I have been reflecting on the past month and all of the women who have been acknowledged and celebrated throughout the month. I am thinking about the wonderful conversations I had during International Women’s Day about the various women who are making a difference across the globe. I have also been thinking about the women I would like to research further as I continue to highlight the accomplishments of women who are working diligently to make this country more equitable and welcoming for all. I have been thinking a lot about women who run for office, especially Black women—the sacrifices they make and the vision they bring forth to make their cities, states, and this country a better place. I think often about Stacey Abrams, two-time Georgia gubernatorial candidate, and Val Demmings and Cherie Beasley, who ran for the Senate in Florida and North Carolina, respectively. I think about the challenges they faced as Black female candidates running statewide, the lack of support from institutions and individuals where support should have been a guarantee, and the attacks on everything from their physical appearance to their families to their personal safety. Running for office is a difficult endeavor; there is a reason they call it public service. In so many ways, candidates give themselves over to the public and their lives, their daily movements, and their private decisions become fodder for the public. It is a lot to ask of anyone, but the interplay of racism and sexism make running for office for Black women an endeavor that is multifaceted and often much more complex when compared to other racial and ethnic groups running for office, and definitely when compared to men running for office. When was the last time there were articles about a male candidate’s hair—or lack of it? A record number of Black women are running for the House and the Senate this election year. Even though Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) was not successful in her Democratic primary bid for Senate, the campaigns of Executive Angela Alsobrooks (Prince George’s County, Md.) and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) could still yield positive outcomes. As I always write in this column, we must invest financially in the democracy we want to see—even if candidates are not in our home states. It is my sincere hope that during the month of March, you were able to highlight some of the women in your life and even learn about women you didn’t know much about, past and present. I hope that we will one day move toward a society where we are beyond firsts and have a greater sense of equity. Until then, we keep learning and we keep voting.
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC and host of The Blackest Questions podcast at TheGrio; and a 2023–24 Moynihan Public Scholars Fellow at CCNY.