The Indianapolis Recorder sat down with author and speaker Dante King to get his take on what Kamala Harris’s campaign loss means for voters and how people perceive Black women in leadership. King is the author of “The 400 Year Holocaust” and the upcoming book, “Diagnosing Whiteness and Anti-Blackness.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Camike Jones: The 2024 presidential election has been decided, and the results have been accepted. What can we learn from looking back at Kamala Harris’s campaign now?
Dante King: I think we can learn a series of things. It’s important to look back historically.
When I look at the politics of how race functions in this country and the politics of sex and gender, there’s a psychological programming that’s taken place that has established that people who are not white, who are not male, who are not heterosexual, who are not cisgendered have to do more. And you’re never seen as good enough no matter how much you do.
I take from UCLA Law professor, Cheryl Harris. She wrote a paper entitled “Whiteness as Property.” She says whiteness is the most valuable asset a person can have in the U.S. If you look at this through a historical lens, the Naturalization Act of 1790, citizenship was based on whiteness. (To be a citizen) you had to be white and live in the country for two years.
Jones: Some would argue that race-based laws of the past have no bearing on what happens today and Harris earning the presidential nomination was proof of that. How can you say there’s not an equal playing field now?
King: I recommend that people immerse themselves in the facts. All they have to do is go and locate their local, state and federal policies. Investigate how certain policies are functioning now, not just in terms of their wording, but their enforcement. Who are (the policies) advancing progress for and who are they working against?
Jones: There were voters who stated that they didn’t agree with Harris’s economic policy or did not feel she could keep the country safe. Why couldn’t it just be that voters didn’t think she was the right person for the job?
King: As I heard people try to critique her policies or lack of policies, what policies did Donald Trump present that would signify to the American people that their lives would be better? There were no detailed policies from Trump that identified that the lives of everyday Americans would be improved substantially.
When we discuss Harris, what she did or didn’t present, what are we comparing? She presented a $25,000 down payment for homeownership, a $6,000 child tax credit; those are very specific things.
Jones: You talk about how people focused on how Harris spoke in addition to the claims that she was unqualified. How do you feel that relates to other Black women in leadership?
King: It’s not even a double-standard. Black people, and particularly Black women, are held to, not just the highest standard, but unrealistic standards. Even when the standards are met or exceeded, there are still questions.
When we look at someone like Harris, by merit (she) has the strongest resume of any presidential candidate who has ever run. This woman was a state’s attorney general. She was a senator, and she was vice president. So, we’ve got executive, legislative and judicial covered. No other person has that resume.
I see this playing out everyday as I work with organizations where Black women are the highest educated per capita as it pertains to the degrees they hold, but their skills are questioned or their demeanor. With Harris we saw she was critiqued because of her laugh. It’s entirely problematic.
What I say in my book is that over time this leads to disruptions in our nervous system, because we can never be good enough. We can never do enough. And we exhaust ourselves mentally, emotionally and physically by trying to prove our worth against an idea of deficiency that has been psychologically programmed into the cultural mindset of people in this country.
Jones: What can people who are not Black women do to support Black women in leadership positions?
King: They first have to accept that this is the reality for Black people and for Black women. They then need to examine themselves. Who did they learn to take instruction or guidance from? Who did they learn deserves support? Who did they learn to not value?
For other people, we may not even be doing anything to hurt them, but we’re not giving them as much support as we’re giving people that we believe in.
There can be a lack of belief in Black women. There can also be hostility and resentment. After this election, with Harris not receiving the majority of the popular vote, it very much reinforced it for me.
We have to understand how these dynamics were inherently at play, and we have to study it from a cultural, historical and sociopolitical lens.
Dante King’s 10-part docuseries is launching Dec. 7 at www.diagnosingwhitenessandantiblackness.com. His newest book, “Diagnosing Whiteness & Anti-Blackness” will be available in February 2025 in celebration of Black History Month. For more information, visit www.danteking.com.
Contact Editor-in-Chief Camike Jones at 317-762-7850.
