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COMMENTARY: Racism and Sexism Help End Kamala Harris’ Presidential Campaign
NNPA NEWSWIRE — “I’m mad at the triple standard [Harris] has to face when it comes to her race and gender, putting food on the table and choosing a life partner. I’m mad that so-called allies are only allies when Black women are helping them to attain their goals and perfectly willing to throw us under the bus, once they’ve gotten there. I’m mad that the same folks who are now saying we need Harris at the impeachment hearings are unwilling and unable to see a Black woman in the highest office of the land.”
By Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., NNPA Newswire Entertainment and Culture Editor
Yesterday, Senator Kamala Harris announced she was suspending her 2020 presidential campaign, because of low poll numbers and financial pressures. Unsurprisingly, this announcement came on the heels of a coordinated weekend media blitz of a leaked resignation letter by Kelly Mehlenbacher, a disgruntled staffer, who had unsurprisingly left Harris’ campaign to work with former New York City Mayor and billionaire, Michael Bloomberg on his newly announced candidacy.
Harris had announced in early November there would be widespread layoffs and an intense focus on Iowa so Ray Charles could see from the grave that the campaign was in trouble.
Pundits, news publications and political junkies treated Mehlenbacher’s letter like a smoking gun, which detailed how horrible of a work environment Harris created blaming Harris’ lack of leadership, focus and clear vision on how to win for the current state of affairs. Mehlenbacher laid Harris’ issues at the feet of the leadership (Campaign chairwoman Maya Harris and Campaign manager Juan Rodriguez), without detailing what role she may have played in the demise of the campaign as Director of State Operations.
Mehlenbacher’s job was to make sure the campaign was run efficiently by planning, executing, monitoring, evaluating, improving and correcting the systems and processes over time so the campaign could grow and scale as the candidate moved closer to the actual race. Only well-funded campaigns even have this position which is why Mehlenbacher may have cut her losses and bolted to Bloomberg’s campaign because that well-paid, position was about to be over.
Aside from the curious case of Mehlenbacher, what began as a promising U.S. presidential campaign ended with a whimper and the resignation letter was just the final nail in the campaign coffin of a Black woman constantly dogged by racism and sexism.
At a dinner party, I learned of the resignation letter and a friend asked me what my thoughts were. After reading it, I said I’m never surprised by a Black woman being undermined by a disgruntled white woman at work, especially when times get tough.
Yes, the campaign had problems, debate performances were uneven and voters needed more clarity on Harris’ health care plan, which she failed to communicate clearly. No, you cannot blame the ultimate failure of the campaign on the resignation letter. However, who wrote it, how it was received and used, played a significant role in the end of the campaign.
The willingness of people to immediately take the word of a disgruntled staffer over a campaign manager and chairwoman is telling. Mehlenbacher didn’t say anything in the letter anyone who has spent time working on or covering a political campaign doesn’t already know. When you run out of money, hard decisions must be made and when you fail to deliver i.e., raise enough money or put efficient processes in place, then sometimes what you may have planned is no longer viable. What she wrote isn’t a smoking gun, but simply status quo when it comes to political campaigns. The weight given that letter by the media was astonishing and the willingness to accept that Harris couldn’t lead a political staff let alone a presidential campaign was interesting.
Three of Senator Bernie Sanders’ top strategists left his 2020 campaign, citing creative differences the week after he launched his campaign in February and nada. No coordinated media blitz about how his campaign was over then or in October when the 78-year-old suffered a heart attack.
One disgruntled white woman essentially says, “I’m mad at Kamala because my job is harder than usual, life isn’t fair and the people in charge won’t do what I tell them to do,” and game over?
It wasn’t just the letter. It was also the idea that the letter was the final straw when folks have been coming for Harris over her racial identity and career as a prosecutor from the jump.
The continued pummeling of Harris by Black folk around being mixed-race and somehow less trustworthy because of it, is laughable. The fact that people hate her because she was a prosecutor when 80 percent of all prosecutors are white men is ridiculous.
Coupled with the fact that many who don’t trust her because she was a prosecutor, are riding with the white men who actually authored, introduced and voted for the crime bill that led to mass incarceration is disgusting.
As for Harris being a prosecutor – we can’t all be defendants. Having all white judges, prosecutors, lawyers and jurors worked so well for Black folk before those in power started allowing us to hold these jobs.
