The Democrats Are Taking Black Women for Granted

A new poll shows the party’s base is losing patience. Women at the Congressional Black Caucus’ annual conference explain why.

Keith Ellison spent the two hours mostly in silence. The Democratic congressman from Minnesota—and deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee—flipped through a white binder, jotting notes with a royal blue pen that perfectly matched his tie. He typed into his plum-cased smartphone. He gestured to an empty seat for some latecomer slipping into the back of the room. Whenever a speaker mentioned his name, especially with a compliment, Ellison gave a thumbs-up. But mostly he was in receiving mode—the deferential host of a discussion on “ReCentering the Experiences of Black Women to Achieve Economic Justice” at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual legislative conference in Washington.

The panel included the critical race theory scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, who pioneered the concept of intersectional feminism, which describes how overlapping systems of oppression like race and gender compound one another. (It’s “the way to analyze issues of equity,” Ellison stressed to the crowd.) Crenshaw was joined by Valerie Wilson, who directs the Economic Policy Institute’s program on race, ethnicity, and the economy; Brittany Lewis, a doctorate research associate at the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs; and Deborah Watts, co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation. An abundance of expertise for the issue at hand.

But Ellison had extra reason to provide a platform for these speakers this week. Black women are the Democratic Party’s most loyal voters, yet many of them are feeling neglected eight months into Donald Trump’s presidency. Symone Sanders, a Democratic strategist who served as Bernie Sanders’s press secretary during last year’s campaign, is fond of saying that “black women voted at 94 percent for Hillary Clinton, and they have yet to get a thank-you card.” Instead, many resent what they see as a new Democratic …

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