suited to be in leadershio positions vice all others.
They have a greater grasp of reality, racism, sexism, empathy, compassion, and collaboration.
They will get my votes, each and every time.
5
@Buzz D
But they often lack experience.
We need more than soft skills to manage the plethora of diverse issues we face every day.
2
@Unhappy JDint
Many have more experience than men, especially a manbaby like Trump.
Additionally, they are better able to multitask and find common ground skills sadly lacking in many men. They are no hindered by cave man testosterone.
3
The identity politics that these writers extol have been fueling a fierce right wing backlash for years. Identity politics often appears to be nothing but another form of racism.
26
I've been telling anyone that will.listen: #michelle2020 is your best hope. Someone please convince her that her country needs her now more than ever.
1
Having a woman and an African-American or Latino on the ticket seems essential to turn out the Democratic base. How about Warren at the top, with Booker, Castro, or Harris as VP?
3
I don't think the right "fears" women of color anymore than it fears strong white women. I think figures like Trump just see, in adversaries like "The Squad" or Hilary Clinton, an opportunity to weaponize the aversions or negative stereotypes held by many older white men (and to a lesser degree, many older white women).
The emotion is closer to disgust or aversion than it is fear.
And women of color make up, at most, 6-10% of the electorate, and one that is heavily concentrated in certain states and urban areas. That is a far too small, and a far too geographically concentrated, voting block to really be any "threat" to the interests of old white men.
Trump's behavior towards "the Squad" is reprehensible no matter what your politics are. But our language and understanding of their motivations needs to be accurate if we are going to fight racists effectively.
As someone who grew up and has family in "Trump Country" but has lived and worked on the more liberal coasts for well over a decade, I think coastal liberals have an almost comical lack of understanding of their opponents, something which studies have born out: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/21/democrats-republicans-political-beliefs-national-survey-poll
Liberals need to get it together, stop believing everything that is in their head or on Twitter, and get an accurate picture or their opponent if they are going to at all effective at fighting Trump in 2020.
7
This reminds me of the piece run 2-3 weeks back about the amazing role black women were playing the the environmental movement.
The author came up with 2 names. And I couldn't find a photo of any enviro protests in the US that contained black people.
18
"Conservatives tacitly recognize the political power of women of color when they try to discredit them through ridicule and harassment."
I'm a Democrat but I consider the above to be a bunch of baloney. Conservatives (especially Trump) ridicule and harass ANYONE who is getting too much attention (or power) on the left. Just because it's happening to women of color doesn't mean it's BECAUSE of their color.
Liberals ridicule and harrass conservatives, too. It's politics. Not everything is about color. Get over yourselves.
9
Women of color already know where they stand in terms of privilege and meritocracy. They know that they will have to be smarter in order to succeed. So, yes Trump better be afraid.
1
Are you seriously trying to convince anyone that Trump fears women of color?
God Lord! The squad has done more damage to the Democratic party than Banon or Breightbart could ever hope of doing.
Please stop pushing this falsehood on readers. And keep the squad out of it so democrats stand a chance. Thx in advance.
17
@Joe SonoLibre, I agree. The squad is the gift to Trump that will keep on giving. He will not let go of them until election day.
4
Trump has an irrational fear of everything. And he’s hollowed out his soul to escape that chamber of horrors. Not sure women of color can claim any special place in that horror chamber. The man is not sane.
The Republican Party will target women of color as a threat though. And act accordingly. Thanks for all you do Ladies!
2
The three frontrunners for the democratic presidential nomination are old white people. Sounds like Trump's not the only one afraid.
7
Maybe you should ask women of color, Diamond and Silk, what they want...probably, four more years!
4
AOC is deft and savvy?Please tell me this article is satire.I would hate to think that my guffaws were for someone trying to be serious.
16
@farkennel, "deft and savvy"?? Methinks more like daft and crazy.
4
I'm proud of them. Make more noise. At least they weren't part of the 25 million women that voted for Trump.
4
I still do not understand what "people of color" means. In this article, Asians are "POCs" but when it comes to selections for Colleges or specialized High Schools, they are classified as whites. President Obama and his wife are clearly people of color, as are his children. But if either of his daughters marries a white male, will their children be "POCs"? How many generations of these children marrying whites would it take to no longer make the descendents "POCs". Excuse me but I sniff racism in this term.
15
"Recall that Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia played referee, scorekeeper and contestant so he could tip the scales in his favor in the 2018 election for governor against Stacey Abrams, whose voter protection efforts had begun years earlier."
Fair point. But the GOP also disenfranchised criminals in Florida in order to defeat Al Gore, a white man, in 2000. A GOP-majority Court then overturned the Florida court to hand the election to Bush.
A GOP-majority Supreme Court voted to invalidate a major component of the Voting Rights Act.
The GOP, under Newt Gingrich and Ken Starr, tried to remove Bill Clinton from office over an affair.
The GOP, under Richard Nixon, committed all manner of Constitutional crimes.
The GOP has a long, long record of defying the law to arrogate power unto itself. A part of this is racism -- the GOP overwhelmingly represents moneyed, white interests. But they don't just fear women of color. They fear freedom.
7
This article's premise is a straw man. I don't think trump "fears" the woman profiled here or, for that matter, any 'woman of color'. His responses to insults from Democrats (I'm one) do not indicate fear. The fact is that, warranted or not, he's the target for incessant insults, attacks and blame for almost any action he takes.
27
It's almost totally warranted.
3
I totally agree with you. I am a black woman, a former navy wife, a Christian, and a Republican. My entire family voted for Trump and continues to support him.
Never before has any president ever had to take so many daily insults by the Democrats and their media, including the NYT.
No, I don’t think he fears me or any other black woman. What would he have to fear?
Believe it or not, I am not the only black woman supporting him.
14
I, for one, would love to see Trump Warren-ted.
2
Disaffected white men may stay home from the polls this time round to avoid being stigmatized by their communities. Their racism and cruelty are not going over well even in their own narrow-minded districts. Meanwhile, women of color are surging on ballots and in the polls, and stand the best chance of winning over voters old and new.
6
@Hr I'm a Democrat, too, and don't believe in racism of ANY kind. That includes racism against whites. Why are racist comments such as yours suddenly OK with so many liberals?
13
@jaco Don't blame you one bit. Just wish you didn't have to vote for Trump as a form of punishment.
1
Trump is praying at WOC want the same thing that other men and women want...peace, prosperity, and good educational.
8
@Charlie no, he and his core supporters don't
Mistaken thesis. Trump is easily annoyed by women who do not kowtow to him but he's a bully, he never takes on anyone he feels can give him back as good or better what he delivers.
Remember what happened when Obama roasted him at the Correspondents' Dinner, he sat without any expression through the ordeal. He was stunned by Obama's wit and unable to react, and humiliated with having to be seen in public receiving it.
What he does is express himself in safe venues, tweeter and rallies for political supporters. He makes sure that any thing that might be said will fit with what his base will think no less of him. The group of Congresswomen he tried to demean were already seen negatively by his audiences.
4
Remember the Moore/ Jones Alabama Senate Race? Yes, It went in Senator Jones' favor due to energized women votes. However the 2020 race is a different ball game, with Republicans trying to use all possible ways to grab the election and to keep white male in control of power. Specially after loosing it to President Obama twice, even after openly talking openly of keeping him a one term president.
Just recently, they even tried to even change the real picture of the american spectrum by adding citizenship question in the census.
In the elections of such big stakes, everything could be fair - even going to a enemy for help or using Fake News. The examples are, 2016 elections with digital media support or 2004 elections with Swift Boat. The real election reform is at a distant horizon. So is the true democratic fair elections.
2
People who participate, have a voice. That has always been true with respect to our political system.
4
Only the racists specialize in the racial politics.
Martin Luther King famously said more than a half century ago: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”
If you are grouping the people based on a color of their skin, you are a racist...
The smart people ignore the quantity of pigment in skin and focus on far more important human traits and characteristics...
They are not wasting their lives on such a trivial issue...
21
@Kenan Porobic so using your thesis please explain this President's language and tactics as well as the appeal of the contemporary GOP.
@Kenan Porobic
"If you are grouping the people based on a color of their skin, you are a racist."
So what you're basically say is Donald Trump is a racist.
Noted.
Thanks.
1
@jrgolden,
You are obsessing over the small number who haven't yet gotten the message rather than rejoicing in the multitude who have. That viewpoint and attitude is an obstacle to progress.
3
If Rep. Tlaib is a "person of color", then so too are Israeli Jews, a majority of whom are Middle Eastern (Tunisian, Iraqi, yemeni, etc.) in descent.
Are we determining race by politics now, or are we becoming amateur eugenists, like fascists?
22
@delta blues
Palestinians probably have more in common with minority Jewish communities in some Middle Eastern countries in their struggle for civil liberties and equality. So your claim is false equivalence in a particularly misleading and distasteful way.
4
@delta blues
Great point! Liberals think they are doing people a favor by giving them a minority identity.. All it does is push people further apart.
12
Let me make this easier for the authors - you don't need a fancy multi-year grant to find out what black and latina women care about. You can simply climb down from your ivory tower in academia and speak to some of them.
In fact, they probably should've done this before they wrote this op-ed. Unlike (apparently) the authors, many of us live, eat, play, date, and work with women of color from a vareity of different backgrounds. And that is triply-true for anyone active in Democratic politics.
16
On a personal note (of and from a "white" 70YO, 35 years removed from the dating experiences that support the conclusions next presented):
1. The experiences I've had with the "White," "Black," "Brown" and "Yellow" women I've 'known' (perhaps only white and yellow should have the quotes that suggest a 'fanciful descriptive') lead me to think that, in general, women, 'compared' to men, generally, are better possessed of the qualities that would make a good president.
2. If one color of woman is best equipped to serve as Secretary of Defense (originally, "Secretary of War"), I think it would be a "Brown" one -- Latina Class.
1
“Democratic” and “progressive” are not synonyms. Both parties have large socially conservative blocs. In the Democratic Party, women of color are often potent forces in the socially conservative bloc.
3
You lost me in the very first paragraph when you made the ridiculous claim that the "the squad" is "remarkably deft and savvy politicians." It's not even a matter of partisan politics to point out how laughable that is. AOC's leaking of the New Green Deal before the phrase about providing money to those "unwilling to work" all but doomed that - her most significant legislative contribution. Ilhan Omar is an avowed anti-Semite who's repeated use of crude stereotypes has nearly resulted in her being censured multiple times. All four have negative approval ratings. AOC was the last of the freshman House members to even open an office in her own district. She was also wildly out of touch with opinion polling from her own constituents on the Amazon deal.
They've earned the dislike of not just the Speaker (who's from their own party) but of the moderate Democratic members who put the Dems in power in the House in the first place. Beyond Twitter followers and Instagram likes what achievements does this bumbling band of wannabe Congressional Kardashians have? Absolutely none. Zero. Zilch. Squadoosh. Nada.
There's also a great deal of evidence that these ultra "progressive" pols are more aligned to the views of white, coastal liberals than POC. 2016 also showed the dangers of relying on POC. In what should have obviously been in their interest - avoiding a Trump presidency - black turnout was abysmal and a surprising number of Hispanics voted for Trump.
33
@JP You have the temerity to criticize "The Squad?" Do you not know far left Democrats do not allow this? Just a warning - the thought police will soon be knocking on your door.
8
The continuation of Identity Politics as the Democratic Party's driving force will cause them to lose in 2020. Employing a refrain of "white males" being the overriding problem will move people like myself from voting at all. The demographic is changing, but to win a majority of voters you still have to speak to the center.
Secondly, supporting ideas like eliminating the criminal penalty for crossing the border illegally, reparations, and free health care and college tuition for all will alienate the moderate folks you need to overcome the monied republican supporters.
Be mindful that idealism is fine, but practical wins elections.
24
While I agree you need to speak to the center, one must remember the “center” is now to the right of President Nixon. As for your comment about decriminalizing unauthorized entry, unless someone has been legally deported and then returned without a proper visa, it is a civil offense, not a criminal one (note that it is enters without a visa, not over stay a visa) or has previously been barred from entry.
No one is calling for “free” health care, just a sane way of providing it.
Seeing as we’ve become a country that thinks a bachelors is required for anything more than flipping burgers, it is perfectly reasonable that said degree shouldn’t be limited to those that can afford it any more than a high school diploma is. Long gone are the days that being otherwise a good candidate, just lacking that BA/BS can get you past HR or the requiters unless you know someone (22 years as a well documented, highly successful and recommend SE didn’t help me in 2001).
So...will Joe Biden ask Stacey Abrams to be his running mate???
2
We have people of many persuasions in my family. I'm an observant Jew, my older son is married to a Filipina, My younger son is engaged to a black woman, both women of great achievement and substance. My daughter-in-law is a Doctor of Physical Therapy. My soon to be next daughter-in-law is a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. None of us will vote for Trump.
5
What Trump recognizes about black women "of color": More than 65% of their children are borne out-of-wedlock and far too many are raising their children as a single-parent.
How many times do we see on the nightly news young black college graduates thanking their single-parent mothers for all the support with no father to be found.
That has to change and he's working toward higher employment for people "of color" to help stabilize their family structure, which in the 1950s the vast majority of children had both parents living in the house.
He also knows that eight years with Mr. Hope and Change did little for women "of color" and the DNC has done as much since Johnson. And more important, they know it too.
20
When prejudice demands that you be twice as good as a white man to get a job, many women of color will rise to that challenge. We're seeing women rise because of the extent to which they've been challenged. They've done their homework, their healing work, and they've got their degrees.
Racism and sexism are hurdles. Once you're strong enough to jump over them, look out world. Trump had better be scared.
4
The Left seems to be overly obsessed with the supposed power of minority voters, as this article illustrates. The only problem is that they are rarely unified as a voting bloc. Good luck getting Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, LGBTQ, women, Native Americans, greens to agree on anything.
18
@javelar Agreed. Whether you like them or not, the Republicans are brilliant at unifying their disparate "minority" voters to support each other and vote together as a bloc. The gun-lovers, fundamentalist christians, ultra wealthy and white nationalists appear to have nothing in common, and even some opposing interests. Nevertheless, there is seldom daylight between them, and they rarely disparage each other in public. The democrats could learn something from this.
5
Trump is afraid of women, period. Much of his behavior stems from this.
1
Black women are tired of being the mule of this unthankful society, particularly the Democratic Party. Black women should have seats at the table where they should help shape the Democratic Party's legislative agenda and be given contractual opportunities to build Democratic candidates' campaigns. I believe that if the "Squad" were all white Democratic Party leadership would have responded differently to their positions.
5
Just change every mention of “Black”, to “Poor”, and you may stop alienating the white working class.
8
Were the numbers on people who convinced "members of their social networks to register and vote" based on self-reporting? I would assume so, since it would take an awful lot of work to verify each person's answer.
In that case, I would question *all* of these numbers, since I'm sure that almost everyone would like to think that they convinced people.
3
We need more women of color running for elected offices and winning. Otherwise, the old guard will continue to hold power, visit community when seeking votes or ignoring the community entirely.
4
@Hattie Jackson
That may be true -- but after reading these comments, I'd be the first to advocate the for need a better informed electorate.
