In Her Words: Anger

Brittney Cooper on the shared anger of black women.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story June 20, 2020 Brittney Cooper at the Women In The World Summit in New York City last year.Johannes Eisele/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images By Malcolm Burnley “The critical mass we’ve seen suggests something is shifting in the ether.” — Brittney Cooper, author of “Eloquent Rage,” on the recent protests This article is a collaboration between The New York Times and The Fuller Project. The “angry black woman” stereotype has been picked apart and widely condemned in recent years. Michelle Obama has spoken about distancing herself from the trope. Shonda Rhimes, the Hollywood showrunner, has fought back against the label too. When Serena Williams was penalized for “verbal abuse” of an umpire in 2018, there was repudiation of the stereotype again. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT But Brittney Cooper, a scholar and activist, has urged black women to reclaim the label rather than reject it entirely. “The clarity that comes from rage should also tell us what kind of world we want to see, not just what kind of things we want to get rid of,” Dr. Cooper writes in “Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower.” The focus of Dr. Cooper’s writing — how anger can be a rational, revolutionary principle — has proved resonant in recent weeks amid nationwide protests against police brutality, discussions of systemic inequality and black Americans dying from Covid-19 at alarming rates. A few days before Juneteenth, I spoke with Dr. Cooper, an associate professor of women’s and gender studies and Africana studies at Rutgers University, about the shared anger of black women and why that power needs to be harnessed right now. The interview has been shortened and edited for clarity. In light of the past month, how are you thinking about the future of black women and girls? The public narrative is about black women and girls continuing to express their collective outrage about the killing of black men. But you don’t just see black women in the street protesting. You also see them behaving politically in ways that are designed to build and restore public institutions, so that it can support more citizens. That’s not a thing that has just emerged in the middle of a pandemic. There’s very little investment in recognizing that black women are the sort of deep thinkers and theorists about how you actually build a society for the common good. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT You recently wrote an op-ed for Time questioning why the death of Breonna Taylor, who was killed on March 13, didn’t ignite national protests immediately. You used the term “secondary outrage” to describe the reaction to her death. What did you mean by that? Black women are not the folks who are the first thought ever when it comes to black protest movements. Some folks said to me, Look, we were in the middle of a pandemic and that’s why there wasn’t a protest, not that there wasn’t outrage. I said, Look, we’re still in the middle of a pandemic and George Floyd got killed, and people said, We will not stand for this, so we will risk it all in the streets, multiple days — and at this point, multiple weeks — of massive protest, doing the one thing that we’re told will get you sick. So it is that moment where the culture cannot abide the killing of a black man in that way but the culture can abide it when it’s a black woman being killed by police. And she’s attacked in her house, sleeping. She’s not even under arrest. And we see that as the lesser evil. It seems like Black women’s stories are erased in the public sphere but also in the private sphere … You know, we have this thing in feminist theory where we say, The public sphere is traditionally the sphere of men and the private sphere is traditionally the sphere of women and, of course, we mean white men and white women. So what black folks are outraged about is that the public sphere is not a sphere that is particularly hospitable to black men. But we do not react as vehemently when we learn that the private sphere is not a sphere that’s hospitable to black women. Do you think in our lifetimes we’ll see national protests over the death of a black woman, on par with the reaction to Trayvon Martin or George Floyd? The critical mass we’ve seen suggests something is shifting in the ether, so I’m hopeful. But we’ve got to decide if that’s our marker of success. Is the marker of success for black protest that something so horrific happens to a black woman that now we are outraged? The political thinking that leads to that is already a problem. There are all of these other cascading conditions that make black life hard as hell to live — whether we’re talking food deserts or health care or the education system or even intra-communal violence. It has to be about all of those other things that kill us quite slowly but deliberately in our communities every day. What’s your assessment of the protests so far? Nobody has thought, apparently, in weeks of protest that if you have that many people in the streets, then part of what you should be demanding is more PPE, more testing, more funding for vaccines and laptops for kids if schools don’t reopen. The police kill about 230 black people a year. The pandemic has killed over 22,000 black people in three months. Who is Darnella Frazier, and why did you write about her? Darnella Frazier was the 17-year-old black girl who was heading to the