Earlier this month, MSNBC host Joy Reid stated that Black women have “resigned” from efforts to “save America” after Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris to become this nation’s next president.
In a TikTok video, Reid told white progressive women who are planning to protest against President-elect Donald Trump to not invite Black women to their plans. This sentiment deeply resonated with Black women across America.
“I’m just gonna tell you right now: They’re not coming,” she said in the clip. “I’m pretty sure Black women have resigned from the ‘save America’ coalition, ‘save democracy’ coalition and definitely the ‘save the Democratic Party’ coalition.”
Instead, Reid explained that we are instead looking out for our communities first and foremost.
“I think Black women are now on the ‘save Black women,’ ‘prioritize Black men’ and ‘prioritize Black communities, Black businesses’ and ... you know, the Black spaces,” Reid stated. “But ‘save America,’ ‘save the Democratic Party’ – yeah, I don’t think that’s happening.”
According to the Associated Press, Black women comprised 6% of votes in the 2024 presidential election, with 89% of that group voting for Harris and 10% supporting Trump.
The outlet also noted that forty-percent of this year’s voters were white women, with 53% voted for Trump. A similar occurrence happened in 2016 when the majority of white women voted for Trump as well as in 2020, according to the New York Times.
However, in 2017, white women still clamored together for the Women’s March protest which was held the day after Trump’s inauguration. More than 500,000 people attended the demonstration in Washington, D.C. There were subsequent protests around the country.
After Trump lost to in 2020 to President Biden—something he denies until this day—his attempt to regain the White House became even more vicious and dehumanizing.
He questioned if Harris was really Black throughout his campaign, quoted Hitler, falsely insisted that Black migrants in Ohio were eating residents’ pets and doubled down on anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Not only was Trump victorious but he became the first Republican in 20 years to seize the popular vote even though it was a by a small margin. When Harris announced her official candidacy in July, Black women immediately got behind as Win With Black Women to raise funds for her historic campaign.
If Harris defeated Trump, she would have become the first Black and first South Asian woman to become President of the United States. From the Civil Rights Movement to #MeToo to Black Lives Matter, Black women have been instrumental in galvanizing communities and fighting for this country’s greater good.
Trump’s victory signifies that our efforts, though not entirely in vein, are unappreciated and routinely disregarded. Don’t look to us for showing up at your anti-Trump demonstrations: Black women did what we had to do at the polls.