White people raise money for Kamala Harris via Zoom, giving hope to scholar Kimberly Crenshaw

When news of a massive, star-studded Zoom fundraiser for white Kamala Harris supporters hit the internet, it certainly raised eyebrows.

Fundraising activities from the following groups Winning with Black Women and South Asian women support Harris This is perhaps to be expected, as Harris is a woman of mixed Black and South Asian descent. Winning with Black Also intuitive. But is the fundraiser only for white people?

“I think the scientific term is actually female mucus,” Cracking Jon Stewart The Daily Show After learning that 100,000 people attended a fundraiser called “White Women: Answer the Call.” “‘White Men Support Kamala’ is even more cliché than it sounds” Summary of Cut.

The fundraiser was a huge success. White women: answer the callwhich includes Celebrities including Connie Britton, P!nk and Megan Rapinoe Out of more than 160,000 attendees, $11 million was raised for the Harris campaign last week and 30,000 volunteers were sent to Women for Harris. Kamala’s White ManThe event, which was attended by Jeff Bridges, Mark Hamill and Pete Buttigieg, raised $4 million following Monday’s call.

“The idea is: How can we use our platform and our privilege to do what Black women and men are doing on the call?” Shannon Watts, organizer of the conference call the prominent gun violence prevention activist explained in an interview with The Cut. She added: “This is more of a reckoning than a rally.”

Still, some onlookers are ambivalent, even disdainful. Many progressives believe that White people as a distinct identity group At the same time, appeals only to white people can be confusing. Why not set up a fundraiser for Harris supporters of all identities?

When it comes to how white feminism intersects with the work of electing women of color to public office, no one is better equipped to tease out the nuances than legal scholar and activist Kimberlé Crenshaw. Critical Race TheoryA few years ago, the legal concept stirred conservative enthusiasm, and she proposed IntersectionalityOr examine how multiple modes of oppression work together. So I called her to get her thoughts on Harris’s fundraiser for white people.

Crenshaw spoke with me from Nashville, Tennessee, where she is co-founder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum, which is hosting its fifth annual Critical Race Series summer school. Together we discussed how today’s organizers can draw inspiration from the successes and failures of the civil rights movement, and why those who want to protect democracy should start thinking intersectionally. Our conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What was your first reaction when you saw fundraisers like “White Men for Harris” and “White Women: Answer the Call” start to take off?

That really tells us the difference between this candidate and Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to run for president. I mean, Shirley Chisholm couldn’t get any of the support from any of the constituencies, including the Congressional Black Caucus. So we’re in a different world.

Not only are there Black women (who are currently in a position to raise millions of dollars), but there are also white women, Black men, white men, and then there are South Asians getting involved: it seems to me that people are realizing more than ever that in order to ensure that our democracy doesn’t unravel further, people have to be willing to organize in their communities. They have to be willing to address the dynamics that they fear might prevent their communities from supporting Kamala Harris for president.

In the black male group, they’re talking about sexism. I mean, this is an important moment. In the white female group, they’re talking about racism. So, yes, this is probably what (legal scholar and civil rights activist) Derek Bell calls a convergence of interests. There’s a convergence of interests between those of us who think and talk and write about intersectionality and those who want to save this democracy. They have to think in intersectional ways right now. That means white women think about racism, black men think about sexism, and white men think about both of those things. It’s an amazing moment to see these groups come together and have the conversations they think are important.

I think a lot of people, when they first see these events, think, “Oh, this is like White History Month. White people tend to be the default. Why have an event just for them? Why not have an event that’s open to everyone?” So I’m wondering if you think this is a valid choice, and if so, what makes it effective.

It’s a misreading of the moment, and I think it’s an underestimation of what’s different about these efforts, which are often formed around categories that aren’t labeled or noticed. Look, a lot of people have a lot to say about this. White women voted for TrumpSo how do you fix it? The solution is for white women who don’t support Trump to mobilize other white women to talk about this: What should people be thinking and saying that they’re not thinking and saying? What do they need to do to mobilize a particular political group?

I think that simply saying it’s White History Month is not a particularly mature response. In fact, I think it’s a little silly. It’s about recognizing that race, gender, and other factors do form a consistent political axis in our communities, and that it’s important to find ways to speak to those constituents, and to speak to them in a way that doesn’t affirm the worst aspects of those historical categories. That enables the best mobilization, the best ways to have internal conversations so that we can secure our democracy.

We see the possibility of raising awareness, galvanizing enthusiasm, and raising resources so that this enthusiasm has a chance to actually transform into a powerful political coalition that can put a non-dictator in the White House.

So do you think this identity-based fundraising approach is a good strategy that can continue throughout this election cycle and even into the future?

Well, nobody knows what’s going to happen during an election, right? So we’re in a period where a dead campaign has clearly turned people into excitement. Apparently, frustration has turned into excitement. It’s a fluid situation.

But let’s be clear about one other thing: Race, gender, class. These issues have always existed throughout this country. It’s a mistake to think that these issues will suddenly disappear at some point no matter what happens, even if Kamala Harris gets elected. Too many people made that mistake when Obama got elected. I hope people don’t make that mistake again. These are deep-rooted issues in our society, and because most of the time they’re used in a negative way, people think they’re inherently meant to only produce exclusion and power.

But there were a lot of white people organizing as white people to defend democracy and racial equality. I mean, one of the great conventions of the entire civil rights movement was that white people also put their bodies on the line because they knew that, as white people, their ability to mobilize for a true multiracial democracy would be disproportionately noticed in the media. It was using white identity to dismantle exclusion. We need to tell more stories like this.

We’re talking about this because these stories are not the history we learn in school. Parents object to teaching our racial history because they say it will be divisive or make their children sad. This is proof that we haven’t learned anything about these people who organized as white people to advance and promote racial inclusion, democracy, and a true multiracial democracy.