Right now Black women are focusing on the greater good in no other way or direction that we have ever had in the history of this country. 

Black women have factually driven all social rights movements to success, have held and healed the pain in our own communities and offered guidance to every other community. Black women have continued on from the naysayers, misogyny, systemic, institutional, personal racism to being the highest educated group in the U.S. for the past five years — dominating with grace and even humility.  

Having a woman run the very institutions designed to maintain her position as subservient is uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable for white folx, it’s uncomfortable for Black folx. 

There is uncertainty of loyalty, of the damage endured through the positions Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has held. I see that she centers herself within two cultures that are not white. There are conversations and approaches to life she has had as she grew up that were only conversations of excellence about how to be 10 times better just to get half the recognition. This mentality has to be deeply ingrained as it  shapes your identity. 

Harris was taught and groomed in extremely Black institutions and in every level of her education her identity was enriched. After this, her accomplishments throughout her employment as an attorney, a DA, and the vice president of the U.S. are all indications that not only does she understand white supremacy culture but can navigate it without losing her grounding. That is remarkable. 

There are no institutional establishments within this country that aren’t working diligently to prevent this level of accomplishment for women of the global majority, for women who are non-white. To their distress, the people of the global majority have awoken and are rightfully occupying positions that can help our communities. We are all trying to work around or through the institutions that uphold the privileged for first place in opportunities they could grow in. 

I believe that supremacy, by nature, lacks dimension. The lack of creativity, cultural exposure, humility, mental and spiritual balance, discipline and drive aren’t synonyms with privilege. However, to survive white supremacy those very traits are what not only help you survive it, but dismantle it and recreate a community of belonging. 

Black women know this. Black women not only teach it, share it, but exude it, and just by the evidence of nothing ever being shared or handed to us, we’ve created it. 

To this day, we will still make sure the youngest, weakest, most frustrated are heard, seen and included. 

There is no question that being Black matters. There is no question that being an aware Black woman is a force to be reckoned with, but this force is not the same you are used to. It doesn’t come in the form of oppression, it comes in the form of expectation — the expectation is that we, as a collective community, can do hard things. 

To people who doubt the ability of Black women, there’s no need to apologize. Even if we make it to the end of this election cycle and are able to help curate a new direction for this country, it will be difficult. 

Just commit to yourself, to do better. Work on deconstructing old beliefs that haven’t served you. It’s not because someone is Black or a woman or non-binary, disabled, or an immigrant as to why they have a position or a ranking. Nothing has been given away.  It is because they forgave, they ignored, they focused on a bigger picture and persisted anyway. Things you’ve never seen, things we’ve collectively only dreamed of, can be done with a dedication to what is best for the greater good of humanity. 

This is a Black woman’s motto. We can love through hate, and if Black women haven’t shown you anything else, I’m willing to bet, it’s that.  

Ayisha Elliott’s podcast Black Girl From Eugene is raw and uncensored monologues and conversations about living while Black in the PNW. Listen locally at 11 am Sundays on FB Live; simulcast on KEPW 97.3 FM. Find it on all major podcasting platforms. You can support BGFE at Patreon.com/Blackgirlfromeugene_1.