Like you, we woke up on November 10, 2016, truly terrified, and the past 18 months have been a hot mess. Electing Donald Trump president of the United States confirmed (and exacerbated!) our worst fears. The U.S. is capable of electing a racist and sexist to the nation’s highest office. And for Black women, who already have it bad, it’s only going to get worse unless we get educated, get organized, and fight back.
Here are the facts.
Even though:
66% of Black women work full time
We are the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs in the U.S.
We vote at higher rates than other demographics
We are outpacing other demographics in the attainment of bachelor’s degrees
Black women:
Make only 63 cents for every dollar a White man makes
Are still significantly underrepresented at all levels of government and in the highest ranks of leadership in corporate America
And single Black women have median wealth of $200.
There is no other way to say this. We call bullshit.
Improving our outcomes on myriad issues requires a full-court press.
The good news? We’re ready.
We wrote The Black Woman’s Guide to the 2018 Midterms to inspire you to:
Get and stay politically engaged
Help you master these critical elections
Elect more of our own whenever possible to make sure our officials reflect us
Advance our issues at the local, state, and federal levels
Because, as they say, “unless you are at the table, you may be somebody else’s lunch!”
We know you are busy, so we tried to make the guide short, useful, and clear. Please let us know what we missed and how else we can help.
Here’s to owning our political power in 2018 and beyond.
In love and solidarity,
Jocelyn Harmon and Angela Dorn
The Black Woman’s Guide to the 2018 Midterms was created by BlackHer, a new online platform for and about Black women. We’re advancing our personal, economic and political power by getting educated and organized. Subscribe to BlackHer and follow us on Instagram and Facebook.
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