6
This is a fascinating Op-Ed piece. The underlying factors that make women of color a potent political force is their level of education. For past few decades, women have earned bachelors degree at a much higher clip then their male counterparts. 2:1 in the case of African Americans, 3:2 in the case of Latinos, and (maybe a bit surprisingly) 55 to 45 among Asian Americans. Combined with partisanship that overwhelmingly favor the Democratic Party as well as the current occupant in the White House that can’t resist offending women of color at every turn, they’ll play an important role in the 2020 election.
5
@UC Graduate,
The vote of a high school dropout counts exactly as much as that of a PhD, so I don't get your point.
4
I doubt if he fears "Women of Color". I don't think he even notices women, except for the "Gang of Four" in Congress, but they have already faded from view, too extreme, especially when AOC makes the statement, "The problem is White People!" If a white person said, "The problem is Black People, or Hispanic People", they would yell "Racism" so fast their heads would spin. But she seems to forget, there are a lot of white people. I was very offended when she said that. Enough so that I could never back her. I'm pretty moderate, non-partisan, if that bugs me, i just assume what some less moderate feels.
Omar's previous actions are coming to light, I believe she is going to flame out soon enough. Ocasio-Cortez also.
19
AOC was reacting to Pelosi’s statement about “these people “
1
They’re not the same thing at all. White people and people of color do not have the same access to power—historically or now.
For every anomaly—Oprah Winfrey, for example—the vast majority of people of color have no sustained access to power. That’s not true of white people, who carry their privilege on their skin (and their ability to be invisible) whether they’re poor or rich.
The myth of equivalency is just that—a myth.
Reverse racism is not a thing.
4
Really, David?
Care to debate that with a bunch of blue collar workers?
Feel free to ignore me, I’m probably just an enormous Racist, racisting in a Racist way, all over your nice racially-based assumptions.
6
"...members of “the squad” who have proven to be remarkably deft and savvy...." at pulling Democratic candidates into directions that will fail at the voting booth.
17
How so? You mean Americans don’t need Medicare for All, free college,$15 minimum wage, action on climate change, money out of politics?
3
@Zejee There's no such thing as free college. And no, we don't need medicare for all. Not everything needs to be devoured by bureaucracy.
7
@Zejee
I can't tell if you're serious or cynical, but just in case those are your hopes, stand firm, esp with free medical and free college. We'll see what Americans do or don't want on Nov 4, 2020.
1
Stacy abrams has got to be the choice for VP
6
Women of color shouldn’t just be treated like some symbolic token. They should be valued because they are smart, capable, responsive and able to lead. Stacy Abrams is a fine example of a politician the exudes intelligence. Listen to her words and ideas and you’ll realize there is a lot more to her than a black woman.
5
@NKM, ALL women of color should be valued because they are smart, capable, responsive and able to lead? I take it you have spoken to and surveyed all women of color? Take your comment and change women of color to white women. This would be equally racist.
3
Umm...he doesn't?
Trump doesn't discriminate in his love of people who love him or his hatred of people who hate him..which makes him like 95% of the people walking the streets of America today.
And that's a problem for Democrats and women of color who think they can take pot shots at Trump without suffering his condemnation.
He really doesn't care what color you are, what gender you are, what God you pray too or who you're sleeping with.
Take a shot and he's coming for you.
The problem for these WOC is they think they're bullet-proof since they've been hurling racist and sexist slurs at white male progressives for years and have been richly rewarded for it, even encouraged to do it more and more.
So these taunts towards Abrhams or Cummings for anyone else aren't anything other than a human being being disgusted with another human being who vehemently dislikes that human being.
Tribalism is in our DNA. We're 200 years from having most of the world owning people as personal property..and 200 years further removed from nations raping and pllaging other nations to steal their riches.
You think we've evolved that much in 400 years..and the other 300,000,000 years preceding it are irrelevant to our natural development as a species?
16
"Why Trump Fears Women of Color"
Because they can act viciously, heinously, malevolently, even illegally and get a free pass because of their gender and color.
Is that it? Did I win? Is there a prize?
13
@George Orwell: Sorry, no prize for you. White men (myself included) have had latitude to behave viciously, heinously, malevolently, and even illegally, and have gotten free passes because of their gender and color.
You'll need a better answer to "win" this.
3
@Julius
White men get a pass because of their gender and color?
That must be why Trump gets so much good press.
5
@George Orwell
Oh yeah. Totally. Just ask Sandra Bland.
I suggest the Lee's speak to MLK's daughter for another opinion.
5
This white guy knows all about being taken politically for granted, since I don't live in a state called "Iowa" or "New Hampshire".
4
@Andy
You're joking, right?
Especially since the Black population of Maine accounts for only 1.2% -- and it's right behind first-place Vermont in terms of having the highest percentage of white Americans.
2
It is not just Trump who fears women of color. It is all of the GOP.
It is not just women of color that Trump and the GOP fear, it is all women.
The fear was obvious starting when Hilary Clinton was the first lady made obvious by her demonization start that first year and continuing even today.
Women of color are now the bull's eye on the GOP target because of their rise to power.
The Gender Of Power (males) does not want to give up their male white supremacy and will go to any lengths to keep what they have always had.
To paraphrase the White Supremacist at Charlotteville, just change "Jews will not replace us" to black women will not replace us.
3
"Conservatives tacitly recognize the political power of women of color when they try to discredit them through ridicule and harassment. " Actually, we look at the past three female mayors of Baltimore and roll our eyes. Two tossed out of office for criminal behavior and one who so poorly managed the city in crisis (Freddie Gray riots) that she saw the political writing on the wall and decided against running for re-election. Just part and parcel of Baltimore's 50 years of Democratic failure I guess. Oh, and when a long term Baltimore reporter (Mary Bubala) questions the voters' choices with these ladies, she gets fired. Something stinks in Charm City and it ain't crab shells and alley trash.
14
I figured my comment would not get printed. We like the narrative of "white women-bad" "women of color-good." So, a nuanced comment pointing out the complexities in each group wouldn't see the light of day, lol.
9
Neither condescending paternalistic liberal white pity nor condescending conservative white contempt accept the divine natural equal certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness of black African American Protestant women.
Italian American Roman Catholic Nancy Pelosi made mocking marginalizing political socioeconomic war on The Squad aka Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley and Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez. And the German Scottish American heathen hedonist pagan Donald Trump joined in her ethnic sectarian color aka race crusade.
There is no science in politics nor history nor law nor any other academic social field. There are too many unknowns and variables to craft the double-blind controlled experimental tests that provide predictable and repeatable results.
Dr. Lee is a partisan political pundit and legal advocate. Dr. Lee doesn't know nor understand the science of color aka race.
There is only one biological DNA genetic evolutionary fit human race species that began in Africa 300,000 years ago. What we call race aka color is an evolutionary fit pigmented response primarily related to producing Vitamin D and protecting genes from damaging mutations. Every human being even albinos are persons of color.
America is not a democracy. America is a divided limited different power constitutional republic of united states. Every state has 2 Senators who with the Electoral College President pick federal judges for life.
5
There are two public figures that I wish had stepped into the Demo race for President, Stacy Abrams and Sherrod Brown. Such a ticket would carry every state carried by Clinton in 2016, plus GA, NC, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, sweeping the orange beelzebub right out of the WH and into the dust bin of history.
2
Identity politics is dead. It has been dead for years now. The longer that liberals cling to it, the longer they will stumble around in the wilderness, unable to understand what the American people want and what they look for from their leadership.
The authors assume that white poor people, white working class people, white middle class people can all be ostracized and safely ignored. Keep those race goggles on and keep wandering, and keep wondering why you're losing. Divide and conquer doesn't work. It will never work. It just weakens you and your party. SMH.
22
@Nate
Identity politics is all Trump has. No policies. Just hate, blame and deflection.
The more Trump tries to ridicule women of any color, and more specifically, women of color, the stronger they appear to women throughout the country, and the weaker Trump appears in the minds of women everywhere. Keep up the bad behavior Donald. Women throughout our society have a long history of having to deal with Bullies who are actually afraid of women who don't cower when confronting the likes of this orange narcissistic misogynist. Women will determine whether Trump remains in the White House for another term.
1
OMG, how I hate the phrase “women of color” which is used some half dozen times in this sleazy report, not to speak of “voters of color.” Color? What color? Within my own family, we probably have 10 different shades of color, starting with the whitest of white to the brownest of brown. Go to any paint store and you’ll appreciate that white is probably the rarest of the colors presented. Trump and anybody else in the GOP are not afraid of women of various skin colors, and his tussle with the so-called squad has nothing to do with their skin, but rather with their language and the ridiculous policies they propose. I think the Times needs to examine the language that is being used in these stories which does nothing but stir up the racial tensions that are threatening to tear our country apart. Part of freedom of the press is to inform, not to inflame its readers.
28
The Left takes People of Color for Granted not only our Women. The Left talks like Men of Color don't even exist.
5
Felons cannot vote.
2
@BorisRoberts
Are you somehow trying to imply that People/ Men of Color are felons?
If so, that's not entirely correct and extremely crass.
2
Here we go again, playing the identity obsession card, one of the reasons we have an ego maniac bigot demagogue in the WH today.
What I mean by that is learn from Obama. he ran as an American and not as a black man and served two terms. Hillary ran as an identity obsessed woman and not as an American and was cast off to the dust heap of history.
We had an identity obsessed bigoted white man against a men are the problem identity obsessed women Hillary.
The right wing bigot won by a TKO.
Most Americans are sick of identity politics.
Trump on the surface fears nothing or anybody. He only lashes at at people who do not adore him whether it be black women or anybody.
Vote for a candidate that will benefit all people not just black women, white men or people for Mars ie don't play identity politics.
17
There's something unattractive about racist bullying. It's ugly. IT takes people by skin color that then reaches conclusions about them in a pejorative manner.
That is exactly what these writers do. Do "women of color" have ideas that they can document as commonly shared, and that make good policy that is affordable? This article has no interest in that. This article is about power, naked power.
And to accomplish their power they need to make threats and blatantly racist generalizations about people who happen to be Republicans.
I'm ok that people root for their team. But in politics, policy and revenue to support policy are what matter. Not to these "political scientist/activists." Nope, they want power based on skin color. Their argument boils down to "my skin color makes better politics than yours."
Why does the Times publish this racist stuff every day? Can you imagine the Times publishing an article about white women and how they are going to take down the black Democrats?
22
Still hoping that Michelle Obama - one spot or the other - is on Democrat presidential ticket 2020.
1
Trump fear women of color? Trump fears everyone. He is one of the most gutless people I have ever seen in public life.
2
Yes, but. People of color live predominantly in already-blue areas. It has been said that trump can lose the popular vote by 5 million votes and still win the electoral college. I hope that registrations by all Democrats who live in red states will change this prediction but I am not optimistic. Yes, our citizens of non-European origin are our future but can our country survive another trump administration? I do not think we can.
9
@Ellen Tabor ... I agree with the demographics you state. The reality may be, women of color and their families need to move to red states, and shift the balance to blue. Highly unlikely, of course, but angry, scared white folks are going to vote republican, and that won’t change.
2
And neither can the planet. Please oust Trump in 2020!
2
Without reading the article I think it's because nobody ever bought these women a degree, a business, a position in society or a "bone spur" certificate. They are all really smart,hard working and genuinely patriotic. Most of them have the proven ability to overcome huge obstacles. Donald should be afraid. He gets everything by bullying, paying, cheating, lying and consorting with people who aren't paying attention. If you aren't consumed by greed or xenophobic to the point that you have abandoned all decency, please vote.
5
As seems par for the course, we are here again served lukewarm political analysis from "folks" outside the "Black" community talking about what black people need to do. Indeed, the authors are on target but the need for political organizing in the "of color" classification ignores the role of the State (FBI in particular) in destroying the organization that once was forming into real political POWER. I've been a reader/listener to a black journalist named Utrice Leid for many years and have learned much about critical analysis of the messenger and the content of the message but also the communication it's self as the message. The medium (the framework) IS the message. If you want to engage a "woman of color" why don't you start with someone who's been a black journalist for 30+ years and show some respect for what's always been here.
6
This is a trite misleading. I'm all for women of color @ 6.5% to choose what they feel is best for them. but for the Democrats to take them for granted is troubling and it should be particularly troubling to women of color. I don't feel intelligent, forward thinking women of all colors and yes, white woman too... should be made to feel used as a means to an end or used and taken for granted...that bothers me a lot and if I were a woman of color, I might consider that statement as being inadvertently, Racist. The Republicans tacitly consider or recognize women of color as a political power...I don't agree so much with the ridicule or harassment statements, but would see this as a challenge to all women of color to be the best they can be and stop talking about The Squad...that is a road they shouldn't go down or be associated with as it put on a par of what most Americans consider very bad and a group that wants to undermine our system of government. If women of color are really motivated for change and to establish influence, they must rise above the fray and show their willingness to work on both sides of the aisle and insist on what's good for all and trust themselves to know the difference, if they're ever going to make a lasting impression and impact on becoming the right stuff. To err on the side of caution when it comes to The Squad and not capitulate to the whims of some social garbage or crumbs the democrats want them to eat !
1
Women should not get a pass if they state issues incorrectly regardless of their race or culture. That's what Trump is doing- not giving them a pass. To think otherwise is folly.
10
It's a weak argument that women of color are important because Trump ridicules them. Trump tries to discredit anyone who disagrees with him no matter their race, gender or religion.
8
Sick and tired of the Times and the left beating on the identity politics train instead of taking heed of the 2018 midterms which rebuked that train of thought. I am Iranian-American and absolutely loathe pedantic appeals to people of color which I assume that I am a member of.
16
Dividing people by race and gender is a great way for the Democrats to lose again.
14
Some women of color have become powerful advocates for conservative principles too. They also are not afraid to speak out.
Watch out....coming soon to your neighborhood speaking their own truth to power. This is not a one way street....and the same goes for men of color.
8
This is such a racist and sexist op-ed.
If Trump is fearful of women of color for being the potent forces in progressive politics, both in office and as organizers who mobilize voters, then the implied message is that the incumbent isn’t fearful of men of color, and the Caucasian males and females for their inherent inability to mobilize and organize.
Such a kind of prejudice and bias is the most important trait of both the racism and sexism…
If you separating the races and sexes based on their alleged different abilities, then you are a racist and a sexist…
10
Why still the “of color” nonsense reference? Beige may be plainer and more boring than black or white, but it’s a color.
8
What a stretch to make this about gender and or color. It is simply a variance of opinion and direction of which progressives versus conservatives debate over how best to propel the country. Quit making everything about race or gender as it is irrelevant and diminishes the importance of ideas brought forward by both sides of the aisle.
14
"Brian Kemp of Georgia played referee, scorekeeper and contestant so he could tip the scales in his favor..."
Yet another attempt to discredit a fairly-won election.
7
@Ryan M
Not when the to be governor was also incharge of the state election and refused to resign for a long time. EARN THE CREDIBILITY before calling it fairly won.
3
@Thought Provoking Earn the credibility before calling it fairly won? I didn't run for anything.
But what credibility does anyone have when pushing a conspiracy theory that is based on lies, half-truths, and Stacy Abrams self-serving allegations?
