Dear MoveOn member,
In the time since it was announced that President Biden was stepping down from the presidential campaign and Vice President Kamala Harris emerged as the new prospective Democratic nominee, irresponsible journalism touting racist and sexist dog whistles has already been published. Media outlets like Fox News have a history of racist and sexist attacks against Vice President Harris.1,2 We don't have to repeat the tired tropes and offensive attacks being wielded against Harris. We've heard them all before. When Harris was selected as vice president on Biden's presidential ticket, 61% of news coverage mentioned her race or gender, and 25% of the coverage included sexist or racist stereotyping.3,4 It's unacceptable. We can't let history keep repeating itself. It's time to rein in the media and demand fair and unbiased reporting, because we know that as Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans lose their grip on power, the attacks against Kamala Harris are only going to get worse.
We must come together to condemn and call out the racism, misogynoir, and sexism that the media and MAGA Republicans have thrown and will continue to throw Harris's way to appeal to their base. Will you sign the petition to put news media like Fox News on notice by demanding that they address and stop the racism and sexism in their Kamala Harris election reporting NOW?
Vice President Kamala Harris is a Black, South Asian daughter of immigrants who has tirelessly advocated for and fought for our communities and freedoms. She's fought to raise the minimum wage, to protect our voting rights, to make higher education tuition-free, to reform the cash bail system, to expand access to health care, to hold sexual abusers accountable, to protect our reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy, to protect the LGBTQIA+ community, and so much more.
Harris has a proven track record of putting people over corporations by taking on fraudsters trying to cheat the American people—and winning, successfully going after Big Oil, greedy pharmaceutical companies, and predatory mortgage lenders to deliver wins for working people.
Unfortunately, attacks against Black candidates, especially Black women candidates, are not new. When former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the House of Representatives, ran for president, she was not taken seriously. When Stacey Abrams ran, Republicans talked about her relationship status, her weight, they darkened her skin in political ads to rile up their racist base, and so much more.5,6,7
And now, Republicans like Congressman Tim Burchett are calling Vice President Harris a "DEI hire."8,9 We have to call it what it is: a racist dog whistle against VP Harris that bigots also use to diminish and discredit Black and brown people, LGBTQIA+ people, and women's experiences and accomplishments. "DEI'' which stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, is being weaponized similarly to how the word "woke" has been weaponized by bigots.10 And news outlets stoke the flames, reporting on these statements without providing necessary critical analysis or context regarding the underlying racism and sexism. We must come together to fight back against this.
The truth is that Black women have powered the Democratic Party for years. Last Sunday, Win With Black Women hosted a national organizing call that was attended by more than 44,000 Black women who raised over $2 MILLION for the Harris presidential campaign in as little as three hours.11 This inspired other grassroots organizing calls, and now, in the last week, people who joined these organizing calls calls have raised over $15 million for Harris' campaign.12 In 2008 and 2012, 96% of Black women voted for President Barack Obama, providing the margin he needed to win two presidential terms. In 2016, 94% of Black women voted for Hillary Clinton. Black women powered the blue wave in 2018, and 90% of Black women voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020.13 We can't sit idly by as MAGA Republicans and bigots continue to hurl racist and sexist attacks and news and media outlets legitimize their most offensive and baseless claims.
Vice President Harris has broken glass ceiling after glass ceiling throughout her life. She was the first Black woman in the state of California to be elected as district attorney. She was the first woman, first Black American, and first South Asian elected as attorney general in California in 2010 and was reelected in 2014. She was the first South Asian and second Black woman to become a U.S. senator. Then, in 2020, a multiracial, multigenerational coalition of voters elected her to become the first woman, Black American, and South Asian vice president. And soon, she will become the first Black, South Asian woman president of the United States.
But when trailblazing women in politics like Harris are put in the spotlight, they are far too often subjected to sexist and racist disinformation campaigns, made worse by news publications looking for "hot takes" and social media virality for clicks, views, and money.14 We need news outlets and journalists to be held to the highest standards of integrity, ensuring that they are not spreading harmful misinformation, recklessly sharing racist or sexist commentary that undermines Harris' qualifications, or publishing biased and unbalanced reporting on Harris.
Harris is a beacon of hope and representation for young Black and brown girls and women, not only across the country but the world. MAGA Republicans are afraid of her because they know she will continue to expose their dangerous Project 2025 agenda that will give Trump unchecked powers to eliminate abortion, hurt working- and middle-class people, fire civil servants, and roll back our rights and freedoms while reshaping all aspects of the government. They are afraid of her because they know she will fight for the working class instead of big corporations. So they resort to racist and sexist attacks against her.
We can only imagine how low MAGA Republicans will go to discredit a successful, qualified candidate like Harris. But we can and must demand better from independent journalists now to STOP these sexist and racist attacks in their tracks. The media has a significant influence on the public narrative, and journalists have a responsibility to address racism, sexism, misogynoir, and any biases that can influence their election reporting when it comes to Harris.
Thanks for all you do.
–Jensine, Gabi, Kathy, Isbah, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "The long history of ugly right-wing media attacks against VP Kamala Harris," Media Matters for America, July 11, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194645?t=9&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
2. "Fox News Begins Blitz Against Kamala Harris," Newsweek, July 22, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194646?t=11&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
3. "Over 60 Percent Of Sen. Kamala Harris Coverage Has Mentioned Her Race Or Gender," BET, October 7, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/194634?t=13&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
4. "Report: One-quarter of Kamala Harris announcement coverage included racist or sexist stereotyping," USA Today, October 6, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/194635?t=15&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
5. "The real reason a Kamala Harris presidency is unfathomable to her critics," MSNBC, July 10, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194630?t=17&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
6. "Attack Ads Are Darkening the Skin Tone of Black Candidates," The Bulwark, October 19, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/194637?t=19&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
7. "The story of Black women in politics: How we got to Kamala Harris' ascent," NBC News, August 12, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/194638?t=21&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
8. "Frost calls out GOP for 'racist dog whistles' about Harris," The Hill, July 23, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194639?t=23&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
9. "What people mean when they call Kamala a 'DEI candidate,'" Fast Company, July 23, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194640?t=25&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
10. "How 'woke' went from a social justice term to a pejorative favored by some conservatives," CNN, July 10, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/194641?t=27&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
11. "Win With Black Women Raise $1.5M For VP Kamala Harris' Campaign In As Little As 3 Hours," Black Enterprise, July 22, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194642?t=29&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
12. "Grassroots organizers raise millions online for Harris in first week," CBS News, July 29, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194754?t=31&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
13. "By the Numbers, Black Women in American politics," Higher Heights for America PAC, accessed July 24, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/194643?t=33&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
14. "Women in politics and the media," International Idea, March 3, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/194644?t=35&akid=399615%2E53570607%2ElPrUsz
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