To lay an entirely broken justice system at the feet of one Black woman, when Black women activists, scholars and filmmakers like Jill Nelson, Angela Davis, Michelle Alexander and Ava Duvernay have been doing the actual work of raising awareness, confronting mass incarceration and actively working to change racist laws is unconscionable.
If it sounds like I’m having a tantrum, I am.
I admit that I am sick of agents of the state like Mehlenbacher and Tulsi Gabbard, who do the bidding of white supremacy and patriarchy and benefit from it while pretending to critique it. Women can’t get free because some women won’t get free.
I am sick of Black folks failing to learn from previous mistakes. If cancel culture had been in place when then Senator Obama was running for president, he would have never made it past early critiques of his Blackness and identity.
Until we realize the damage that is done when parroting the same reckless, white supremacist ideology, language and ideas around what makes someone Black, we will create unnecessary distractions from real issues that need our attention like Harris’ platform.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’d rather see Senator Harris on the Supreme Court than in the White House — especially coming behind Mango Unchained — so I’m not mad that she didn’t get the nomination. I’m mad at how she was forced out while folks who have no business being in the race are still there. (See Independents Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg for starters.)
I’m mad at the triple standard she has to face when it comes to her race and gender, putting food on the table and choosing a life partner. I’m mad that so-called allies are only allies when Black women are helping them to attain their goals and perfectly willing to throw us under the bus, once they’ve gotten there. I’m mad that the same folks who are now saying we need Harris at the impeachment hearings are unwilling and unable to see a Black woman in the highest office of the land.
I guess I wish that folks could see Black women the way they see infirmed white politicians on borrowed time and billionaires with little to no political experience.
I know that’s asking for too much in a country that is quite comfortable using the bodies and labor of Black women to literally become a global power while telling Black women to be happy singing in the background.
I’m mad that an entire political party needs Black women’s votes to win local, state and national office, but doesn’t care about the needs of Black women. I’m mad that Black people don’t realize that when we tear down our candidates over bullshit like parentage, it doesn’t take much more than a leaked resignation letter or bad press to finish her off.
Kamala Harris did not run a perfect campaign and no, she wasn’t for everyone. If you look at some of the candidates left in the race – one who talks in Blaxploitationese, one who just discovered racism exists, one who is so clueless about toxic masculinity that he sprays whipped cream into the mouths of adoring supporters and one who is boo’ed up with Trump and White Supremacy, Inc., then there is no reason why a candidate like Harris, despite her missteps, should be out of the race this early. Yeah, some of it is her fault, but it ain’t all her fault.
The relentless assault on Senator Harris will not be forgiven or forgotten at the polls or otherwise by a whole lot of women who look like me. Black women are not here to push everyone else over the finish line while we finish last. Not today or any other day and certainly not anymore.
This article was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., entertainment and culture editor for NNPA/Black Press USA. Nsenga is also founder & editor-in-chief of the award-winning news blog The Burton Wire, which covers news of the African Diaspora. Follow her on Twitter @Ntellectual.
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UPDATE: PepsiCo Meets with Sharpton Over DEI Rollbacks, Future Action Pending
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The more than hour-long meeting included PepsiCo Chairman Ramon Laguarta and Steven Williams, CEO of PepsiCo North America, and was held within the 21-day window Sharpton had given the company to respond.

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent
Rev. Al Sharpton met Tuesday morning with PepsiCo leadership at the company’s global headquarters in Purchase, New York, following sharp criticism of the food and beverage giant’s decision to scale back nearly $500 million in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The more than hour-long meeting included PepsiCo Chairman Ramon Laguarta and Steven Williams, CEO of PepsiCo North America, and was held within the 21-day window Sharpton had given the company to respond. Sharpton was joined by members of the National Action Network (NAN), the civil rights organization he founded and leads. “It was a constructive conversation,” Sharpton said after the meeting. “We agreed to follow up meetings within the next few days. After that continued dialogue, NAN Chairman Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson and I, both former members of the company’s African American Advisory Board, will make a final determination and recommendation to the organization on what we will do around PepsiCo moving forward, as we continue to deal with a broader swath of corporations with whom we will either boycott or buy-cott.”
