The presidential race has catapulted to a shocking restart. Within a few days after President Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, a series of fundraising zoom calls targeted at various demographics gave her candidacy legitimacy.
This whole thing got started with Win with Black Women, a group who have been meeting for four years. They saw an opportunity and issued a call for Black women to join together to support Harris. It took off like a rocket. Black men followed with their own call.
Then, more social groups joined in: Latinas, South Asian women, Black, gay, and queer men, White women, Native women, and “White Dudes for Harris.” As of this writing, the most recent group is Childless Cat Ladies for Harris, named for a public slur against childless women. The Swifties have joined with their $13 friendship bracelets as a fundraiser. More than $200 million has been raised.
People have strong opinions about the wisdom of separate demographic groups doing their own endorsements and fundraising. Below are quotes taken from Facebook posts (with permission).
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THE DISSENTER
White man
These Zoom calls for "white women" and "white men" -- and I think there have been a few others -- supporting Harris are a very bad idea. In fact, this cordoning off is exactly what people dislike about the Democrat Party.
We should be saying "We're all on the same side, here: we work together, we help each other out. This is America and we are Americans. We don't treat, for example, gay men and women differently than we do straight ones."
Celebrating our differences is fine: dividing voters into blocs isn't. In any other context, mounting an event that is meant to include all and only white men is a terrible mistake. |
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THE DISAFFECTED
Asian woman
I thought ok, I don’t belong anywhere… as usual.
[Editorial note: This person was apparently not aware that Zoom calls for Asian Americans and Pacifica Islanders were happening.]
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THE SUPPORTERS
White woman
But it is Black women who started it on the Sunday Biden dropped out, and the rest of us are just following their very significant lead, and supporting them. We are not all the same, (take a look at the Olympians!), and celebrating our differences is fine with me as we all come together for the common good.
White woman
These Zoom calls aren't being organized by the Party but by individuals and organizations speaking to their own allies and members.
White man
I was seeing how there was a "White women for Harris" calling, and a Black women for Harris and an LGBTQ for Harris and so on. And I lamented on Twitter, "Where is the White Dudes for Harris?" And my followers started one! There are over 10,000 pledged callers already, and Pete Buttigeg and Jon Cryer are two of them.
Carole Marmell, Leading Consciously’s content coordinator (White woman)
Young people claim their identities. It would not surprise me to see a group called Hetero Cis-Gender Atheist Men for Harris. I see this not as splintering but as welcoming, similar to a convention (California, let’s hear from you! Rhode Island!).
What’s important here is this is a grassroots movement. Don’t see yourself in a group? Start one. A local friend in this small Texas town posted on X: Where are the White Men for Harris? Within 24 hours, 50,000 White men had signed up.
Had this been an official activity of the Democratic Party, I might share misgivings. Who are they to say which groups matter? But the way the movement has grown organically is an outpouring of joy, of “we can do this.”
And maybe… just maybe… we need to let the younger generations decide what’s appropriate for them. They can only make it better.
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MY POINT OF VIEW (Jean Latting)
What makes it a good idea for demographic groups to band together to support their preferred presidential candidate?
It’s human nature. People want to do things with those with whom they identify. People want to belong to groups in which they feel a connection. The Gallup Poll lists having a best friend at work as one of 10 indicators of engagement in the workplace. It’s easier to feel engaged if you feel cared about and supported.
But doesn’t having all these different identity groups introduce the danger of them squabbling with one another rather than uniting for a common goal?
Well, yes, it does. Groups will squabble unless they have a compelling vision – and skills. That's one main reason my co-author and I wrote our two books with the most recent being Conscious Change.
It's perpetually fascinating to me that it’s okay to call oneself a Texan or a Yankee fan or an Episcopalian, but to name one’s race and gender is taboo.
The different demographic groups forming to support Harris’s campaign show a path toward leveraging the promise of diversity in support of unity.
For those who see this as a threat, what can be done about the pretense that race and gender identification shouldn’t matter?
Do you have any ideas on how we can legitimize demographic identities (e.g., White Dudes or Southeast Asian women) in the eyes of the public as much as we do sports identities (e.g., Bullhorns) while still embracing the humanity of us all?
Would love to know your thoughts.
Curious to know:
- How can we legitimize organizing by demographic identities?
- How do we ensure the different groups preserve unity in the midst of all that diversity?