Th
2
“Conservatives tacitly recognize the political power of women of color when they try to discredit them through ridicule and harassment. Consider President Trump’s attacks on the members of “the squad” who have proven to be remarkably deft and savvy politicians. “
By the article writers’ logic, John McCain, Mitt Romney, the Bushes, the Clintons, Joe Biden, etc. are also very powerful. Trump attacks everyone he doesn’t like at the time it will serve his purposes.
I find the farther left politicians politically unattractive - I do not want an onerous national government, though I believe in a safety net, clean air and water, & am certainly concerned about climate change. But, also know that our country was created to have a limited national government, which those on the left (and sometimes right) do not understand or appreciate. Not everything has to be a slippery slope, sometimes we can accommodate each other some and let different states make different choices.
The thing that really ticks me off is all the hatred and rigidity the left is spewing. I always saw the left as the more loving and rational party, now they are more interested in their self-righteousness and exclusivity. More interested in being the first to yell “racism” or “sexism” or “police brutality.” Yes, these things happen, but not every incident should be interpreted through these filters. I will not vote for the far left or any candidate who might buy into this irrationality. I fear for my country.
12
Governor Kemp did nothing illegal or otherwise wrong in the Georgia election. The person who is twisting the facts is Ms Abrams. She lost fair and square. She should except is gracefully
11
@Marika
Did you mean she should "accept" her loss gracefully? She would have, had the voter records not been cleansed of minority voters and Kemp had resigned his job as the person incharge of elections at the beginning.
1
The way he has treated them and continues to treat them, he should be afraid of them.Anyone of them could turn him into gruel in a debate something I would really like to see.
2
This perpetuates the stereotype that "women of color are strong women". While this seems complimentary at first, it really is just one more way to "other" them.
7
@texasqueen
False equivalency.
Women of color have a long history of having to be resilient and "strong".
How else would they have been able to survive the brutal and inhuman conditions they've had to face since first being dragged here to be enslaved?
2
It's almost like voters who are "men of color" and "Black men" don't exist. Fascinating. One might wonder what their interests are and if either party speaks to them but then one would be called a misogynist most likely. Judging by this column they just don't matter.
17
Maybe people who tell other people what the other people supposedly “fear” should give it a rest. As one of the dreaded white males, I’m frequently told by others that I “fear” something when I merely have legitimate concerns. Claiming to know what I think and why is the height of arrogance.
25
Where are the women of color (women at all) in Congress that represent the republican party?
trump just fears women, period.
4
I note that Stacey Abrams is pictured at the head of this article.
GOOD SHOW!!
Although the media is busy focusing on the 'gaffes' of Biden, I'm willing to deal with the gaffes of Biden more so than the outright LIES of Trump.
No one is making an issue of the 'lie prone'' Trump.
Match up the gaffes and lies side by side
But right now, my ideal ticket would be a Biden/Abrams one.
Biden brings in the old establishment type people, and with Abrams as the powerhouse who can appeal to not only liberals, black women, women in general, people of the south, (she's from Georgia and I imagine her tapping into all of Georgia's border states, as well as Mississippi, Lousiana, maybe Texas,
Because she is still relatively young, in her
mid -40's, hopefully, she can also appeal to the millennials.
But on top of that, she is a very smart, a veteran POL in her state and a very vocal talent in her own right.
And she doesn't back down from a fight.
I believe she could have won the governorship in Georgia had there not been the shenanigans going on in the race itself by the current governor.
That this governor had to cheat in order to win over her, says a lot.
I do hope for a Biden/Abrams ticket.
2
Like most everything else regarding people of color, this information is long overdue -- albeit not unknown to all those racial groups involved.
Black women in particular, have long been politically motivated and the stalwarts of their community and in the church, which is the cornerstone for much of Black life.
But their contributions to society have been overshadowed due to their race and their gender.
That's why so few know of pioneers like Mary McLeod Bethune, Ida B. Wells, Flo Kennedy, Barbara Jordan or Fannie Lou Hamer to name just a few.
And that's also why so many (white) Americans continue to resist the fact that people of color -- especially women, make up an integral part of the voting electorate.
Donald Trump may not have gotten too many things right, but he got it right to fear them, because they VOTE!
4
He is a multi-billionaire and the President. I highly doubt he fears anyone.
10
@Jay Lincoln
A “ billionaire “ in Trump dollars. Like Monopoly money, but less tangible.
Seriously.
@Jay Lincoln
Everything about Trump screams fear. He is a bully who lashes out because of his fragile ego. If Trump were truly a brave and confident man, he wouldn't spend his time and tweets demeaning and ridiculing others or punching back at every criticism and perceived slight.
Strong and confident people -- even those who are publicly assailed -- don't display Trump's pettiness, neediness. They don't need to puff themselves up or diminish others.
And please, can we stop equating Trump's (supposed) wealth as some sign of virtue?
@Jay Lincoln
Sure he is.
1
just wondering: would women of color be such a standout segment of influential voters if men of color were not as systematically disenfranchised?
3
Obviously the melting pot has failed if colors are still stuck together. Either the heat’s too low or they weren’t designed to melt in the first place. Cold fusion flopped too.
6
Quality comment
1
"Ninety-three percent of black women voters supported a Democratic House candidate as did 68 percent of Native American women, 76 percent of Latinas and 73 percent of Asian-American and Pacific Islander women. This does not bode well for the incumbent president. "
Well, no.
It's all about geography.
It doesn't matter if 100% of people of color vote Democratic in California, or Newark, or Baltimore. Those places are safe Democratic strongholds and the strength by which a Democrat wins is irrelevant.
The real question is about voters (of all colors) in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Miami.
This article is yet another attempt by progressive activists to claim a bigger piece of the political pie within Democratic power circles, with little real evidence of their importance.
For the rest of us, it is irrelevant.
As for Trump, he knows a winning hand when he is dealt it.
The Democratic Party is imploding, with the progressive wing demanding free medical care for illegal immigrants, free college for all, no borders, no airplanes, and government jobs for people who don't want to work. The Tim Ryans and John Delaneys of the party think that's nuts and are saying so, and the numbers within the party are more Delaney/Ryan than AOC.
So why shouldn't Trump want to run against AOC, rather than against a Biden or even a Warren ?
19
Seems to me the best solution is for Women Of Color to truly find a means to unite and rally the troops. They appear to have the numbers, can make things happen - all that's left is to form a union and wield their power.
Do it ladies!
3
I mean Really. Mothers and grandmothers and sisters and aunts, of any color, are the greatest contributors to the progressive vote and always have been. Further, by default, history has made Black women extremely powerful in this regard, by stripping males in our Black communities of power and attacking and confining them. Put simply, Trump fears whatever he believes he can’t control. That actually includes a great many “groups,” as perceived by the Trumpian mindset. Looking closely, we almost always see fear in Trump’s face.
1
"We believe in equality for all, and privileges for none.
This is a belief that each American regardless of background has equal standing in the public forum, all of us.
Because we believe this idea so firmly, we are an inclusive, rather than an exclusive party.
Let everybody come.”
― Barbara Jordan, We Rise: Speeches by Inspirational Black Women
1
Politicians have practical relevance if they command a significant voting group. Women of color may claim to be the beating heart of the Democratic Party, but unless they can tip the balance, it's all talk.
3
Women of color are powerful, adept politicians and policy makers.
That's why Democrats and the media needs to stop responding to every debate over policies proposed by women of color as 'racist' or 'sexist'.
These women are strong enough and capable enough to debate on equal footing and don't need to shut down the conversation with name calling. It's demeaning to everyone and prevents their further influence in the end.
3
I worry about the implied racism in the NYT's repeated use of "women of color" or "color" to describe anyone except white-as-snow Europeans or anglo-skins. This includes Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Arabs, Malaysians, Latinos, all Africans, of course, which encompasses nearly 80% of the whole world's population, diverse as can possibly be imagined. Isn't there a better, less skin-oriented way to describe people of all different types? Women of color include Peruvians, Jamaicans, Pakistanis, Tibetan, Mandarins, Polynesians and most Hawaiians... too many for just one adjectival and racially dismissive phrase.
12
@Lupe Andrade
I agree, it's continuing the old racist duality of White vs. Everyone Else, such a simplistic, Euro-centric view of the world. Coupled with the somewhat racist assumption that everyone who isn't white can be lumped into a single group called "of color" with definable characteristics, all 5 billion or so of them, always defined in relation to the standard of whiteness.
3
@Lupe Andrade - Wow, "Anglo-skins" and "white-as-snow Europeans" - how is this not racially dismissive?
3
Humans tend to project on others the emotions they experience themselves. For that reason, accusing the other of "fearing" something is a very weak approach. Such accusations reveal more about our own world view than that of those we accuse. Just sayin'.
25
I wish people would stop saying that Democrats take the "black" vote (woman) for granted. That is definitely not the case.
I am excited by their activism and participation, and admire them more than I can express. They have survived years of subjugation by everyone, yet they persists and have now found thier voice.
You Go Girls!
2
Trump fears women of color? You wish, very hard.
He does not exactly fear any one since for him this is all sort of a game. Got to be the president after already having quite a bit of fame and full life, deserved or not (probably not). Why on earth would he fear women of color when, first, there are very few of them, and second, what exactly are their achievements and positions to threaten him. The Squad?
11
See: James, Letitia - New York State Attorney General.
Women of color are essential to the electorate. They are the reason why Doug Jones, a Democrat from Alabama, has a seat in Congress. But in the 2020 general election, the country will need more than women of color to claim the White House and take control of the Senate.
The results of the 2018 midterm elections were positive, but I causation us to remember that 53% of white women voted for the Republican candidate for president in 2016. Those numbers must significantly reduce if we are to remove the current occupant from the White House and the Senate Majority Leader from Congress.
1
I think, similar to when "people of color" are termed as colored white should be termed as "off-white". As a optical scientist so called white people not white even in losest term.
2
stacey for vp
with pete b or warren or bernie as president
it would drive trump's folks crazy (crazier)
more to the point it would bring out the AA vote
dems could maybe even carry some of the south
she'd be an amazing president in 2028
we can dream
ps - if you have never heard her speak - get over to youtube and do so - she is amazing - imagine her and warren or pete
1
Hopefully, sometime before the 2050 year and certainly before the end of this century, women, the world over, on this planet will come to recognize that they have endured, not just the burden of white men, but the burden of all men on this planet and will assume their hard earned place as leaders and change artists in the developing world as well as all the under developed areas of this planet.
Then and only then will people, especially men, learn that women will no longer bend to will of men ever again.
1
While I don't dispute the facts and figures in the article and the need for women of color to be more represented in politics, I don't see the point in fooling ourselves as to what white republican men think.
Republicans tend to have a knee-jerk reaction to women who don't stay in their place and that reaction is extra swift when it comes to women of color not toeing the line. They know what fires up their white male constituency to come out of the woodwork fighting and that works every time. Whatever fear they have, it's about people they view as "less than" they are (women, people of color) getting the upper hand. Not your "power", intellect, or whatever else you want to call it.
@Morgan
Sure, Republicans have a knee-jerk reaction to women who don't stay in their place......
That's why Republican men and women admire and support women such as Condoleezza Rice, Nikki Haley, Susana Martinez, Martha McSally, Susan Collins and hundreds more women.
That's why the Republican Party pioneered the right of women to vote and was consistent in its support throughout the long campaign for acceptance. It was the first major party to advocate equal rights for women and the principle of equal pay for equal work.
In 2018 Republicans elected Senators Cindy Hyde-Smith, Marsha Blackburn and Rep. Carol Miller to join other GOP women in the Congress; Governors Kay Ivey, Kim Reynolds, Kristi Noem; Lt. Governors Jeanette Nunez, Janice McGeachen, Paula Evette; A.G AshleyMoody; State Treasurers and Insurance Commissioners and Auditors Kimberly Yee, Julie Ellsworth, Vicki Schmidt, Cindy Byrd, Leslie Osborn, Kristi Racines.......
At this point, I stopped looking and counting for a simple reason:
It's racist to choose a candidate because of skin color, and it's sexist to choose a candidate because of their sex.
Is this what we as a country want? I want to know what a candidate has done during his/her life. I want to know what s/he stands for, believes in, wants for our country.
I believe that's what the majority of Americans want to know.......and if I'm wrong, then our country is in big trouble.
4
@Azalea Lover
"I want to know what a candidate has done during his/her life."
Denying housing to black people. Spreading a racist conspiracy lie about the first black president. Volunteering that he sexually assaults women. Cheating on wife and new baby with a porn actress. Cheating on all of three of his wives, actually. Running a fraudulent school and having to pony up $25 million to settle the lawsuits arising from it. Going bankrupt five times. Defending neo-Nazis and white supremacists after they murder someone. Giving away intelligence to Russian officials while on camera in the White House. Telling four American minorities to "go back to their own countries" then remaining silent while his mob chants "send her back" about one of them. Disseminating anti-Semitic propaganda/conspiracies in the 2016 and 2018 elections.
Actually, looking at that list, it's becoming clearer why Republicans support Trump.
Your entire thesis rests on "A new report called "Ahead of the Majority," by the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund and Groundswell Fund uses recently released census data, polling data from the 2018 midterm elections and interviews with community organizers to illuminate the political power of women of color."
This may seem like a great use of statistical data, except it isn't disclosed anywhere in the article that you, director of AAPI, rely entirely on your own report. Further, you act as if it's an independent survey. Only at the very bottom of the page after 4 entirely different articles by different authors, like "Democrats Can Win Florida in 2020", can a reader find in very fine print, because it's required by New York Times disclosure rules, that you're AAPI's director. Yours is not an objective, peer-reviewed study.
It would have been far more persuasive if you clearly stated your group created the report that forms the basis of this article. In deliberately not doing it, you weaken your argument.
I wish it were true that Trump Fears Women of Color, but Trump is deliberately running against four Women of Color, and he definitely doesn't fear them. Further, people keep trying to use statistics like yours against Trump. Trump doesn't believe in any facts, let alone surveys. Trump's immune to hard facts, and statistics are even more meaningless to him.
The only two people Trump has actually expressed any fear of are Nancy Pelosi, a white women, and Joe Biden, a white man.
9
This was a well-research article tainted by a terrible headline. Where in this piece is there anything that remotely shows that Trump understands the political power of women of color?
2
Why are we continuing to foster a disconnect between men and women of color? The men of color in the NFL caused Trump to fear their actions would catch on when they kneeled. The constant barrage that women of color are the backbone of the Democratic Party is insulting to men of color and should be stopped. People of Color are The Backbone of The Democratic Party. First we are told The left have to reach out to The Aggrieved White Men who think they have been forgotten and now that Women of Color are singularly carrying The party. How about a novel idea? People of Color are who Trump fears will vote. The messaging of The Left is so sophomoric that one has to wonder if they know how to win? A word of advice to my party if you keep reaching out based on sex and race you are giving Trump another four year lease on the White House. Keep taking men of all Hues for granted at your own peril. Those who fail to remember are doomed to repeat. For two years The Left's savior was going to be Bob Mueller the republican and that fizzled. It is obvious that Trump and company fear people of color regardless of sex.
