ATLANTA (AP) – As she checked in for a recent flight to Mexico for the holidays, Teja Smith laughed at the thought of joining another Women’s March on Washington.
As a Black woman, she had no idea she was helping to reenact the largest act of resistance to then-President Donald Trump’s first term in January 2017. Trump also held rallies with racist insults during this year’s election, when he questioned his opponent’s race. He didn’t just win a second term after falsely claiming that black immigrants in Ohio were eating residents’ pets. He was the first Republican in 20 years to win the popular vote, albeit by a narrow margin.
“It’s what people have said, and this is what America is,” said Smith, founder of Get Social, a Los Angeles-based advocacy social media agency. “And there are no more battles you can fight without losing your mind.”
Reliable news and daily fun delivered to your inbox
See for yourself — Yodel is your go-to source for daily news, entertainment, and fun stories.
After Trump was declared the winner over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, many politically active black women were so disappointed in the outcome that they were reevaluating their enthusiasm for electoral politics and campaign organizations. However, he said he has not completely given up on it.
Black women often do much of the work of making voting a reality in their communities. They energetically supported the historic candidacy of Harris, who would have been the first black and South Asian woman to be elected president.
Harris’ loss sparked a wave of Black women on social media determined to put themselves first before making significant contributions to a country that has repeatedly shown indifference to their concerns.
In a survey of more than 120,000 voters, AP VoteCast found that 6 in 10 Black women say the future of U.S. democracy is the most important factor in voting this year, a higher percentage than other black women. found to be higher than other population groups. But now, with Trump set to return to office in two months, some Black women are focusing on rest, focusing on their mental health, and thinking more about what fights they’ll put their organizational skills to. We once again urge people to be cautious.
“America is going to have to save itself,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the national voting rights group Black Voters Matter.
She cites the presence of Black women as “core strategists and core organizers” in social justice movements, from their seemingly fixed positions in the sky to the most consistent and reliable stars in the galaxy. He likened it to the well-known North Star. People can look to Black women to lead change, but the next four years will be different, Brown said.
“It’s not hard work for us. We don’t want that title. … I don’t have the goal of being a martyr for a country that has no interest in me,” she said.
AP VoteCast clearly depicts the concerns of Black women.
Black women voters were most likely to say democracy was the most important factor in their vote, compared to other motivations such as high prices or abortion. More than 7 in 10 black women voters said they were “very concerned” that Trump’s election would lead the country toward authoritarianism, but only 2 in 10 said the same about Harris. There were only people.
Approximately 9 in 10 black women voters support Harris in 2024, according to AP VoteCast, similar to the percentage who supported Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. Mr. Trump received the support of more than half of white voters, and white voters made up the bulk of his coalition. both years.
Like voters overall, Black women are the most likely to say the economy and jobs are the most important issues facing the country, with about a third saying so. But they were more likely than many other groups to say abortion and racism were the most important issues, and much less likely than other groups to say immigration was the most important issue. .
Despite these concerns, increased support from young men of color and white women, who often spoke out from black women throughout the campaign, widened Trump’s lead and ensured his victory.
Politically engaged black women say they do not intend to continue placing themselves at the center of the “backbone” of American democracy. The growing movement for black women’s exit is a shift from a history in which black women have often been present and at the forefront of political and social change.
One of the earliest examples is the women’s suffrage movement, which led to the ratification in 1920 of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which gave women the right to vote. But Jim Crow-era literacy tests, poll taxes, and laws that prevented the grandchildren of slaves from voting prevented black women from voting for decades afterward. Most black women could not vote until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Black women were among the organizers and participants in the brutal march on Alabama’s Edmund Pettus Bridge during the historic Selma to Montgomery march of 1965, which preceded federal legislation. It was also included in the. Decades later, Black women became prominent organizers of the Black Lives Matter movement against the deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police and vigilantes.
In his 2024 campaign, Trump called for federal funding to be used to eliminate discussion of race, gender and sexual orientation in diversity, equity and inclusion programs and schools in government programs. His rhetoric on immigration, including false claims that black Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating dogs and cats, boosted support for his plan to deport millions of people.
Tenita Taylor, a Black Atlanta resident who supported Trump this year, said she was initially excited about Harris’ candidacy. But after thinking about how expensive groceries were, she feels that voting for Trump in hopes of eventually lowering prices was a form of self-preference.
“People say, ‘That’s selfish, it’s for the greater good,'” she says. “I’m a mother of five children. …What[Democrats]are doing is either going to affect the rich or the poor.”
Some of President Trump’s plans affect people in Olivia Gordon’s immediate community, which is why she struggled to stay on top of the Black Women’s Retreat wave. Gordon, a New York-based lawyer who supported Socialism and Liberation Party presidential candidate Claudia de la Cruz, wonders who will be left behind if 92% of black female voters who supported Harris stop supporting her. I’m concerned.
“We’re talking about millions of Black women here. If millions of Black women take a step back, there’s definitely going to be a hole left, but for other Black women,” she said. “I think sometimes we get stuck in a bubble where we think maybe it doesn’t apply to us unless it’s someone close to us. And we need people to understand that this is actually happening. I sincerely hope you do.”
Nicole Lewis, an Alabama-based therapist who specializes in stress treatment for Black women, said she recognizes the potential negative effects of Black women withdrawing from social impact movements. Ta. But she also hopes it will make the public understand the consequences of not standing in solidarity with black women.
“It can hurt things because you don’t have a voice from the most empathetic group,” she said. “I think it’s also going to give other groups an opportunity to step up. … My hope is for them to show up for themselves and others.”
Brown said a reckoning may be just what the country needs, but it’s a reckoning for everyone else. Black women did their part, she said, by supporting Harris in droves in the hopes that she could thwart the sweeping changes expected under the Trump administration.
“This is not our calculation,” she said. “I don’t feel guilty.”
____
Associated Press Polling Editor Amelia Thomson DeVoe and Associated Press Writer Lynley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content.