Sharpton initially raised concerns in an April 4 letter to Laguarta, accusing the company of abandoning its equity commitments and threatening a boycott if PepsiCo did not meet within three weeks. PepsiCo announced in February that it would no longer maintain specific goals for minority representation in its management or among its suppliers — a move that drew criticism from civil rights advocates. “You have walked away from equity,” Sharpton wrote at the time, pointing to the dismantling of hiring goals and community partnerships as clear signs that “political pressure has outweighed principle.” PepsiCo did not issue a statement following Tuesday’s meeting. The company joins a growing list of major corporations — including Walmart and Target — that have scaled back internal DEI efforts since President Donald Trump returned to office. Trump has eliminated DEI programs from the federal government and warned public schools to do the same or risk losing federal funding. Sharpton has vowed to hold companies accountable. In January, he led a “buy-cott” at Costco to applaud the retailer’s ongoing DEI efforts and announced that NAN would identify two corporations to boycott within 90 days if they failed to uphold equity commitments. “That is the only viable tool that I see at this time, which is why we’ve rewarded those that stood with us,” Sharpton said.
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Target Reels from Boycotts, Employee Revolt, and Massive Losses as Activists Plot Next Moves
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Target is spiraling as consumer boycotts intensify, workers push to unionize, and the company faces mounting financial losses following its rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent
Target is spiraling as consumer boycotts intensify, workers push to unionize, and the company faces mounting financial losses following its rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. With foot traffic plummeting, stock prices at a five-year low, and employee discontent boiling over, national civil rights leaders and grassroots organizers are vowing to escalate pressure in the weeks ahead. Led by Georgia pastor Rev. Jamal Bryant, a 40-day “Targetfast” aligned with the Lenten season continues to gain traction. “This is about holding companies accountable for abandoning progress,” Bryant said, as the campaign encourages consumers to shop elsewhere. Groups like the NAACP, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, and The People’s Union USA are amplifying the effort, organizing mass boycotts and strategic buying initiatives to target what they call corporate surrender to bigotry.
Meanwhile, Target’s workforce is in an open revolt. On Reddit, self-identified employees described mass resignations, frustration with meager pay raises, and growing calls to unionize. “We’ve had six people give their two-week notices,” one worker wrote. “A rogue team member gathered us in the back room and started talking about forming a union.” Others echoed the sentiment, with users posting messages like, “We’ve been talking about forming a union at my store too,” and “Good on them for trying to organize—it needs to happen.” Target’s problems aren’t just anecdotal. The numbers reflect a company in crisis. The retail giant has logged 10 straight weeks of falling in-store traffic. In February, foot traffic dropped 9% year-over-year, including a 9.5% plunge on February 28 during the 24-hour “economic blackout” boycott organized by The People’s Union USA. March saw a 6.5% decline compared to the previous year. Operating income fell 21% in the most recent quarter, and the company’s stock (TGT) opened at just $94 on April 14, down from $142 in January before the DEI cuts and subsequent backlash. The economic backlash is growing louder online, too.
“We are still boycotting Target due to them bending to bigotry by eroding their DEI programs,” posted the activist group We Are Somebody on April 14. “Target stock has gone down, and their projections remain flat. DEI was good for business. Do the right thing.” Former congresswoman Nina Turner, a senior fellow at The New School’s Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, wrote, “Boycotts are effective. Boycotts must have a demand. We will continue to boycott until our demands are met.” More action is on the horizon. Another Target boycott is scheduled for June 3–9, part of a broader campaign targeting corporations that have abandoned DEI initiatives under pressure from right-wing politics and recent executive orders by President Donald Trump. The People’s Union USA, which led the February 28 boycott, has already launched similar weeklong actions against Walmart and announced upcoming boycotts of Amazon (May 6–12), Walmart again (May 20–26), and McDonald’s (June 24–30). The organization’s founder, John Schwarz, said the goal is nothing short of shifting the economic power balance.
“We are going to remind them who has the power,” Schwarz said. “For one day, we turn it off. For one day, we shut it down. For one day, we remind them that this country does not belong to the elite, it belongs to the people.” As for Target, its top executives continue to downplay the damage. During a recent earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Jim Lee described the outlook for 2025 as uncertain, citing the “ripple” effects of tariffs and a wide range of possible outcomes. “We’re going to be focusing on controlling what we can control,” Lee said. But discontent is spreading internally. A Reddit post from a worker claimed, “The HR rep is doing his best to stop the bleeding, but all he did was put a Bluey band-aid on what is essentially a severed limb.”
