I'm Kimberly Crenshaw, and this is Intersectionality Matters, the podcast that brings intersectionality to life by exploring the hidden dimensions of today's most pressing issues, from say her name to the war on woke, DEI and CRT, and the global rise of fascism.

This idea travelogue lifts up the work of leading activists,

artists, and scholars and helps listeners understand politics, the law, social movements,

and even their own lives in deeper, more nuanced ways.

I'm sure many of you listeners were energized and inspired by the possibility of the first

black women president of the United States.

So now I give you our vice president, Kamala Harris.

We are grabbing back the pin.

That pin to forge a new path with Kamala Harris.

We are so happy to be standing here on this stage as proud country, Texas women, supporting, celebrating the one and only Vice President Kamala Harris.

To me, Vice President Harris stood on the shoulders of our unsung heroes of the past.

Black women, like Shirley Chisholm or Barbara Jordan, all of whom believed that there

was room in our democracy for the leadership of black women. But in politics, like in so many

other public domains, there's still a sturdy glass ceiling. And we knew that those who benefit from that glass ceiling

wouldn't stand idly by and watch us shatter it. We also could have predicted that they'd play dirty

to keep the status quo. That's exactly what we saw when they seized upon long-standing racial tropes combined

with gendered ones, while insisting that anyone pointing out the directionality of their jabs

was the real racist. Journalist Brittany Pagnett summed it up well.

So let's look at what's been happening to Kamala Harris as an example. She slept her way to the top. That's the black Jezebel trope, right?

Yes.

She's not smart enough. That's the black laziness trope.

They're commenting on her looks as if that is what she leads with.

...