2
This article is built on a couple of assumptions: 1) the percentage of women of color in the population will increase greatly as US demographics shift and 2) Women of color will form a monolithic voting bloc. I'm not sure these are absolutely correct. For one, the coming demographic shift will include some women of color -- but not all. According to census projections, the proportion of black women -- and men -- in the population will not greatly change; by 2045, it will rise from 12.1 percent to 13.1 percent. The larger gains will be among people of Hispanic and Asian descent, and there will also be an increase in multiracial persons. Will the women in these very diverse groups, with differing life experiences, always make common cause and always vote very similarly? Will they always have the same interests, particularly as their life circumstances change? Maybe; but it seems premature to count on it.
10
The photo of Stacy Abrams speaks volumes- powerful, poised, and ready to take the helm. It is shameful that Abrams the rightful governor of Georgia was cheated by a white man who oversaw his own election and suppressed access to the ballot box. This chapter in American history is one of nihilism, regression and deceit- and to this we have the fitting president.
2
I may be mistaken, but I get the sense that the authors are younger than 60.
It seems that if one is younger than 60 and is not student of American ethnic politics, for them history is a blank. What they assert is new and revolutionary.
In fact, it's often not.
John F. Kennedy was arguably the most successful presidential candidate in building and solidifying the Latino vote.
His campaign created "Viva Kennedy" organizations everywhere Hispanics lived. Local Latino concerns were incorporated into the national campaign.
On election day, Kennedy lost the white vote in Texas by 150,000 votes.
However, he garnered 91 percent of the state's Mexican-American votes cast, giving him a 200,000 vote plurality and, thus, a 50,000-vote victory.
Nationally, he received 85 percent of the Mexican-American vote, the most by any presidential candidate before or since. Even Obama garnered a comparatively modest 67 percent of the Latino vote in 2008, when voting fever was high.
The Viva Kennedy movement has a rich history. Democratic strategists would be wise to study it.
9
As an African American women, I say yes to this op-ed!! I am disgusted by the rush to anoint Joe Biden instead of considering Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren as viable candidates who can beat Trump. Follow Black women!
3
Let's "Consider President Trump’s attacks on the members of “the squad” who have proven to be remarkably deft and savvy politicians."
The Republicans want the squad to be the face of the Democratic party. Because they fear them? Of course not. It's because they know that the squad's brand of leftist politics would be a losing approach in far more places than where it would be a winner.
AOC's chief of staff made such bone-headed comments that she had to let him go. She did have the good sense to understand that he had burned far too many bridges.
There's room in our party for folks with policy proposals like the squad's but they're most definitely not in charge and need to accept that they have to convince the rest of us, making like the Tea Party and trying to threaten us will not go well.
6
The Squad is not all that...they are just lucky that Pelosi threw them a “sister” lifeline and the NYT played the race card on Trump to save them.
3
"Conservatives tacitly recognize the political power of women of color when they try to discredit them through ridicule and harassment. "
What a bunch of malarkey! Radical Dems and the new socialists like Abrams, AOC, and Omar,prefer to hide behind the "women of color" mantra. The fact is we don't like their platform. Has nothing to do with their gender or color. They have nothing of real substance to offer our country except divisiveness. It won’t wash come 2020.
17
@MCH
Plus they have accomplished nothing but get press attention while activating the Republican base
Their actions weaken efforts to unseat trump
8
Politicians have been attacking each other for centuries around the world. Granted they were almost always male but no one bothered to put any labels on them. Well, other than maybe rude, crude and socially unacceptable.
Now, because we have more women and non-Euro's in the mix, all of a sudden it's sexist and racist if the attacker is a white man? But the reverse attack is not sexist or racist. Talk about pretzel logic.
15
I guess you missed the point in this article where the author called for all sides to abandon divisive rhetoric.
Trump only understands his base, and everything he does is calculated to win that base's approval. He only likes athletes who have already shown their prowess (he doesn't go for potential, only what is proven). He fears strong women, especially women of color because they have spent a lifetime showing dignity in the face of injustice and speaking truth to power. They aren't undone by silly nicknames or comments about appearances and they don't have much patience for entitled white whiners like Trump.
5
At last! Asians are included in the discussion about race! Thank you!
4
“The Left Takes Them for Granted”? Do you know how the Left treated women of color who supported Hillary Clinton in 2016? With scorn, with attacks on their intelligence and common sense. I saw this myself on Twitter and other social media. The Bernie Bros and their white millennial handmaidens went after women like Joy Reid, Roxane Gay, and Imani Gandy, who criticized their god, Bernie, with the self-satisfaction of those who never question their belief in their own superiority.
1
@Lois Murray
Your comment makes it ever so clear to me that the Democrats need to settle on a platform before picking a candidate. You're correct on belief in superiority but in moral/political matters. Any ideas on how to avoid it?
1
While I agree with your premise that we should not take for granted the power of black women, I do not accept your reference to "the squad" as deft and savvy politicians. They have certainly gotten a lot of press, but their behaviors have often been immature and nonproductive. They have a lot to learn, and it might be best if we waited before crowning them with superlatives.
13
@Humboldt Babs
And hopefully one and done before going off to lucrative consulting jobs
1
@Humboldt Babs
Well said. Some of us have wondered if Donald Trump pays "the squad". They have certainly moved a lot of people into his "squad".
3
It offends me, and maybe it offends most people, to hear that we decide our politics by race or gender-I do not. I am sophisticated enough to assess candidates by their policies, experience, their presidential qualities (subtle as those are), and their ability to beat Trump.
Thus far I like several people: Biden, Bullock, Booker, Bennet and Warren. I also feel that only those who are running deserve to be chosen as a VP, that other people who have not put in the work do not deserve to get the second place slot.
97
@CJ
This shouldn't offend you any more than it should enlighten you that strength comes in numbers -- and the numbers state that women are an integral part of the electorate.
And we'll need all the numbers we can get to rout Trump in 2020.
69
@CJ
I heartily agree with you. If Clinton would have chosen Bernie Sanders (who came in second) for her running mate, the rhetoric between them and the Bernie votes for Jill or tRump would have been non-existent. This 2nd for VP should be a Democratic stance, especially in such a large group as is running for President. The rest should be put into the cabinet as their expertise clearly shows. Or they should run for the Senate.
18
@CJ As for me, I'm getting rather tired of the PC-term 'people of color'. It's utterly ridiculous, as another way of saying 'people of color' is 'people with color' or.... 'colored people', is it not? But of course, we don't say 'colored people' anymore, so who decided to simply flip the words and determine it PC is beyond me. Also, if black is considered a color (debatable by scientists) then so too is white (also debatable by scientists), therefore, we are all 'people of color'.
Either way, it's naive to pretend that asians as a whole have much in common with blacks and latinos.
(Sure, they may all be non-white, and as such not a part of traditional power structures in the US...though clearly that's been changing somewhat...) But, black and latino folk are considered and treated very differently as a whole, vs asians, and typically have very different life experiences. Blacks and latinos are more likely to be perceived negatively, not only by other people, but in particular by law enforcement, the courts, our prison system and even our education system.
As for how we should be deciding on a (Dem) candidate for the next election, it really shouldn't matter whom any one of us likes. Dems need to come together and strategize as to who are the 2-3 Dems with the most potential to win much-needed votes from select Progressives and Repubs. The focus must be on Winning (beating Trump) and not on individual or 'favorite' candidates.
36
Dr. and Ms. Lee put forward a list of thoughtful points for our consideration. One question for the Democratic Party - as we support Stacey Abrams' once and future candidacies - can we please move away or at least expand our promotion of identity politics, to recognize that yes, Ms. Abrams is a black, liberal woman - but she has also won a slew of awards from severalchambers of commerce in Georgia, and she has earned high and rare praise of "brilliant" from her Republican colleagues in the state.
I also encourage Democrats to promote the work that individual black women behind the scenes are engaged in - people like Xevion Baptiste, recently Chief of Staff for the Black Economic Alliance and Harvard Kennedy School graduate - working passionately to build pathways to economic and social parity, and sustainable wealth.
Women like Ms. Abrams and Ms. Baptiste ARE our future - and as Dr. Lee and Ms. Lee suggest, we should support and promote their efforts, for the benefit of our entire country.
114
Before you accept Ms. Abrams as your future, you should look beneath the surface.
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgians learned Abrams scooped in more than $442,000 during three recent years, from nonprofits she owned: "When Abrams founded Third Sector in 1998 and Voter Access in 2014, neither appeared likely to affect her personal finances. Third Sector apparently raised so little money it didn’t have to file federal tax returns until 2013.
"But both foundations flourished after Abrams launched the New Georgia Project, to her benefit. She began drawing a salary from both organizations: $257,500 in 2014, $135,000 in 2015 and $50,000 in 2016.
"Over the three years, her compensation totaled more than $442,000 — all for part-time work, according to the foundations’ tax returns."
https://politics.myajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/voter-drive-raised-millions-but-abrams-won-say-from-whom/8eYeUD80WFSaCYO3Y3ANdL/"
So: income as attorney; income from Georgia taxpayers direct for her role in the GA Legislature; income from Federal tax dollars for ACT-Now; income from tax-exempt funds she won't name. All of the public-knowledge income is from tax dollars.
Altogether, Stacey's income from the tax or tax-exempt dollars totals $676,000 for three years. That's $225,333 per year - plus her income as a tax attorney.
Is this what we want? People who milk tax dollars?
BTW: The AJC is owned by the Cox family, generations-long history as DNC donors.
13
@common sense advocate
" can we please move away or at least expand our promotion of identity politics"
No.
Being human, we can not escape identity politics.
Trump won by it, and Trump is destroying America and the Earth as a result.
We can not move away from identity politics.
Perhaps we may be able to expand from it after a Democrat reclaims the White House and be able to undo the Trump damages.
Until then, the identity politics is here to stay.
8
@common sense advocate
People who know Ms. Abrams personally describe her as a hateful fear mongerer who is out for nothing but personal political gain. She should've just accepted defeat gracefully and concede the race. Instead she just played the race card and hopped on the bandwagon of identity politics to try and gain power and fame on the national level. I hope she fails miserably.
3
I tend to agree with the premise of this editorial. The Democrats can't seem to figure out how to harness their strengths. Or maybe they are intentionally overlooking them in favor of pushing the old guard, i.e. the Biden-esque candidates. The latter is no longer a viable strategy and they need to get over it. The country's demographic is growing increasingly diverse in age, culture and gender and those changes tend to promulgate more progressive-leaning voters. Democrats need to be as savvy and as bold as their counterparts in the GOP with conveying their goals which are infinitely more beneficial for this country than the economically and racially divisive agenda Republicans covertly AND overtly support.
84
@sunzari We Democrats know the reality now. Shouldn't have run a woman in 2016 (please spare me the 'flawed candidate' spiel). We can't take that chance again in 2020. We need to get the monster out of office, and a white male has the best chance. I don't like it but it's reality. We can't afford to lose again.
7
@sunzari
You’re missing the point. These powerful women of color are not just a constituency to be pandered to or organized by the party. They are organizing themselves. Good for them.
12
@MMNYYou assume that white men have never lost before. One loss by a white woman and you're back to the olden days. That's what all women face. Men can fail but if a woman does, it's the end for all women. Remember, Hillary won the popular vote while being attacked by Putin and Comey.
14
As a middle aged white man who grew up in Alabama, I'm feeling pretty thankful for the black women voters of Alabama. They saved us all from Senator Roy Moore by tipping the balance to Doug Jones. The most convincing argument against white supremacy would be hundreds of thousands of white people electing Roy Moore to represent us in the Senate.
232
People of color and progressives need to keep in mind that the Democratic Party establishment is, in no way, shape or form, "the left." They are as reactionary in their own way as Mitch McConnell and the Republican leadership. Commentator Andrew O'Hehir put it best: "When 'liberals' become a political grouping morbidly obsessed with their left-wing critics, constantly accusing them of being too idealistic and too intransigent and of being covert agents for the enemy, they have stopped being liberals and become conservatives. When 'the left' endlessly debates which core issues or constituencies must be sacrificed for political gain, as if economic justice for the poor and the working class could be separated from social justice for women and people of color and the LGBT community and immigrants and people with disabilities, it is no longer functioning as the left."
73
@Boris Jones so when the "Left" battles against the Republicans AND all the Democrats you believe are not not aligned perfectly on all of your stances, exactly what percentage of the electorate are you and how many elections will you win?
16
Boris, and when the democratic party no longer tolerates questions over any social engineering proposal, no matter how unsound, than they are nothing more than party cadre using ethnic identity as an ideology to seek power for its own sake.
12
@Boris Jones - One of our bad choices is waaay worse than the other horrible choice. Vote (D) - unless you're Uber-Rich and can just purchase your own pet Congress Critter.
10
This is because women of color are smart, strong and know what their families and communities need. From voting rights and access to clean drinking water, they know what is what. Ms. Abrams has been focused on the starting point - getting out the vote and making sure people can vote. And our new representatives in Congress are working on the next step. Making laws and regulations that will help their communities and all of us.
To say the women of color are the backbone of the Democratic party is an understatement. It's about time the party return the favor so to say.
Women of color get it done.
250
@Elizabeth If you haven't already read it, pick up a copy of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics (Rev. L Daughtry, Donna Brazile, et al.). You hit the nail on the head: women of color are our rock and foundation.
~ from a 60-year old white female Dem
16
@Elizabeth
Women of color is a tiresome uniquely American trifling troublesome euphemism that deflates and denies the enslaved and separate and unequal existence of black African American and brown aboriginal women who were not immigrants.
Another silly uniquely American divide and conquer tactic is Hispanic/ Latino which has nothing to do with color or national origin.
Condoleezza Rice and LaCena Carson aren't woke. How many black Republican elected officials are?
Neither the first black President aka Bill Clinton nor the second black President nominated a black African American Protestant woman to sit on the Supreme Court. Bill beat up on Sister Souljah and ran from Lani Gunier.
5
@TS well said!
1
It seems like most white people, like myself, like to talk, write, sign petitions, complain, and talk some more. Women of color might do some of that -- but, as noted here, they also move on to organize, act, get together, move forward, and accomplish political and ethical goals.
I lived in Georgia 14 years before moving to Texas. Stacey Abrams is outstanding. Her opposition there has been corrupt. Let's hope she represents a powerful turning point.
405
Why oh why did she decide not to run for the Senate? She is exactly the kind of person we need there: tough, passionate, charismatic.
108
@David Trueblood For now, the Senate is where Democratic politicians go to die. Stacey Abrams is a superstar, the real deal. She’s got bigger fish to fry. I can hardly wait!
21
@David Trueblood She may be running for Vice President.
6
There is much in this editorial that rings true, but underneath what is being said is one inescapable fact – that the demographic in this country is rapidly changing, and the Republicans in Congress, especially the Southern Republicans are terrified of this. And because this is something that they cannot control ,they have resorted to all kinds of nefarious and deplorable acts, rationalizing it all in the name of “politics“.
Women in particular are going to be the voices of the future in politics and women of color will very likely lead the way in much the same way that women of color were pioneers in American literature over the last 40 - 50
years.
So in spite of how odious Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham seem on the day-to-day basis, they will soon be history, and they will belong to a a history that we will hope to remember so that we never repeat it again.
534
@RD
My great fear is that this demographic power shift will not take place in time for the 2020 election. And I’m not sure what will be left of our political, social, and judicial institutions after four more years of Koch, Miller and McConnell policies.
