It was weeks before I heard someone say it—and I was glued to the news (granted, MY more progressive NPR and BBC news) after Trump won the 2024 election. But still, it was weeks after the election before I heard one straight talking woman called it out. She acknowledged that Harris’s defeat may have been as much about her being a smart Black woman as it was about her politics.

No matter what you think or how you feel about Woke culture, DEI policies, trainings, etc. a greater “Woke” culture in companies, in the wider community arena and even the privacy of our homes has encouraged at least some racists and misogynists to shut up about their views while in politically (and morally) mixed company.

While that censoring has spared us the ugly reality of an ugly persons private thoughts, it hasn’t made them go away. We have, however, lost the ability to understand what these folks are thinking- and why. Most importantly, without the why, we can’t take effective steps to address it. I believe Harris’s defeat came about, in part, because of that ignorance.

As early as 1847, California papers declared that while “not one in one hundred would be in favor of the introduction of slavery here” it was no less important to “prevent the emigration of free colored persons.” Yeah, this was new to me too.

Too many racist whites argued that the presence of free blacks miners would “degrade their [white miners] calling by associating it with slave labor” and other laboring men couldn’t tolerate finding themselves on equal footing with other Black workers.

President Lyndon B. Johnson has been quoted saying, “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

This sentiment is horrifying- but not new- and unfortunately, not outdated either. In October 2024, POLITICO’s analysis of more than 20 Trump rallies and campaign events found that Trump “demonized minority groups in all of them.” And Trump won the election.

Fears haven’t changed. If a Black woman is intelligent and capable enough to run the country, how can a racist or misogynist white male of any occupation continue to argue (or even hold onto the belief) that she is inferior? They can’t. Because she isn’t. But if they can keep women, and especially women of color, out of positions of power—they can keep believing, at least for a little while longer.