Several employees criticized the company’s internal rewards system, “Bullseye Bucks,” for offering what amounts to play money. “Can’t pay rent or buy food with Bullseye Bucks,” one wrote. Others urged their colleagues to join unionizing efforts. “Imagine how much Target would lose their mind if they were under a union contract,” one team leader wrote. “It needs to happen at this point.” One former manager said they left the company after an insulting raise. “Quit last year when they gave me a 28-cent raise. Best decision I’ve ever made.” From store floors to boardrooms, the pressure is growing on Target. And as calls for justice, equity, and worker rights get louder, one worker put it plainly: “We’re all screwed—unless we fight back.”
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Confederates Whistle Dixie Tunes and Black MAGA Applauds
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — They include Black MAGA supporters who’ve chosen silence—even solidarity—as racism escalates from campaign rhetoric to federal policy.

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent
In Donald Trump’s second term, the faces of compliance are no longer just white. They include Black MAGA supporters who’ve chosen silence—even solidarity—as racism escalates from campaign rhetoric to federal policy. When Trump returned to the White House, he did so with a platform not just soaked in bigotry but engineered to roll back civil rights and diversity efforts on every front. And while his white base cheered, many of his Black allies—those donning MAGA hats and taking up seats on the frontlines of his rallies—chose loyalty over principle, muting themselves as a wave of white nationalist policymaking targets their communities.
Their silence began long before Inauguration Day. During the 2024 campaign, Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally drew fire after a comedian on the lineup referred to Puerto Rico as “garbage.” But that wasn’t the only racist moment. As Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, one of Trump’s most visible Black surrogates, walked onto the stage, the campaign blasted “Dixie”—a song revered by the Confederacy and white nationalists. Donalds said nothing. And neither did the rest of Black MAGA. That same silence echoed in Springfield, Ohio, when Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, spread a false and racist claim that Haitian immigrants were “eating cats and dogs.” The fabrication was met with horror from civil rights advocates and journalists. But Trump’s Black supporters? Not a word.
Black MAGA loyalists, many of whom cite values, religion, and personal ambition as their rationale, have essentially normalized the very racism that their grandparents fought to dismantle. Pew Research shows that while only 4% of Black Americans identify as Republicans, those who do often express a belief that the GOP better represents their values—even as those values are trampled by the very administration they support. One study published in Sociological Inquiry found that Black Republicans often “reframe racism in a way that makes their alignment with white conservatives more palatable,” even when it involves rationalizing policies that harm Black communities. And harm is precisely what Trump’s policies are doing. Since taking office, Trump has issued a barrage of executive orders aimed at eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the federal government. Agencies that serve minority communities have faced massive defunding, DEI offices have been shuttered, and civil rights enforcement has all but disappeared. As noted in The Hill, the goal is not just the destruction of policy—it’s the erasure of progress itself.
“Every act of Trump’s second term has been a white-nationalist signal,” wrote one analyst in The American Prospect, calling MAGA an “identity movement” that champions white grievance over democratic principle. There is little space for Blackness, except as a prop. And yet, some Black Trump supporters defend the administration with defiance. One such supporter, who canvassed for Trump in 2024, told The Independent he was called the N-word by fellow conservatives. Rather than walking away, he doubled down on his allegiance. The consequences of this allegiance are becoming deadly clear. As TIME reported, nearly 20% of Trump supporters said freeing the slaves was a mistake. According to The Washington Post, support for Trump has long been fueled more by racial resentment than economic concerns, and that resentment has now translated into policy.
A report from Press Watch concluded that Trump’s base continues to be driven by a desire to protect white dominance and suppress nonwhite progress, particularly through culture war battles over schools, immigration, and federal hiring. Even academic journals have noted that wearing a MAGA hat has become “a proxy for racialized identity”—an affirmation of white supremacy, no matter who’s wearing it. Meanwhile, The Conversation documented how MAGA’s rise has coincided with increased armed intimidation at polling places, violent rhetoric against journalists, and calls to monitor so-called “urban” neighborhoods—all with Trump’s encouragement. The Black MAGA base has not only failed to object—they’ve offered Trump moral cover. Whether out of personal ambition, political opportunity, or delusion, they’ve made peace with racists, while the administration they uphold works tirelessly to erase the freedoms won through generations of Black struggle. As The American Prospect put it: “Trump’s MAGA identity is a movement rooted in white identity politics. That some Black Americans have chosen to stand inside of it doesn’t make it less racist—it makes it more dangerous”
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