79
@RD
Well, the GOP in Congress (& this WH) are trying to control it. This is among the reasons behind the recent anti-immigrant actions.
18
@RD - Brilliant!
8
I wish that the writers had begun by explaining the ethics of black women's issues.
Many white readers, naive to black politics, suppose that black women uphold just another demographic niche in zero-sum machiavellian politics. But the writers (and I) understand from experience that black women usually advocate for much more vital, inclusive and unifying issues than have many white men -- not because of any innate gender or racial moral superiority, but because of historical accident, current hardship, and the character they've built.
Both oppressive majorities and oppressed minorities fall for chimerical attempts (e.g. racism, nationalism, chauvinism) to avoid life's inevitable suffering. These attempts often create further and unnecessary suffering. But the oppressed alone have a disproportionate burden of deeper, unavoidable, inherent, first-order suffering (e.g., living in poverty; experiencing violence). In America, we whites are often vicariously pained by what are actually mere symbols of imagined impending pain -- a black woman replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill!, say, or a monument removed! -- and many of us embrace policies which symbolically soothe us even when those policies create more actual pain. African-American and Latinx women, however, are less activated by mere chimerical symbols or fears of pain, and more motivated by actually painful experiences which reveal how our society can truly be improved -- for everyone.
7
Trump fears only the loss of his own, er, agency. That's why his tweets are so ferocious; he's overcompensating.
2
There are a lot of factors that will go into my choice of who to vote for in the Democratic primary. Chief among them and my starting point is who has the most support among African Americans. As an older white male, I don’t presume to know what’s best for Blacks or other people of color, so this represents my best effort to follow their lead.
Currently, this approach is leading me in a more (putatively) moderate direction than I might otherwise go, but I find it far preferable to follow the best African American lead I can rather than listen to the voice of the “progressive” white gentry.
6
” Don’t suffer FOOLS gladly “. Amen, Sisters.
3
no one fears stacey abrams. she was a horrible race baiting candidate and the voters saw right through it.
11
Didn't Joe Biden already suggest Stacey Abrams for his veep?
I just wish we would stop asking what can they do for us, and instead ask what can we do together to improve out lot.
It won't take much to improve on Trump, but we need a congress that works again. We all need to pull together.
4
@Occupy Government
If the DNC is stupid enough to endorse that combo, , Biden/Abrams, Trump will win hands down.
We need someone who really thinks and does research -- Warren. Not just noise and personal anecdotes - often not entirely true.
1
Your explanation of the issue presumes that an issue exists. Trump does not fear women of color.
13
A color blind society will never exist as long as the left finds racism in every nook and cranny. Making the color of ones skin the most important part of a human being IS racism.
22
@Malone Cooper
I suggest you revisit the American History books.
That way you'll see that racism is not only in every "nook and cranny" -- but it's in the very DNA of this nation.
1
I love this argument. Somehow, identifying with your race is racist. Go figure.
1
Since it is a vital group in fact so central now, isn't there some word or phrase more compact and felicitous than saying "women of color" 28 times? We must be able to say it simpler than that.
4
@BarryNash
While on the subject, why am I, a white person, considered a person of NO color ???
2
"Since 2008, women of color have grown by 18 percentage points in the general population"
This could be interpreted to mean one of three things:
1) The population is up 18 percentage points, and a normal proportion of them are women of color.
2) The population of colored people is up 18 percentage points, and a normal proportion of them are women of color.
3) All else considered, the proportion of women of color in the population has increased by 18 percentage points.
I seriously doubt #3 unless people of color started having more girl babies 20 or 30 years back.
I have no problem with the idea that women of color are getting woke and are wielding more influence. However that statement about their numbers is weirdly ambiguous.
Is this a relative gain, or is it proportional to the rest of the population? Are we to believe that people of color are having more girl babies
5
@jaco
Obviously you've not taken into consideration the possibility that the "increase in women of color" might just refer to those reaching voting age.
1
The Lees are absolutely right. In 2018 Democrats like Beto O'Rourke (Texas), Jim Jones (Alabama), and Stacey Abrams (Georgia) ran unexpectedly powerful campaigns in states Democrats had previously conceded to the Republicans. "All" it took was smart organizing on the ground and lots of sweat.
Too often Democrats have made their pitch around election time and then vanished, or preached to the converted through flashy online petition drives. Obama was a breakthrough, but under his Administration the Democrats steadily lost 900 seats in state legislatures and in Congress. Similarly, Tom Steyer's Need to Impeach got useful publicity, but now that impeachment is on the map, money from donors like him could be put to better use on the ground in red states.
I wish Abrams and O'Rourke would run for Senate in their respective States rather than run for President. With Senate seats these two would have additional credibility in their organizing efforts and help generate future wins up and down their state tickets. As Harry Reid did in Nevada, year in and year out.
Only in this way can Democrats win back the seats lost during the Obama administration and get a Democratic agenda through Congress should we beat Trump. Or beat back Republican gerrymandering at the state level so that our votes can count.
8
Women in general are becoming a force to reckon with in politics. They have been out in the workplace for some time now, are much more independent frequently forming their own single person household. There are more of them attending college than men. They are resisting the old narrative and stereotype of the "little woman at home, having babies and cooking and cleaning for hubby". They are now CEO's, entrepreneurs, legislators, mayors in positions of power and influence. The Democrats have long taken for granted women of color and minority groups in general but I think that this dynamic is changing. The Republicans on the other hand are resorting to their age old tactic of fear. Trump can attack "the squad" but I don't think that these women are afraid.
3
Policies which help average Americans get into and stay comfortably in the middle class - that is to say, good policies - are ones which win elections. Those include healthcare reform, tax fairness and reform, housing affordability, reform of public schools, helping to better afford college and job training, and so on.
Fixing these things helps women of color far more than obsessing over color and gender. They also help white women, LGBTQ, immigrants, racial minorities, religious, atheist, left-handed - and yes, even the dreaded straight white male.
They would also recreate the dominance the Democratic Party enjoyed during the 20th Century, which took root not by counting every possible group and sub-sub group, but uniting a genuinely diverse and disparate American electorate around their shared economic needs.
The obsession with race and gender this column represents is the Democrats' Achilles heel, and the tragic reason they continue to struggle nationally while being the party which offers a much better deal by far of the two parties.
16
@Livonian You write, "Policies which help average Americans get into and stay comfortably in the middle class - that is to say, good policies - are ones which win elections."
If that were the case, Hillary Clinton would be President and the Democrats would control the House of Representatives, the Senate, and most of the statehouses nationwide.
It's s dream to think that proposing good policies is all it takes to win elections.
3
@JP
Emphasizing good policies, and de-emphasizing identity. Hillary was saddled with the Democrats' obsessions with race and gender, whether she was obsessed or not.
4
lots of people seem to think the Democratic Party sufferers from an obsession with identity politics. I don't agree. the Republicans also have their group constituents such as gun nuts, anti-abortion opportunists, racists, people who don't believe in taxes or the federal government, corporate titans, financial manipulators, war profiteers, and those preparing to be Raptured among them.
"Since 2008, women of color have grown by 18 percentage points in the general population"
What does that mean? I don't understand.
7
Hispanics?
1
How exactly are 'black' or voters of color 'suppressed' ? I've always wanted to know. I don't count being asked to prove your identity as being suppressed. It's common sense and is a pre-requisite for voting in any country. If anything you should be asked to prove your citizenship when you go to vote.
29
@Vaz Dubey
If you were really interesting there is lots of research on this subject, but off the top of my head approximately 70% of the voters who were suspiciously purged from the voting rolls in Georgia this past election were African-American, presumably they were, nearly all, American citizens.
6
@Vaz Dubey Voter suppression can be done via the location and numbers of polling places and hours that they are open. If fewer polling places are in neighborhoods where minorities live and if those locations are not convenient for non drivers then it will discourage people from voting. Also, the hours that the polling stations are open can be very inconvenient for working people.
4
@Vaz Dubey
I'm going to assume you're not a troll. There are a bunch of ways to suppress voting among certain demographic groups. Some are legal and some aren't. All are unethical.
Fewer polling places in areas that lean towards the other party. Policies - like those Kemp supports - of suspending registrations when people who skipped elections or fail to update, which (surprise) is more likely among voters more likely to vote Dem. A single different/missing letter or punctuation mark, which (again, surprise) overwhelmingly affects People of Color.
&c. &c. &c.
Republicans are legally allowed to do many of these things, some of which are being challenged in the courts, and many of the people doing it are more up-front about their partisan motivations than others. But protestations by those who pretend to claim it isn't even happening are pretty hard to swallow.
3
The authors of this opinion column do not define whom they include in the category "women of color," nor do they distinguish between the various ethnic and racial components of the larger group, save when it seems to validate their conclusions. The statistics appear to be impressive, but the lack of clear definition raises questions about the authors' methods and analysis.
4
@Harvey Green
Did you read the article?
What part of African-American, Native-American, Asian-American, Pacific Islander and Latina don't you understand?
2
Women that are not white. Not complicated.
1
The country is changing remarkably due to the enormous increase in Hispanic residents and the prevalence of spoken Spanish.
This change is very threatening to many whites who will more and more feel in the minority.
Some will react violently as white supremacists. Others will be simply threatened by the cultural change.
America is in for some difficult years.
3
Effective, interesting and strong women are not so because the have dark skin. Some PEOPLE simply have TALENT and COMPETENCE.
A strong & interesting woman in politics, who is not so because her family name celebrity status via TV, is just that; strong & interesting IN & OF HERSELF. The power does not emanate from race. In evolutionary biology, race is not "real" ie it is not a determining quality in humans. If people were blind, race would never be discussed. Success in political & social gamesmanship is also not purely to the most intelligent.
To this point I'd offer the two most impressive public women I recall of the few decades, the news presenter Candy Crowley, and Obama's economic advisor Christine Romer. Candy Crowley was so good at moderating Presidential debates and presenting stories she comes to mind every time her polar opposite J. Tapper gets a camera shot. Christine Romer was brilliant in defense of the ACA, which it was supposed, "nobody read." She did, and she could communicate it.
Today? Gone to Rejected as Unattractiveland. Same could be said for Hillary, who if she were prettier/younger would certainly be President. Cue AOC, the epitome of train stopping TV telegenics. Her ideas, however kind, are amateur, but those eyes and teeth!
I dismiss out of hand the socially corrosive notion "women of color" as a nonsense construct of the PC. People will stop & listen to mediocrity given charm and presence, prove that next time you calculate a tip.
14
I admire that WOC are getting people in their own communities to vote in record numbers. And appreciate these are women who know and understand the needs of their neighbors because they live there.
But I do worry that the constant parsing and promoting of race, gender and identity politics will play right into Trump's hands. Inclusion for all is a much better talking point than us versus them.
18
@Sparky I think it's possible to focus on policy and work to bring everyone into the voting conversation at the same time.
1
I'd call petulance about the left "ignoring women of color" that contributes to four more years of Trump on November 3, 2020 making your point the hard way.
2
I don't think it's a fair characterization of the Democrats to say that, in general or taken as a whole, they take women of color for granted, and no evidence was offered here -- particularly when it's probably more accurate to say that the Republicans take low-income white voters for granted in the sense that they really don't even represent their interests beyond social conservatism, while Dems at least do promote hard policies and economics that benefit POC in general and women in particular.
A two-party system doesn't really fully capture anyone's views. A parliamentary system or some other design allowing for viable third choices and beyond in the US might get closer in terms of a greater variety of economic and social policy permutations that would align better to specific identity groups.
2
This is so encouraging!
Black people are black, we are not “people of color” aka people who are neither black nor white. People of color typically use blacks as props and clickbait in articles , and mention blacks as an aside before segueing into issues and concerns of people who are neither black nor white. You did precisely this in the op-Ed. It would have made more sense leaving out black women such as Stacey Abrams (who is neither holding nor running for office and whom Trump has said nothing about) and focusing on Kamala Harris, AOC, or Rashida Tlaib instead.
14
@Lynn in DC
While on the subject of ‘women of color’ I’d like to know why a white male like myself is assumed to be a person of NO color. Back in the 50s, Crayola, the crayon maker, had a crayon color named ‘flesh’. It was the same color as a white person’s skin, and Crayola was correctly told to remove it from their boxes. The term ‘people of color’ is no better. It officially makes ME a colorless person. I could cry !
2
If we can wait out the remaining years we have until we become more powerful than the people who now control the government we will have our opportunity to truly change the system of government. One from fear and loathing and enormous money to one of fair, equal, and diverse people.
3
We need to do everything we can to support these communities and these organizations. I’m making a donation today!
1
Here's an idea for how to engage women of color (and everyone else) in the political process: Talk about politics at home. Talk about politics at school (it can be done without taking sides). Talk about how important it is to be an informed voter. Talk about how interesting and self-affirming it is to join a local political group.
5
The 2020 election will turn on whether or not moderates and independents vote for the Democratic nominee.
3
Look to the Black women who organized and got out the vote in AL. They are the model that Democrats should be following around that nation. From the lowest office to the highest.
For those who place so much trust in the national Democratic leadership, remember, they didn't support Doug Jones until it became clear that he might win. That was after those women went out and got every vote they could possibly muster. Even if they had lost, which they easily could have — it is AL after all, their impressive organizing is the model communities should do their best to replicate.
You should also note that there is an entire industry built around political consultancy and it is largely run by white men in D.C. Start local then get to moving! The time for change has come.
3
I still want her for president.
2
Why does Trump fear women of color? Because he fears women and he fears color.
8
Don't forget that a "community organizer" was elected President in 2008. It also helps when babies of color under one, outnumber white babies at year 2015. By year 2020 there will be more children of color than white children. By 2041 there will be more "non-whites" than whites in the United States, given the present birth rates.
In a true democracy then, by 2040's, issues which affect people of "color" will be held in high regard, unless someone can suppress the "color" vote by gerrymandering, making it harder to vote (less voting stations in vital areas, and Voter ID laws (State Wisconsin for one and ALEC initiatives) incarceration (the New Jim Crow), or convincing people of "color" that government is not important to them (Russian "robots" and Fox News).
@Tim Shaw That's only true if you count all Hispanics as "people of color", but many Hispanics are white, and they will become more white as they gain power. They will not necessarily have the same agenda as blacks, nor will asians.
5
@KM
"Hispanics will become more white as they gain power." Huh? You mean like Michael Jackson?
I first looked at the squad as four freshman far left democrats. Now I look at them as four woman of color. Why? Because that is what they call themselves.
There is less racism now then there ever was in my life time. For the democrats this isn't good. They need the races and women to feel like they are being persecuted by white males, Or what I like to call...men of no color. This is the democrats political platform now. Convince minorities and woman that they are minorities and woman. Not what King was looking for I am sure.
25
@Jim there is less racism now?? what in the world are you talking about?? “races and women” feel more persecuted by white men than they have in decades
wait, you must be a white man
Trump looks contemptuously down upon both women and people of color separately but when a person is both it’s more than he can handle. “Losing” to a woman of color is Trump’s quintessential nightmarish humiliation. It would literally eviscerate his fragile self-esteem.