store with friends, saw the officer putting his knee on George Floyd’s neck and took out her camera and filmed it. So most of the iconic images that we’ve seen from that moment were shots of her video. I’m just reminded that there are always these black girls bearing witness to the racial atrocities. There’s a way that we ride for the black man who died and we ignore the black women who witness it and live. We’re talking a few days before Juneteenth. Do you believe embracing anger and rage is part of breaking the intergenerational cycle of slavery? Our ancestors have been fighting back since enslavement. They were jumping off the boats. They were staging mutiny on the ships. I like to see us as being in this long tradition of struggle and I think black people have always been clear about their rage. A Juneteenth Observance This year, as Juneteenth arrives at a moment of change, we invited writers to reflect on the meaning of the holiday, the traditions that keep it alive and the work that is still left to do. Photographer Dana Scruggs.Dana Scruggs for The New York Times Freedom Is … a Celebration Amid protests against police brutality and structural racism, some lean into the joy of tradition as resistance. [Read the story] Freedom Is … in Our Names Naming is one essence of freedom. With emancipation, many threw off the names given to them by slaveholders, acquiring for the first time last names such as Freeman that passed on how it felt to savor the first moments of liberty. [Read the story] Freedom Is … Still Overdue In 1865, formerly enslaved people were promised 40 acres of land and, later, a mule. More than 150 years later, reparations have become a 2020 campaign issue. [Read the story] Today’s In Her Words is written by Malcolm Burnley and edited by Francesca Donner. Malcolm Burnley is a Philadelphia-based reporter with The Fuller Project, a journalism nonprofit that reports on global issues impacting women. Our art director is Catherine Gilmore-Barnes, and our photo editor is Sandra Stevenson. Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here to get future installments. You can also follow us on Instagram or email us at inherwords@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for In Her Words from The New York Times. To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Subscribe to The Times |Get The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your Email|Privacy Policy|Contact Us The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018

On Politics Poll Watch: Who’s Biden’s Best Pick?

A study suggests many Democrats agree with Amy Klobuchar: Joe Biden should choose a woman of color.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story June 19, 2020 By Giovanni Russonello Welcome to Poll Watch, our weekly look at polling data and survey research on the candidates, voters and issues that will shape the 2020 election. With the nation gripped by protests over racial inequality, the pressure on Joseph R. Biden Jr. to pick a black woman as his running mate has been steadily growing. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT And a newly published study from Monmouth University suggests that Democratic voters broadly support the idea. The analysis, released Thursday, is based on interviews with over 2,000 people who voted in early Democratic primaries and caucuses. When asked to name their preferred vice-presidential nominee, most identified a black candidate. Senator Kamala Harris was far and away the most popular pick, chosen by more than a quarter of respondents. It should be noted that Monmouth did not interview a representative sample of Democratic voters nationwide, let alone the general electorate. The study’s respondents most likely skew toward more engaged and heavily partisan Democrats, given that all of them cast a primary vote, most of them in Iowa or New Hampshire. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Still, Monmouth’s survey contained at least one striking finding that seemed to carry broader implications: Ms. Harris’s support ran strongly among Democrats of various political persuasions. She was a top choice even among voters who had supported Senators Elizabeth Warren or Amy Klobuchar for the presidential nomination — even though both of those lawmakers have also been on Mr. Biden’s vice-presidential shortlist. Ms. Warren and Ms. Klobuchar were the runners-up in the Monmouth survey, but even with their totals combined, Ms. Harris outpaced them. Ms. Klobuchar, once seen as a top prospect, announced late Thursday that she had withdrawn her name from consideration — and that she had urged Mr. Biden to choose a woman of color for the ticket. Ms. Klobuchar had come under heavy criticism in recent weeks for declining to press charges against a number of police officers who were involved in shootings when she was a prosecutor in Minneapolis. Choosing Ms. Harris as a running mate “could feed an enthusiasm about Biden that he doesn’t currently have,” Patrick Murray, who runs Monmouth’s polling operation, said in an interview. “How would this play among independents? I don’t know. But certainly among the core group of Democratic voters, it would be a home run for him.” Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT A Fox News poll in late March asked registered voters how they would vote in November if Mr. Biden had Ms. Warren on the ticket with him, and then if he had Ms. Harris. It found little significant difference between the results, in any demographic. Mr. Biden led President Trump, 50 percent to 42 percent, with Ms. Harris on the ticket, and 52 percent to 42 percent with Ms. Warren beside him. Other black contenders mentioned by a sizable number of Monmouth respondents included the former Georgia legislator Stacey Abrams and Representative Val B. Demings of Florida. Some other possible running mates, including the former national security adviser Susan E. Rice and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta, were named by considerably fewer people. The Monmouth study was conducted in early June, as anti-racism protests flared across the country. There’s little doubt that the public’s sharpened focus on race probably pushed some voters toward supporting an African-American contender. But the Democratic electorate has for years been growing broadly more concerned about matters of racial justice, which are likely to figure prominently into the remainder of the campaign. And Democratic voters don’t just see choosing a black running mate as the virtuous thing to do — they consider it good strategy, too. Of the Democratic primary voters who spoke to Monmouth researchers, roughly three in five said they thought picking a woman of color would help Mr. Biden’s chances in November. That part matters: Since the start of the primary campaign, Democratic voters have said their main focus is on beating President Trump in the general election. A presumption that Mr. Biden was the safe and electable choice sat at the heart of his appeal to many primary voters. Mr. Biden holds a sizable lead over Mr. Trump in most head-to-head polls, including a national Fox News survey released Thursday, which found the former vice president with a 12-point advantage. But Democrats are not yet as enthusiastic about Mr. Biden’s candidacy as they have been about many past nominees at this point in the race, and with a pandemic keeping him mostly off the campaign trail, Democratic voters are looking for reassurance that the Biden campaign is making wise and winning decisions. The choosing of a running mate is a prime opportunity to make that case. Mr. Biden pledged during the primary battle that he would choose a woman as his running mate, and his campaign is in the midst of vetting close to a dozen contenders. In April, black women across the country signed on to a public letter making the case that the vice-presidential nominee should be an African-American. “It is a fact that the road to the White House is powered by Black women and Black women are the key to a Democratic victory in 2020,” they wrote. “Black women are not only the most loyal voters for the Democratic Party — we are key to igniting Black voters across all demographics to show up in record numbers.” In 2016, Hillary Clinton had the overwhelming support of black voters, but they did not turn out in nearly the same numbers they had for Barack Obama four years earlier. This contributed to her Electoral College defeat. While Mr. Biden leaned heavily on support from black voters in the primary election, polls thus far have shown that he still has significant room to grow if he wants to outpace Mrs. Clinton’s numbers among this group. He shows particular weakness among younger African-Americans. But if black voters make up a crucial part of the Democratic base, so do liberals. These voters have long been wary of the relatively moderate Mr. Biden, and some recent polls have shown that as many as one-third of liberals expressed a negative view of him. And naming a candidate such as Ms. Harris or Ms. Demings, both of whom held prominent roles in law enforcement before coming to Washington, could be a letdown to some on the left — particularly at a moment when the role of the police in society is coming under intense public scrutiny. Until recently, polls tended to suggest that Ms. Warren was the most popular vice-presidential contender among Democratic voters. A presidential hopeful turned Biden confidante, Ms. Warren has the trust of many liberals — and in the primary she earned some of her strongest support from female and suburban voters, groups that Democrats consider crucial to a win in November. Ms. Warren’s +57 net favorability rating among liberals in a CNN poll last month was considerably better than Ms. Harris’s (+42). But more respondents said they had yet to make up their minds one way or the other about Ms. Harris. RECOMMENDED READING Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times   Bolton Unites Republicans and Democrats in Scorn Over Tell-All Book Democrats slammed the former national security adviser for saving his damning revelations for a book instead of sharing them with impeachment investigators. Republicans hit him for speaking out. By Luke Broadwater and Emily Cochrane Todd Heisler/The New York Times   Klobuchar Drops Out of Biden’s V.P. Search and Backs Picking a Woman of Color Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota was considered a strong contender to be Joe Biden’s running mate until protests over racial justice prompted renewed scrutiny of her former role as a prosecutor. By Reid J. Epstein Were you forwarded this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Is there anything you think we’re missing? Anything you want to see more of? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for On Politics with Lisa Lerer from The New York Times. To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Subscribe to The Times |Get The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your Email|Privacy Policy|Contact Us The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018