by Jennifer Roberts

When the English set sail from Europe in the early 1600’s, they left in search of freedom.  They sought freedom over their lives and were willing to brave the unknown in search of it.  Some Europeans sought riches, others sought religious freedom and I would imagine that some sought both.  They formulated what would become the American dream, the idea that if they worked hard, they could have a better life for themselves and their families.  They sought liberty in their thoughts, independence in their choices. They risked their lives to attain these ideals because they understood the value of freedom, if only through a dream. 

Sadly, what began as a dogged pursuit of freedom quickly deteriorated into abhorrent and unprovoked acts of human annihilation and domination which gave rise to white supremacy.  Instead of the Europeans immigrating cooperatively and peacefully, believing that there were enough resources to share, these invaders violently forced their way into already established Native American civilizations, disrupted ancient traditions, stole countless acres of land, murdered millions of indigenous people and transmitted deadly European.  The original dream became a horrific nightmare for Native Americans and later Africans and African Americans who were forced to endure legal, chattel slavery for 246 years.  The only people who were collectively participating in and benefitting from the pursuit of the dream were wealthy white men.

Fast forward 157 years to 1776.  Thomas Jefferson, a life-long enslaver of Black people, was the primary draftsmen of the Declaration of Independence which included the often-quoted words, “… all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  These aspirations sound inclusive but they were only ever intended to apply to wealthy, white men despite the use of the word “all.” 

Let’s move ahead to 2024.  The  sick, twisted, white supremacy of Thomas Jefferson and other enslaving leaders like George Washington and James Madison is alive and well.  We hear it every time we hear Donald Trump dehumanize Black people by making ignorant references to a non-existent, “Black job,”  and referring to Haiti and African nations as “$hi#@hole” countries.  We hear disrespect in the intentional (my personal belief) mispronunciation of Vice President Harris’ name which hearkens to the time of legal, American racial apartheid which condoned white people publicly called Black men and women, “boy,”  or “gal,” or referring to them by their first names instead of addressing them as “Mr.” or “Ms.”  Trump is not alone.  We recently heard the overt racism in Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett’s  false remarks about Vice President Kamala Harris qualifications. 

According to NBC News, “He recently posted on X, ‘The media propped up this president, lied to the American people for three years and then dumped him for our DEI vice president.  He also referred to Harris as a “DEI hire” in a brief interview Monday, telling CNN that during the 2020 campaign Joe Biden said, ‘He was going to hire a Black female for the vice president.  What about white females?  What about other groups?  According to the same NBC article, Biden said at a March 2020 Democratic debate that he’d choose a female running mate but did not mention race or ethnicity.”

I clearly see the hood of white supremacy in the devious work of Ed Blum, (American Alliance for Equal Rights) in suing the Fearless Fund, a venture capital firm owned by Arian Simone that supports Black women, claiming that the fund’s Strivers Grant Contest violates a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibiting racial discrimination.  Time and time again, the message is loud and clear in the United States, “The freedom sought by British invaders is not for you Black people. The freedom sought by slaveholding hypocrites like Thomas Jefferson is not for you Black people.” 

All symbolic and tangible advancements that Black people have gained in this country were achieved through forceful opposition to White supremacy.  We have advanced not because the systems of the United States chose to do right but Black people but because we as Black people took responsibility for ourselves and demanded changes. It took the Civil War and the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation to end slavery.  It took the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to legally (not socially) protect Black people from discrimination.  It took the Supreme Court decision of Brown vs. The Board of Education in 1954 to give Black children the right to attend school with White children.   It took the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is under attack today, to legally (not socially) protect Black people against racial discrimination.  It took affirmative action to protect Black people in institutions of higher learning and in the workplace.  It took the passing of the Crown Act in 2019 to legally (not socially) protect Black people from hair-based discrimination.  It is important to note that none of these laws protect Black Americans exclusively; in fact all of these laws offer protection to every American who finds himself marginalized which offers us an opportunity to see that Black people remain at the bottom of America’s caste system and to understand that when Black people are treated equitably, the possibility exists for all Americans to be treated equitably.   Let me say it a different way, when we as a country choose to do right by Black people, everybody benefits.

Kamala Harris life illustrates the ideas and ideals on which this country was built, and I believe that her very presence terrifies white supremacists who desire to remain in power. Harris has served as President Biden’s vice president for the last three and a half years.  She is a former prosecutor, attorney general and senator from California, the largest state in the country and one of the most ethnically diverse.  She is a graduate of Howard University, one of our country’s HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and earned her law degree from the University of California Hastings College of San Francisco.  In her capacity as second in command, she has traveled to 19 countries meeting with more than 150 world leaders to improve international relations.  She is the daughter of immigrants, who not only taught her the value of advocacy but modeled it for her as she observed their participation in civil rights protests from her stroller.  A wife to her husband and bonus mom to their children, Vice President Harris is a shining example of who each of us can be as Americans.  Her presence reminds us all that the dreams of our country’s framers, architects, builders and property managers, not just the European ones, indeed apply to Black people though we’ve been denied the equitable opportunities to fully realize and enjoy them.

Vice President Harris is the phenomenal woman and the dream and the of the hope of the slave that Dr. Maya Angelou wrote about in in her poems.  She is the manifestation of many answered prayers.  She is our ancestors’ wildest dreams and white supremacy’s worst nightmare.  Madam Vice President is perfectly positioned and energized to keep working on behalf of the American people as president of the United States.  I look forward to calling her Madam President and tearfully watching that artificially erected glass ceiling shatter into a million pieces.  I look forward to her winning the upcoming election which will help us to remember that the American dream is in fact a dream for us all.

(Jennifer Roberts is a Prince William County resident and founder of Conversations In the Community and the Sawubona School. Find out more about it here.)