4
Black women have become mere tools of white Wall St. fat cats for guaranteeing the triumph of neoliberal economics of, by, and for the rich in the Democratic Party. They were entirely responsible for the disastrous (except for the rich) nomination of Hillary Clinton, the most hated nominee in Democratic history. Even Trump’s own pollster in 2016 has recently seconded the Rust Belt exit polls in affirming that Bernie, who won the white primary vote, would have beaten Trump easily. That would have been great for the Civil Rights Movement, and American workers, but a disaster for the rich Dem donors, who care little about either. In this cycle, black women are once again the tools of the white fat cats to guarantee that economic progressivism is defeated for the nomination by Wall St.’s new Great White Hope for the rich, Biden. By voting for such economic servants of the rich in Dem primaries, black women are voting against the economic interests of most blacks in America. Tom Frank needs to follow up his analysis of such self-destructive voting by Evangelical whites in What’s Wrong With Kansas? with What’s Wrong With Black Women? explaining how these women vote to make the white rich richer and poor blacks poorer. Wall St. doesn’t care if the Dems nominate a loser like Hillary or Biden, because they know they, unlike blacks, will be just fine under the Republican who beats them. They just have to use black women to block defeat “socialism.”
8
@Fred White
Actually I think the media had something to do with the nomination of Hillary... and the Dems may make the same mistake and put up Biden -- another tool of Wall Street.
1
I agree that women of color should be recognized and supported. One point, though:
Politicians take all women of all races for granted as WOMEN. Because women tend to vote with the interests of their "tribe." I.e. they identify with their race/ethnicity/religion and their men more than with the demographic of "women" when voting. Women of color vote more left because they are aware that the right is not working for their "tribal" interests and is actively targeting their communities for attacks. The fact that half of white women appear to be voting against the "white" interests of the right means that half of white women are voting against their "tribe" and for other issues. While it's popular to characterize half of white women as "racist" voters, the truth is that half of white women aren't. White women are perhaps the largest demographic actively choosing to vote against the party that prioritizes the interests of their "tribe." That actually makes white women as a demographic pretty darn woke, comparatively speaking. For example, women of color who prioritize race and class issues while supporting male supremacist religions (Catholicism, Islam) are working more for their tribe than for their sex.
1
@Amy Luna Interesting approach. But flawed. Current Republicans are most definitely not feminists. Voting against Choice is, for a woman, the epitome of voting against one's "tribe". As is voting for someone who brags about being able to grab women by the genitals. So no, not necessarily woke at all.
@Dani F. I think perhaps you missed the point of my comment. Yes, Republican women vote against their interests as women in favor of voting with their racial tribe. My point is that Republican white women are not really acting that much different than women of all races who tend to support their racial/ethnic/religious affiliation over their affiliation to women as a class. In that sense, white women are the largest demographic that votes against their tribal affiliation and for women as a class.
Massive voter registration and voter turnout are the key.
What's left largely unsaid is that the Republican Party can't stand voter turnout and democracy and is in fact opposed to democracy; they have proven that repeatedly since 2000.
What's left unsaid is that the Republican Party is the Whites R Us party that is happy to exchange white supremacy for raiding the nation's treasury, infrastructure, education, healthcare, voting rights, the environment and any common good they can monetize and eviscerate with greed.
Of course minorities and liberal whites are rising up against the Republican reign of greed and whited sepulcherism.
What has the Republican party done for America for the last 39 years but tear its society apart with insatiable greed and a Southern strategy metastasized nationwide that any Confederate would be proud of ?
Nobody wants modern feudalism except for Republican leadership and their Robber Baron patrons.
Some of this nation's finest Americans are non-whites.
Let the tradition continue in 2020 to form a more perfect union and once again put white supremacy in the corner where it belongs.
5
I don't want to be a wet blanket but two facts:
1. "Black women make up 6.6% of the American population and 6.5% of the voting age polulation." Brookings
2. In 2018, voter turnout for non-Hispanic black women was 55%. , census. gov
Not sure that constitutes a "potent" political force.
22
I previously donated to Stacey Abrams effort to rid our country of voter suppression actions by the GOP which I consider to be one of the most nefarious actions taken against our democracy. It warms my heart to know there are others who want the U.S. to be the shinning example of inclusiveness to the rest of the world.
7
I'm delighted by this development. Democracy requires an active citizenry, and more of us are participating. Republicans (I hope they're all shaking in their shoes) SHOULD fear the influence women of color may wield at the polls in 2020... and beyond.
I'm reminded of a Joni Mitchell lyric:
"I know you don't like weak women/you get bored so quick
And you don't like strong women/'cause they're hip to you tricks."
If the Republican party could get over itself and accept that we each do better when we all do better, and not be threatened by people who aren't white, conformist, heterosexual males-of-a-certain-age, they could actually craft some policy proposals to become relevant to this growing population.
But that reminds me of Buddy Holly:
"That'll be the day..."
3
This headline is not true. The GOP doesn't think black women politicians are powerful. Although some are very gifted speakers. Stacey Abrams is especially eloquent. The left takes women in general for granted and has since the Woodstock era.
5
@Nb so true, still are, but they’ll wake up someday
Republicans in general fear educated women.
Women, mothers and grandmothers are concerned with the safety of their offspring.Any politician who isn't concerned about sane gun control regulations will soon be history.
Women's reproductive rights are another issue old republican men should be weary of meddling in.
Come November 2020 an American reckoning will occur.
4
@Carole
Actually, they don't fear white women.
Apparently, many more educated white women voted for Trump than for Hillary. Needs more of a break down into single vs. married, income.
Not all women are pro-abortion/choice nor universal single payer medical care. (nor forgiving college debt, etc.)
1
Women of color would have more political power if their votes (and participation) were more evenly distributed between the two parties. Their monolithic voting for Democrats means they are taken for granted - by both parties.
9
Politics in this country is only going to get nastier if we keep dividing the electorate up by race. Older white men pretty much tipped the balance in 2016 and probably will again in 2020. Even though Biden isn't very impressive so far, that's his demographic.
5
Stop the race based identity politics that Democrats are obsessed with. I don't care if somebody is of color or is a woman. We want the best candidates. It's policies that matter.
And there are plenty of people of color who support many of Trump's policies and are turned off by what the Democrats are proposing.
21
Stacey Abrams is an outstanding person, (woman of color or not). We recently moved to Georgia. She did a great job in the legislature and would be/have been a great governor. Brian Kemp has demonstrated nothing to show he deserves the office. He was a terrible Secretary of State and is carrying out his tradition of incompetence as Governor.
We must get Ms Abrams to run for Senate. Being a woman of color is an extra positive.
6
More on the myth of taking voters for granted. It will never be enough for the punditry; so be it.
The big question is, how do we get "women of color" to convince "men of color" it's okay to vote for a female executive?
5
This column reveals troubling distortions in different points of view. It seems to begin with objective analysis while crediting Conservatives with better understanding the potential power of black women. In later paragraphs, the pronoun "We" dominates the discussion. Who is/are "we"? The authors, political organizations, or society in general? Conservatives have weaponized their knowledge with calculated measures to suppress black voting.
Not only have black voters been deliberately excluded from
registering and exercising their right to vote, they have perhaps understandably been discouraged by their realization that their votes don't count when it comes to campaign fundraising, largesse, and even the law, which was blatantly used against Ms. Abrams in the 2018 Georgia governor's race.
The role of Secretaries of State was also critical to black exclusion in the Presidential races in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. "We know very little about how to engage women of color in politics" .? I'll bet they know full well, and in all fairness, I wish them well.
3
"Stacey Abrams is set to announce an expansion of her voting rights group on Tuesday, with plans to help train staffers in 20 states this year who will seek to combat voter suppression in the 2020 elections."
-Atlanta Journal Constitution-Aug 13, 2019
Leadership can get you this. Stacey Abrams is just what this country needs right now. She is a force and will not stop until there is justice at the voting booths.
13
Don’t tell trump. He’ll be doing everything he can to suppress them.
"Since 2008, women of color have grown by 18 percentage points in the general population ... ." This seems a mathematical impossibility.
5
@Eve Waterhouse
"Since 2008, women of color have grown by 18 percentage points in the general population ... ." This seems a mathematical impossibility.
Why? Young girls turn 18 all the time.
1
@wanderer And so do young men, and people not of color. It implies a huge (22.5m or so) imbalance between not-women-of-color (everyone else) to women of color which is, in fact, difficult to explain
7
@Eve Waterhouse
Ever wonder how it was possible for so many women of color to be elected to the House in midterm elections?
1
Calling the "Squad" remarkably deft and savvy politicians is a profound misnomer. To my knowledge, these Representatives have not successfully advanced a single piece of legislation, nor have they moved the Democratic majority toward unification on issues important to their diverse constituents. What the Sqaud has done well is leverage social media to remain in the news, to be the loudest voice in the "room" and to bludgeon those who dare to disagree with them, including members of their own party. They've also created the perfect foil for Trump to rally against. Count me as a (registered) Independent voter from a swing state who does not approve of their methods. And it has nothing to do with the color of their skin or their biology, which is an easy rock to hide behind. Blasting others whose point of view is different from your own and then claiming that every bit of push back is racist or sexist only proves that you don't belong in the debate in the first place.
30
@John
"To my knowledge, these Representatives have not successfully advanced a single piece of legislation"
Since you haven't paid attention, AOC working with (clutch your pearls in horror) Ted Cruz have advanced a bill. Look it up.
5
The argument that Gov. Kemp “tipped the scales” against Stacey Abrams has been thoroughly disproven. She lost, plain and simple.
13
@Airman..WRONG even Kemp's son said his father was a cheat by hiring a miscreant,famous for tossing out ballots to benefit the GOP.
2
@Airman fake news, plain and simple
What this article forgets is that whites or those of European descent are still the majority in this country. It doesn't matter how clear the rhetoric of minority politicians is, most voters in this country are white. If you attack them with identity politics, the result is the current president. Why did Obama win the elections twice? Because it's not about race or ethnicity. As a black supervisor who hired me once told me, racism it's not about color, it's about culture.
23
I understand that this is a opinion article, but some of the facts don't support it. Specifically that women are color support progressives like the squad. The truth is that they overwhelmingly vote for moderates and they are the ones who got Hillary the nomination over Bernie.
The squad is a easy target for the Republicans because a large segment of moderate democrats agree with the Republicans that they are ridiculous.
16
Women of color have been treated as second class citizens their whole life. We have to work twice as hard for half as much and know this from lack of media representation to making pennies on the dollar compared to their white male counterparts. Women of color have the most to lose with Czar Trump, and that's we are the most critical asset to stop him. We show up in higher numbers at the polling booth compared to white females. Democrats need to give up on trying to get the working-class white votes and focus on minority voter turnout if they want to win 2020.
2
Perhaps the single most powerful thing these local groups could do would be to get their states to adopt mail in ballots, like we have here in WA state. In the last election, 2018, we had the 5th highest turnout among the states. The mail in ballot allows you to vote at your leisure, instead of having to wait in line.
4
@JS Very true and voters can even vote early. The best way to vote!
2
tRump should certainly be afraid of THIS woman of color. She is a top of the line leader, the future of the Democratic Party, and I will continue to support her.
4
The sub-title of this opinion piece makes an assertion that is completely unsubstantiated by the piece, that is, that conservatives understand the importance of women of color in progressive politics more than liberals do. That assertion, furthermore, with all due respect, is absolute nonsense.
The problem, once again, is the mainstream news media. Women of color are economically disadvantaged in this country and have been so forever. Our private health insurance system punishes and ultimately kills the economically disadvantaged among us. Our education system has disadvantaged predominantly-minority communities since forever.
The Medicare for all and free college policies proposed first by "liberals" like Senator Sanders and picked up by Elizabeth Warren and now others will specifically, primarily and profoundly help those disadvantaged groups. The mainstream news media has refused to make this connection, instead distracting people with talk of socialism. Women of color, and communities of color will be raised up by those policies, if enacted, and they must be enacted because they are a long-overdue step in the direction of economic justice.
7
The heading "Why Trump Fears Woman of Colour" really worries me. What is your basis that Trump fears woman of colour? You claim that "the squad" are good politicians, they are so bad that Trump is actually manipulating you to hold them up as the face of the Democratic party and in so doing are securing a win for the Republicans. The USA will not heal until you stop with identity politics as started by Obama and to start to see everyone as Americans, black and white, male and female.
27
@Ben Kruger The US is not going to heal; progressive and conservative sides are flying apart, trust is broken, and there is less common ground by the day. Each side has different values, different vision of the future, and a different culture. There is no unifying vision, force, or interest.
1
@David Gould
Thanks for your comment, yes, I believe that you are correct that they are splitting apart but I hope it is just the radicles on both sides and that the average American just wants to go on with there lives and that is where you will find the common ground. Job security and a future for there kids.
2
@Ben Kruger
Politics have been about identity (at least) since black people were considered 3/5 of a person. It didn't start with Obama.
2
I agree with others who have asked what defines a person, particularly a woman, of color? What is the threshold of non-caucasian genetic material must one possess to be considered a person of color? This entire discussion demonstrates a resurrection of eugenics, a pseudo-science used since the late nineteenth century to justify racism. Moreover, it points to a very disturbing aspect of racism pointed against people who are not of color. Why, in the words of Rodney King, can't we all just get along? Thank you.
23
@Southern Boy
I disagree. What this discussion shows is the inability of some people to recognize the strength of others and the continued sense of denial that makes racism possible.
6
@N. Smith,
Before reacting, take a moment to think about this: The truth actually lies at the midpoint between denial and obsession.
2
Groups always over estimate their powers. How many times, how many articles have said that the outcome of a election will be decided by ... (fill in the blank with the group of your choice) "the outcome of the 2020 election will likely depend upon the efforts of independent groups led by women of color" is simply untrue. The outcome of the next election will be decided by the actions of all voting Americans, not by 22/23 million black women (who, by the way, do not vote as a block)
14
@sjs
If there is one group that will decide the election, it will, sorry to say, be working class white men in the Rust Belt. Many of them voted for Obama, but couldn't stomach Hillary. Win them back, and you've got the White House. They are the demographic to focus on, if what you actually want is to win.
1
@Samuel Russell yawn, Joe Six-Pack is now Jose Six-Pack and they can’t stomach the man who squats in the White House
1
Black women, in particular, come from long lines of strong women, who held the family together. As a therapist I have been impressed over and over by the wisdom and strength of black women. They pass that wisdom to daughters and granddaughters, to nieces and grandnieces, to women in their churches.
In many Hispanic cultures women, especially mothers, are revered and respected.
Native American women often hold positions of leadership and their wisdom is respected and listened to.
Trump is basically a coward. He likes people willing to debase themselves and grovel.
Strong women do not, will not, grovel. And that gets under Trump’s skin like almost nothing else.
For this reason I have come to believe that Dems need a female candidate this time around. A strong, wise, experienced candidate who has given evidence that trump’s bullying will never cause her to give up her principles, her vision or her stature.
That woman is Elizabeth Warren. I commend her candidacy.
(Stacy Abrams is dynamite! But let her into the Senate. We need lots of women in high places.)
8
@TheraP That worked so well in 2016, didn't it? Until the Democrats get away from your sort of thinking, the Trumps of the GOP will continue their wrecking-ball politics and win.
Academic analysis is all very well and good, but can you please explain why Stacey Abrams has endorsed Joe Biden?
5
@LGW She a woman, African American and from the South. Sounds like someone he might pick VP-wise for a balanced ticket.
