Don’t Just Thank Black Women. Follow Us.

When I joined the 470,000 other women who walked down Constitution Avenue toward the National Mall on Jan. 21, the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, I carried a sign saying, “Don’t Forget, White Women Voted for Trump.”

My message stood in stark contrast to the theme of togetherness that dominated the Women’s March — the pink “pussy hats” and “girl power” placards, and chants about how women would lead the resistance. This was exactly the point. I made the sign to communicate that in a world where 53 percent of white women voters chose a racist, elitist sexual predator for president, the idea that we all want the same thing is a myth.

The point wasn’t to antagonize the Women’s March participants, who were mostly white. Rather, I wanted to highlight that on a national level, white women are not unified in opposition to Trumpism and can’t be counted on to fight it. Instead, it’s the identity, experience and leadership of black women that we must look to.

Democrats want to position themselves as a pro-woman, pro-immigrant, pro-equality party. We do ourselves a disservice if we believe the myth that a majority of white women voting in the era of Trump are moved by that message. The numbers don’t lie: For many white women, it’s racial identity, not gender or party, that guides their choices in the voting booth. As my sign pointed out, in 2016 more than half of white female voters chose Mr. Trump. A year later, in Virginia, 51 percent of white women voted for the Republican Ed Gillespie, who lost after running an anti-immigrant, white-nationalist-sympathizing, Steve Bannon-backed campaign for governor.

Last week, by late Tuesday evening, we learned that two-thirds of white female voters in Alabama had once again voted for the Trump agenda, casting ballots for Roy Moore, a man accused of sexually assaulting teenagers and one with a dismal record on civil rights who was on tape saying the country was last “great” during slavery.

Despite this, the Democratic candidate, Doug Jones, was able to score an unlikely victory thanks to the historic turnout of black voters — specifically, black women. A full 98 percent cast ballots for Mr. Jones. Ninety-eight percent.

If I had to make another sign after the Alabama election, it would say this: “Bet on black women. Follow black women. Give power to black women.” I’d wave it in front of the …

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