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What The Most Recent US Presidential Race Taught Me About Ableism and Intersectionality in Politics and Elsewhere
The bleeding edge has scabbed over.
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Electing Barack Obama
On the evening of November 4th, 2008, I watched as my mom erupted into tears of joy and disbelief in front of about two dozen other people in attendance at the election watch party her, my dad, my brother, and I had been invited to, right as it was announced that our country had just elected its first Black president. She is a Black woman who was born at the tail end of Jim Crow, had descended from slaves, and grew up in Iowa during the 60’s and 70’s experiencing utterly barbaric displays of racism from her community and never thought she’d live to see a Black president elected.
Nowadays
Fast forward to 2024 as concerns from numerous directions mounted over Joe Biden’s subtly unusual manner of speaking and walking, Gus Walz was mercilessly insulted by the public over a brief display of enthusiasm for his father’s recent accomplishments, and Donald Trump accused Kamala Harris of “turning Black”. When the actual election came around, enough of the country proved once more that it will…