Lots of evidence in article showing how important women of color are to the Democratic party, but virtually no evidence that liberals "take them for granted." I think the truth is that women of color are important and powerful in progressive politics and the US in general. Look at data on enrollment in law, dental and medical schools. Women of color are an emerging force in society.
4
The fear of women permeates our societies because they know the women have inherent power thus the constant attempts to subjugate. Women also carry this fear. Their collective unconscious that unaware leads them especially white women to support candidates that are destroying our planet, healthcare etc
2
Trump doesn’t just fear women of color, he fears women, period. It’s pathological, tied up with his mother and her harsh treatment of young Donny. The evidence is clear: His continued fixation on Hillary Clinton along with the fact that Nancy Pelosi dismantles him every time they meet and have a conflict. The way to beat Trump in 2020 is not going head-on into his egregious and obvious corruption and ineptitude. It’s going after him psychologically. He’s a colossal failure, especially in the context of strong capable women, regardless of color. We need to remind voters of that at every turn.
6
@D. Ellis
Where do you get that Trump fears women? Quite the contrary: he's the only President in recent history who doesn't care what women think of him. Did he fear Stormy Daniels, Rosie O'Donnell, Hillary Clinton or the Miss America contestants he may have groped? Does he fear Melania, who makes no attempt to rein him in? Certainly doesn't seem like it. True, he wanted Hillary "locked up" but I don't think that was for his own protection.
6
Yes! Yes! Yes!
We have been ruled by white male identity politics throughout our history. Let’s acknowledge the longtime truth that women, particularly women of color, are a force to be reckoned with.
4
I hope women of color can do better than the people they replace. Take Baltimore, and Chicago, 2 high crime cities run by people of the same political party for decades. Regardless of race or gender, the cities have been driven into the ground. If the leader elected by the people is steered by the unsuccessful politicians of before, don’t expect meaningful change. The problem with elected leaders, is they rely on people with more experience that have failed before to “help them” lead. It’s time to change those in their party responsible for the failed past, not just the person who is their boss.
1
The headline does not appear to reflect the article. Was crafted solely for cheesy click bait? Regardless, the President does not fear the squad. He simply disagrees with their politics and proposed policies and is using them to convince moderates to vote Republican.
15
This is to some extent a twisted variation on the bothsider platitude.
If the left is taking these women for granted, then why is it that the further left a constituency is, the more likely it is to be represented by one of them?
The DNC and the older conservative democrats from previous administrations, the careerists, are taking them for granted — but they're not shunning them. They simply see the world as territorial and transactional and seek to preserve the maximum size of their own personal control. Unfortunately that is the way the world is. This is because we have had right wing government since the second world war, (although the republican Eisenhower Administration was very progressive on taxation)
Please — know your enemy. Don't simply display your righteousness. Ideals serve us when they can be put into practice. Only the progressive populations and the politicians they elect will allow that. The Conservatives in both parties do not actually have values to apply, they reign over territory. It's a fundamentally different way of existing. This is not about color or gender or generation. It is about having or being. Controlling for your own gain or sharing for the greater good. A progressive philosophy can allow us to live our values without reference to age, race or gender. Politicians do not become good because they can tick boxes on forms.
The increased participation in Democracy is great. In terms of analyses, however, most voters are not simply divided into conservative or liberal. Diversity of views on a diversity of issues needs to be engaged and respected as much as women of all colors.
5
Titles like this are such a turnoff. They imply a chief executive cowering behind his desk at a wave of righteous opponents, of color no less. As his actions make abundantly clear, Trump doesn't fear anyone. And to the extent that others won't vote for him/will actively work against him, he goes into battle mode. Best to focus on how to counter that than run feel-good pieces.
13
@Wine Country Dude I find the title to be aptly named. Trump does indeed fear others. It's evident in much of his life and has certainly bled into his presidency.
Richard Nixon feared blacks and hippies.
Trump fears "the other".
2
@Wine Country Dude
Interesting take on his behavior Dude. Some might say the psychology under his bombastic demeanor, his constant finger pointing, and his constant battle mode suggest insecurity.
2
I am a liberal democrat who happens to be a white woman. I agree that Stacey Abrams is a top notch talent. Not only can she speak with eloquence and authority, she can do it extemporaneously. She is also very funny when she wants to be. Nothing would make me prouder than to see her hold the highest office in the land. There are other women (and men) of color about whom I would say similar things. In my view, these folks have already shown greatness simply by getting where they are today within a system that does not welcome them. I am looking forward to a future that includes many more people of color in important influential positions.
55
I think the issues are progressive vs. non-progressive and there's nothing in the constituency of women (or men) of color that guarantees a progressive agenda. Slavery reparations is a progressive policy. However, addressing income inequality for all is a more global progressive issue that isn't necessarily embraced by people of color. I get an impression that moving more people of color into the top 10% is the agenda--less interest in increasing the wages of the 90%. This, along with social conservatism (anti-abortion, less comfort with LGBT rights) means that the traditional Democratic party platforms are not exactly what people of color want. If the Democratic Party is considered to be taking people of color for granted, it may be because their agendas don't really mesh.
10
@Concerned Citizen - no idea what you are talking about. Really. Democrats lean conservative like Ronald Reagan? I don't know any Democrat that adheres to anything Ronald Reagan said or stood for.
3
This piece does a nice job of showing the actual and potential political power of women of color. But “the left takes them for granted?” That case did not seem to be made quite as well. There is no question that the Democratic Party has sometimes taken elements of its base for granted, as all political parties do. But if anything, Democratic campaigns and candidates seem more cognizant than ever of the role and power of women of color. Stacey Abrams was only the beginning.
18
What a great essay, thank you. Just imagine the potential power of this group. Trump won because of an organized effort on the part of disaffected uneducated white men spurred by hatred for those unlike themselves. It's extremely unlikely that the entire fractured Democratic Party can effectively organize itself to counter this group, whether this coalition is taken for granted or not. So note to all right-thinking people: let the Women of Color lead the way.
8
@Rich888
"Trump won because of an organized effort on the part of disaffected uneducated white men spurred by hatred for those unlike themselves."
Trump also won because of a Constitutional flaw, and because he promised to return abortion law to democratic control, after this reform had been blocked by Democrats for more than 40 years. Racism is a problem, but the Times needs to stop seeing everything through that lens.
3
@Rich888. You forget that the majority of college educated white women voted for Trump. Perhaps you can explain why Harris is unable to capture African American support. They seem to prefer a white make called Biden.
2
@Jackson
Harris is female -- misogyny is color blind-- furthermore she was in favor of keeping the brothers locked up even when they had done nothing wrong while a prosecutor in CA. Does Harris believe in busing now??
In this time of acrimonious partisan divisions, at least Stacey Abrams and Donald Trump agree on one thing -- neither likes to pay taxes, but don't mind the idea of foisting taxes on those of us in the actual working class. I voted Libertarian in both races, by the way.
14
@John Jabo
Libertarians are the obnoxious relatives who like to go and have a blast at a family reunion but never do anything to make it happen or clean up the mess afterwards. They're vocal with other guests on how they could make things better. Yet, they'll never offer any meaningful assistance...
2
So you actually voted for the GOP in both races because you voted against Hilary and Stacey.
@Rich Murphy
I am not a prisoner to the two-party system. I'm sure Republican would argue that I voted for Dems in both races. I did vote against Hillary and Stacey. But I also voted again Trump and Kemp. I sleep well at night.
1
This article highlights a belief I have that and have expressed around our (mostly) liberal dinner table political conversations. My spouse believes that voting should be a mandatory requirement of citizenship. I, on the other hand, believe that "not voting" is actually a form of voting and may, in fact, be thought of as a political act of the last resort by those in the "taken for granted" category.
9
@Woodson Dart, not voting is voting for the status quo. Nothing more, nothing less. It's also why we are where we are now. Look up participation in Federal elections since 1978 and average it out. You'll find it comes in at ~47% of the eligible population over the past 4 decades of the dissolution of our democratic republic. It ain't "them" to blame, it's "us."
6
@Woodson Dart
"voting should be a mandatory requirement of citizenship."
Yes, but that means to be backed up by reforms. It's difficult for some people to leave their jobs to vote. I've been fortunate because my employers allow for late arrivals or early departures on voting day. Some jobs are so important that they can't be left, like emergency personnel. Voting needs to be moved to a non-working day, and alternative ways of voting are needed.
3
@Woodson Dart Not voting is not a “form of voting.” It is a way to avoid making a difficult decision given a finite number of choices.
I think it is an error by the author to say that "liberals" or "the left" take women of color for granted.
Since about 1990, the Democratic Party leadership has been anything but liberal. At that time, those in charge, especially through the Democratic Leadership Council, took the party away from its traditional constituencies to pursue a more affluent and educated base. These arrogant people wrongly assumed that working people and people of color would automatically continue to vote Democratic.
These are the people who brought us Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and who tried to foist Hillary on the country. Far from having learned their lesson, they are now backing Joe Biden.
Working people, people of color, and organized labor are all looking for a party that will represent them. It once was the Democrats and could be again, if Sanders, Warren, Harris or Buttigieg is the eventual nominee.
12
I read this op-ed looking for the ways in which the left have been taking women of color for granted, and didn't find it. Don't you at least have to explain why you said something in the headline?
I am white and have been involved with groups on the left. In my experience we are often unaware of our arrogance and may unintentionally overwhelm voices of people of color, especially including women. But we are not taking them for granted.
African-Americans are the core beating heart of the Democratic party, and if you look at what's going on in the Presidential race among the leaders, you see people fighting over those voters.
14
@Jon Webb Thanks for the work you're doing to make a difference. FYI, editors write headlines, not authors. The editor's goal is to grab your attention and make you stop to read. Sometimes the headlines fall short.
Demography is typically only destiny when it comes to age. No identity group is, or votes as a monolith. That we need to hear, learn and work with all voices is a given. The gender and color of those voices is is less important than what they say, and much more importantly, what they do. We need more civic engagement by everyone. How about giving all high school students a day off from school to work in city government, or with a local political candidate? Or, how about making Election Day a national holiday? We fight wars abroad to support democracy, but cannot muster participation by all, regardless of identity, at home. Let's get back to the big picture in which accountable government is about doing the most good for the greatest number of people. As Lincoln put it " government of the people, by the people, and for (all) the people."
11
@Ask Better Questions, YES, ask better questions. Demography is the WHAT, but you gain nothing of the WHYbehind the what. This is why pigeonholing people by demographics is, ultimately, lame. With the reasons WHY certain demographic groups may behave in ways similar to one another, then you can go for the $64 question ... SO WHAT can we do to reach these folks?
Don’t look now, but some women of color supported and voted for Trump in 2016, and will so in 2020.
Our task, by no means an easy one, is to make sure these women are persuaded to vote Democrat in 2020.
12
@Mon Ray
Trump delivered jobs to POC instead of platitudes. You can't feed your family on liberal talking points.
@Mon Ray "our task" ?
@Mon Ray
Trump said in 2016 what have you got to lose? I will provide jobs that the Dems promise but never deliver.
Trump has actually increased employment for all Americans but particularly for minorities and for women.
Many people understand this and will vote for Trump when they did not before. Trump is neither a racist or hater of minorities. NYT and Dems tell us it was Russia Russia Russia collusion collusion collusion and Mueller would end Trumps presidency. Now that failed narrative has been flushed down the toilet the Democrats now do what they do to every GOP member running for election for the last 2 decades and that is slime them with the racist smear. I've run across more democrats who are real racists than you would imagine.
This interesting article would be a lot more convincing if the many statistics were "sourced". (Since when do voters disclose their gender or "color" on ballots or when they register to vote?) And the insistence on maintaining that Latinos are other than "white" is still news for millions of them. Latinos are a very large ethnic minority, but stubborn claims that the increasing Latino population will soon make "whites" a minority plays into the hands of Trump's "replacement-theory" partisans.
22
@Martin Daly
I hope that by "ethnic" you mean cultural, as in "Hispanic". The Hispanic culture englobes sub-cultures that are more varied than the different cultures that once composed the British Empire. And "Latinos" can be of any race - or mixture of races.
1
@Martin Daly
Democrats have pretty much promised that whites, especially men, will be replaced.
2
@S.G.: No, "ethnic" does not mean "cultural". "Culture", by definition, is a product of human construction; language is cultural. (I won't touch the comparison with the British Empire.) Ethnicity depends on actual (or perceived) heredity. Trump and his ilk may complain about "multi-culturism" and failure to "assimilate" with "American" ways, but what they really object to is people who aren't "white". And that "'Latinos' can be of any race" was the point of my original comment.
1
"Moreover, we know very little about how to engage women of color in politics."
What's wrong with simply talking to them? In my 60+ years on this planet, I've always found them engaging, savvy and all-around decent people. If I want to know what's going on, I ask them; they know.
8
THE GREAT NEWS: The data in this article offer some of the best news I've heard in a long time! They point to an important (and long overdue) strategy for advancing Democratic policy positions--developing better systems for the long-term development of candidates from communities that are underrepresented in government.
THE DISAPPOINTING NEWS: Too many negative and critical early commenters express the classic views of "white blindness." Comments such as "I vote for the candidate, regardless of race," or "We all matter. We just need to unify," or "Focusing on race just contributes to the same divisiveness we're trying to heal," or one commenter who actually questioned the data itself.
To that last commenter, one of the authors of this article has a doctorate in political science (meaning their data can likely be relied upon). The other author leads a community organization working on these issues.
It will be hard to achieve the goal of elevating more women of color to leadership roles as long as there are so many voters who still don't understand the weight of the institutionalized racism and how we all participate in it.
RECIPE FOR CURING WHITE BLINDNESS: Racism isn't just in your face hate speech. It's also reflected in these kinds of comments since they demonstrate a blindness to the experiences and voices of people of color. We all could do well to slow down and truly listen to each other.
17
@Mary Kirk
It really irks me that by simply not agreeing with someone, this seems to imply that I must have either a deficiency or a serious pathology.
11
@Mary Kirk: More stereotyping, like your term 'white blindness' will never yield the results you intend. You're promoting still more racial division.
1
Helen Reddy redux. What goes around comes around.
1
"The right recognizes their political power. The left takes them for granted."
This is the sub-title to the piece. Whoever might "recognize," or "fear" or "take for granted" women of color,
I imagine that "women of color" as a group and individually, like most, will cast their votes by evaluating the policies Trump and the Republicans have pushed (e.g., their feverish drive to repeal the ACA), and the atmosphere of fear, hate and societal division that Trump promotes on an hourly basis, versus the policies and national vision that the Democrats and Democratic nominee will offer as a clear alternative in November 2020.
7
Well, that’s the two-party system for you. Lack of options keep voters and activists in a bind.
Ranked choice voting would open the political marketplace to more competition.
6
@Tom Johnson--It's way past time for us to refuse to let the parties choose our candidates. Direct, ranked voting is the way to go. Let's kill the unearned, corrupt power of political parties.
5
I DO recall my shock at realizing that Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia was in the position of being Referee, Scorekeeper AND Contestant in the gubernatorial election in which he was a contestant! Is there no provision for “Recusal” in this matter?
It strongly suggests to me that the votes of the CITIZENS of Georgia should fairly represent the VOICE of the people in a Democracy. For this -I have daily concern! Our Democracy is at peril, and should be protected more scrupulously on a State level.
