What Vice President Harris is dealing with is one thing I name competency checking—and it’s acquainted to many Black professionals within the office.
There are three main, although not unique, methods this reveals up. There’s the belief of Black mental inferiority and/or a scarcity of {qualifications}. Within the office, this typically results in low expectations, marginalization, and excessive micromanagement. Then there’s the expression of shock or unease when Black individuals show intelligence (“You’re so well-spoken!”), which is adopted by calls for to verify how this data was acquired and the way deep it goes. This can lead to dismissal, quizzing, argument, and tokenization. And eventually, there’s activation, the worry and unease that may come up when a Black individual holds authority, particularly in management positions. These reactions type an ongoing gauntlet of skepticism that Black and different individuals of shade should navigate to show their {qualifications}.
Nevertheless, strain on a Black political candidate or government doesn’t simply come from outdoors their neighborhood—it additionally comes from inside. Ought to Kamala Harris win, she can not repair each historic incorrect executed to Black people who we’d want for in a single, 4, and even eight years.
Whereas we should always maintain Harris accountable and problem her, we should additionally think about the scenario she inherits. The “glass cliff” exists—it’s when ladies and folks of shade are promoted to management roles solely when issues are so dangerous that the consequence can be inevitable failure. We should not put all our expectations on one individual and proceed working for change regionally and in our workplaces.
A Black candidate or president can not wipe away over 400-plus years of historical past that has formed each system on this nation. Simply as Barrack Obama’s presidency didn’t usher in a “post-racial” America, neither will a Harris presidency. The office stays a hostile atmosphere for Black individuals, particularly Black ladies, who, based on analysis from LeanIn.org, are “having the worst experience of all.”
Symbolic victories, whereas important, don’t equate to systemic change. These victories can result in what researchers have referred to as “an illusion of diversity,” the place we understand extra variety and development than exists. Nevertheless, the chilly reality is that it’ll take the overwhelming majority of Black People between one and three centuries to succeed in financial and employment parity with white People if we proceed on the present path.
There’s a misperception about the place we’re on the racial progress timeline: We expect that racial progress is linear, going solely ever in a single route towards justice.
Whether or not Harris wins or loses, we should cease others and ourselves from requiring superhuman efforts from her and all Black individuals and folks of shade to be seen as certified. And we should proceed difficult the constructions in society and the office that reinforce this unfair burden.
Every of us should resolve if Kamala Harris is the candidate to vote for, however none of us ought to query her fundamental intelligence and {qualifications}. Let her run for workplace as an alternative of operating the dehumanizing gauntlet that’s competency checking.
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