42
@M. Sheehan
I must say I was flabbergasted when he didn't resign his post after he won the R nomination. I could be wrong, but I don't believe I remember any other Georgia statewide office holder not doing so. Actually, I thought it was required that he resign; silly me.
6
@M. Sheehan, I agree. I don't know why the citizens of Georgia didn't take to the streets at the obvious Soviet tactic that Kemp took. I can't believe the majority of voters would just look away and scuff their toes in the dust to, you know, make sure a white man won. But that election result was so bogus, with Kemp timidly trying to go a step too far, then another, then without much pushback, he just went ahead and stole the election!
That bothers me; that I didn't see streets filled with Georgians protesting the blatant rigging happening right in front of them; right in the open, to keep the African American woman from having major power in their state. No wonder the KKK feels kind of emboldened right now!
1
Women of Color-African, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, perhaps the better label would by nonEuropean ancestry are taking on the policies of the Republican Party. But women, writ large, are another force that is finding those policies to be lacking. In fact, many white males are disillusioned with Republican policies.
So what is a Democratic candidate to do? Campaign with polices that promote people over corporations (jobs and environment), policies that benefit the 90% over the 10% (healthcare, education, infrastructure), policies that humanity and safety before destruction (international cooperation, diplomacy).
Then LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE which candidate can provide the best outcomes. QUIT promoting yourself by denigrating any other Democratic candidate. Sending a wounded (by friendly fire) nominee up against Trump is suicide for the Democratic Party and the American people.
If every adult citizen with the right to vote gets registered and votes, we can end the national nightmare. Then the healing can begin.
30
@Maureen Steffek. I, too, am uncomfortable with the label "women of color". I suspect that those included in this group don't all have identical objectives, beliefs, aspirations, nor are their economic and social situations the same. A candidate's approach should be on issues that are important to many voters, be they "women of color " or any other designating label a journalist may use.
11
@Maureen Steffek
"perhaps the better label would by nonEuropean ancestry"
Perhaps no label would be better.
4
@Maureen Steffek
Hispanic, Native American, perhaps the better label would by nonEuropean ancestry ...
Hispanics have lots of European ancestry. Spain is in Europe. Migrants from Italy, Germany and even Scotland populated Latin American countries.
5
"I belong to no organized political party. I'm a democrat."
Will Rogers
Still true but getting better. Trump's contribution is to unite the opposition.
United we stand, divided we fall. etc.
Do what you can and VOTE.
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Those who refuse to publish the best solutions to our problems hate us.
Those who try to divide and antagonize a country hate us.
Those who relentlessly create polarization and animosity hate us.
Those who try exploit and inflame the fears hate us.
Those who created the partisan schism but acting as if they are trying to solve the crisis hate us.
Ask yourself who fits this description.
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All well and good. But article states: steer clear of divisive rhetoric and vitriol is the right thing to do. But no empirical support is proffered for the statement. And even the moral argument is left unargued.
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This is the best news I've read in some time. One obvious way to engage women of color is for one of them to be on the ballot. That may be the best argument for Kamala Harris to be nominated for Vice President. But given the central issue of Hispanic immigration that highlights Trump's racism and cruelty, Julian Castro, might be an even better choice. He's articulate, knowledgeable as Joe Biden found out in the last debate, and has held high government office. With Hispanics now the largest minority this could mobilize a blue tsunami and even put Texas, Castro's home state, into play.
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@Paul Wortman
Kamala Harris locked up poor black women in jail, sometimes for months at a time, because their kids were truant from school. She then laughed about it in a public speech.
So, why do you think Kamala Harris would appeal to black women?
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@Paul Wortman
Trump wins in 2020. Period
@Paul Wortman Well Spike, why don't you DOCUMENT how the President is "racist?"
It's unfortunate that the article falsely implies that Ms. Abrams would have won the governorship but for alleged improper actions by the then-governor. There is no evidence for this allegation. (Talk about conspiracy theories!) As for politicians or officials of color, progressives only desire them if they have progressive politics. Witness the progressives' abysmal treatment of Condolezza Rice, Ben Carson, Clarence Thomas, etc. etc.
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@R.P. And I think ideally we should be choosing candidates based on their policies (progressive, conservative, etc.) so I have no problem not supporting the people you mention. I really don't support identity politics. That may be the real issue to consider.
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@R.P. Systematic voter suppression is not a "conspiracy theory."
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Well that’s silly. Progressives want people of color or not that are progressive in their views. Of the three people you mentioned Ms Rice is the most intelligent and one whom I respect despite her views on many things. I would be over the moon if the race for president were between Ms Rice for the GOP and Ms Abrams for the Democrats. That would be a “progressive” ticket all around!
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Our democracy is at risk alright.
All women, and all men, irrespective of color and all the other accidentals that divide us, need to look beyond what divides us and focus on what unites us, our needs included.
There is such a chasm between us that few dare to reach across and unite in chasm-filling, whatever that divide might be.
We do not need more research or voting tallies. We need more hands-across, starting in our own families where separatism begins, and including all who are in need.
Forget the non-essentials make us different. Let's unite in what makes us one people: "one for all and all for one," a catchy cry of union from all of us.
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@Lake. woebegoner Yes, yes, very nice: hands-across.
So here's the rub: In 2016 Americans had the opportunity to choose hands-across when it counted. Instead, most whites chose Trump. They (/we) still do. Most black women chose hands-across.
This is why politically empowering black women would be good for all Americans: black women will fight for hands-across, those in need, and unity, much more effectively than most whites just did with their votes.
Actually, it's the political center that takes them for granted.
The "left" is producing policy that protects the rights of all Americans, not just the few.
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Rise of minorities in calming its very rightful place in the society & in decision making in both private organizations & in Government does not automatically mean that justice would be served & benefit the society. Sometimes it simply means the ruler is replaced with a new set people with not much different style of governance/management.
Post-independent history of European colonies in Asia, Africa, & LatAm showed it.
I'm observing Indian politics (biggest democracy in the world) for many years. Since mid 1980s the "lower caste" or "Untouchables" started getting political power there. Political parties specifically catering to that section of Indian population are ruling many big states and with significant influence in Federal Govt there for last few decades. Those "Dalit" ("lower caste" people) ruled states are not in any better situation now as it was during past "upper caste" rule. The only way the heinous caste division among Hindus bridged is by invoking Hinduism & manufacture a common enemy in form of Islam & Pakistan. The same "us" vs "them" narrative! That's how the ruling Modi led BJP got its power. Fall of traditional sociopolitical elites of Congress party, who enjoyed power since end of British raj, did not mean much in terms of better governance or serving justice.
GOP must wake up before its too late to attract decent minorities. It's equally true for Dems. Dems must not allow its political platform to be exploited in the name of minority politics either.
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@bonku
I think I understand your pt. about the formerly subjugated replicating the similar practices. I don't think that you read what the authors wrote here. Part of what they call attention to is not simply engaging and activating non-white women, they also alluded to multi-yr. plans. Women of color in these communities know better than anyone what is needed and doubtless propose workable and uplifting programs and policies that ensure that all people, especially the historically dispossessed get a chance a better life of which they've been denied.
In the example you give, and in others (when you name various parts of the world) you neglect to note that by and large these "changes" were directed by and implemented almost entirely by men. I'm sure if women, particularly lower class women, were at least able to be equal partners in negotiating the transition from colonialism we would see far fewer tragic outcomes.
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@FDRT, I don't think it's men vs women debate either. Generally speaking, any privileged people would not like to denounce its power simply because it's the right think to do. That's irrespective of religion, gender, caste/sect (internal division among one religious group), age, and so on. It's basically "weaker" vs "stronger" in the society. I'm reasonably sure that women are not significantly any better than men in terms of its perception of justice and truth. That narrative is again "us" vs "them" and only creates division among people.
We need to attract & promote people with better quality in terms of its perception or core values regarding justice & truth (which must not be based on religion or such "holy" book or any other criteria except science and data driven logic), which generally comes from good education & life experience. Education in terms of knowledge/wisdom, ability to think independently based on data/fact, and not via academic degrees or job designation.
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I brought religion in this discussion as USA is the most religious country among all developed countries and it has huge influence in American politics.
Rise of Far Right "conservative" groups use Christian fundamentalism. For long Christian fundamentalism was mixed it with white supremacy. Distortion of history to wrongly depict Arab-African looking Jesus Christ (as per researchers- https://is.gd/W4Qi80) as blue eyed, blond hair white man even in churches of black or brown people is a nice example.
History indicate that American secularism is a byproduct of the internal conflicts among Christians. And that conflict was very nasty at times. A huge section of minorities in USA are non-Christians and they are very religious. Now imagine conflict among A recent PEW survey showed that "minorities" in USA are more religious than whites- https://is.gd/hooMJ9 (keep in mind, Asians include mostly Atheist Chinese are other South East Asian people from communist countries like China. Other Asian people are very religious, like African and LatAm people.)
And if you bring cultural and other divisions then the situation become more challenging. And that's why its becoming far more crucial to stick to the basic values of democracy driven by science & data driven truth and justice.
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As a white male with 75 years of life experience, I wholeheartedly welcome WOCs (women of color) into positions of power. Many reasons, but empathy may be the most important to me, and pragmatism also. I have admired many woman heads of state over the years, and wish we could have one of our very own. After the Watergate hearings, I was rooting for Barbara Jordan (wish she were here now!). Now, we have such a deep bench of women Democrats (and men, too -- I'm not biased) ready to step up. With them and the amazing swarm of eloquent young activists like the Parkland survivors and climate organizer Greta Thunberg, I am becoming optimistic once more.
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When it comes to elections, I don’t care about people’s gender or race. I care about their politics. When the authors of this article reduce people to stereotypes about their race and gender they are doing the same thing that Trump does: replacing democratic debate with identity marketing.
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@Martin Amen. Identity is not policy. Nothing wrong with identity, but it's is not the answer. Where you end up is more important than where you started. We must all move forward together.
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@Martin I must've missed the stereotypes among all the stats mentioned in this article. Can you point them out?
When a large segment of the population seems disenfranchised to vote, many believe that's important to analyze and understand - and do something about it, doesn't that matter to you?
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@Martin As a member of the unmarked category, you have the luxury to pick and choose.
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"Since 2008, women of color have grown by 18 percentage points in the general population and by 25 percentage points among registered voters."
I'm curious just how one goes about defining women (or people, for that matter) of color? I see the authors include Asians, African Americans, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders and indigenous North Americans. So let's say we stay with these examples and ignore Sicilians, Southern Spaniards, etc.. What percentage of these folks needs to be of the aforementioned races/ethnicities to be included in the survey? For example, if a person possesses 1% African American in their heritage, does he/she count and if not, where does the line get drawn?
"Ninety-three percent of black women voters supported a Democratic House candidate as did 68 percent of Native American women, 76 percent of Latinas and 73 percent of Asian-American and Pacific Islander women. This does not bode well for the incumbent president."
Here's another statistic for you. Only once since the onset of two-term limits has the party in control of the White House not been given a 2nd term (1980 with Jimmy Carter). Given this American voting trend, I'd say that the 2020 election does not bode well for the incumbent's challenger.
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@Independent Observer
Actually you are wrong. George H.W. Bush also didn't get a second term.
Your other "point" regarding who is considered a person of color seems incredibly disingenuous and particularly irrelevant. Perhaps that was the pt. you were making. These women don't really matter to you. BTW, As I'm sure you know, most of these types of surveys are completed by people who self-identify. Like they do with age, education and gender. Do you think a Southern European would identify themselves as person of color? If so then they have these categories to choose from.
Also, when the U.S. under the Nixon administration began using the term "Hispanic" they (for some ignorant reason) included Spaniards but not Portuguese. Neither group belongs, it is an inclusion that has never made any sense.
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@Independent Observer
Also, George HW Bush.
@FDRT I said "party in control of the White House," not individual. In 1988, the Republicans had already enjoyed their two terms and would see a 3rd., which is the only time a party has seen anything beyond a 2nd term.
As far as how one "identifies," at what point do you say that the person is "misidentifying" (like Rachel Dolezal, for instance). Also, Elizabeth Warren "identifies" as Native American, but her test showed that she might only be 1/1024th of that heritage. Should that count? My biggest problem with so-called "identity politics" is the lack of any clear definitions for the groups being discussed.
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This article seems to be half-right. Yes, conservatives fear these voters, as well they should.
But the left does NOT take them for granted, and this piece provides no evidence or argument to that effect.
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@Christopher B. Daly
The left (Democrats) do take these constituents for granted. What have they really done in the past to alleviate housing, education and health outcomes. The best one can say is that they slow down these issues but they never have in the past ever really pressed to make sure these voters get the resources to lift their communities up. How is it that redlining, employment discrimination and police harassment/killing are still a thing? Republicans don't do it by themselves. There has historically been a great deal of silence on the part of the other party.
20
Yes, the Left does take them for granted. Exactly how many programs do democrats offer to women of color to support their cause? When it’s politically expedient, they will support a woman of color. Until they are needed, women of color are ignored. Democrats abandoned the middle class which is one of the reasons we ended up with Trump. They abandoned people of color long before that.
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@FDRT
Is it silence, or have we been silenced?
The gop is only good at two things, squashing everything in sight, and stealing resources.
If we as a Country would get behind each other and really work together to maintain a Progressive majority a whole host of things would be much better. Have a little faith,my friends.
Just contemplate the eternally misplaced 'faith' in trickle down. What has that gotten us but where we are now, with most driven to crazy distraction trying to make a living with crumbs. To me, this has resulted in blind anger and the angry do not even know or understand who or what they are angry about. So they vote gop. ?????
6
When Democrats get in office they need to work hard to open voting to more people to counter the suppression efforts of Republicans. Democrats often underestimate how hard Republicans work to suppress and gerrymander but that is the only course of action Republicans have to stay in office. Democrats also need to work to kill the electoral college. We could have avoided Bush 43 and Trump if Dems had pushed an amendment to kill the electoral college long ago.
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@Anthony
The electoral college is indeed a millstone around our necks. But on June 12 of this year (I don't think the NYT reported it) Oregon became the 16th state to pass the National Popular Vote Bill.
https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/
The NPV movement is a compact between states that would come into force as soon as enough like-minded states have signed it. The threshold is based on having a majority of the electoral college. The signatory states have decided to hand all their electoral votes to the person who receives the most individual votes for president across all 50 states and DC.
3
@Anthony I would be happy if they just changed their state election rules to split their electoral votes based on the voting breakdown in their state. For example, if a state has six electoral votes and vote is split 2/3 for candidate A to 1/3 for candidate B, Then A gets 4 electoral votes and B gets 2. That way the votes for candidate B don't get thrown away in the national election.
4
Stacey Abrams.
Now there’s a candidate I’d support wholeheartedly, no wincing as I pull the lever.
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@berman - YES! What an easy choice. No holding your nose while pulling the lever, no grappling over "the lesser of two evils." Abrams, The Squad and other strong women are our future and that gives me tears of hope.
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@berman
Nobody, man or woman, can win with that much extra weight on them.
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@berman
Yes but she isn't running and holds no current elected office and can't be counted on to deliver Georgia's Electoral votes to the Democrats.
3