As the Black Lives Matter movement continues to make news in America, British New York political commentator and businesswoman Lola Adesioye, explains why it’s black women at the forefront of change

Writer and broadcaster Lola Adesioye

‘What I found in America was a level of racism and discrimination that went deeper than I could ever have expected’

It would be an understatement to say that 2020 has been a year to remember. However, I’m not sure that some of this year’s events have been that different from what Black people in America have seen before. There have always been Black deaths at the hands of people who have no respect for Black life. Black people have always faced prejudice and discrimination here; structural racism has been a factor in American life since its inception. But against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic –which has affected a disproportionate number of people of colour – the issues have been brought into sharper focus. The intense impact of racism is that much harder to ignore. Its arms are long-reaching: from health, to economics, to encounters with law enforcement and the criminal justice system, to politics.

And yet despite all this, one thing Black people have definitely always done is to fight for our rights. We should not have to, but we do. And we do it well. Last month, as I reflected on 100 years since the passing of the US 19^th Amendment which gave women the right to vote, I thought about the historical realities of the Black woman’s fight for change. I thought about the discrimination and exclusion within the women’s suffrage movement itself, how black women were not allowed to be part of The National American Woman Suffrage Association. So, we formed our own suffrage groups. There was also division about what was most important: white women were primarily concerned with gender parity, while Black women knew that voting rights were also an essential part of confronting both racism and gender discrimination. So, we continued to fight for voter rights.

Even after the passing of the 19^th Amendment, states still found various ways to disenfranchise Black voters. It wasn’t really until the passing of the 1965 Voters Rights Act – again coming about in large measure due to the actions of a nation-wide coalition of black women – that this subsided somewhat. Even today, as President Trump and his cronies continue to find ways to disenfranchise black voters, Black women say no.

‘If black women have anything to do with it, change will come’

The truth is that Black women have constantly and consistently led the charge for true democracy in America. The list of black female change-makers is long even if we don’t hear about these women every day. And, if we look at today’s Black Lives Matter movement it is women at the forefront.

Is Kamala Harris, the now Vice Presidential nominee, a sign of substantive change? Perhaps so. The symbolic nature of her vice presidential nomination is important, but ultimately what matters most is whether or not she can effect change which positively impacts the lives of women and people of colour in America. She and Biden seem to suggest a willingness and I’m excited to see whether or not they can deliver.

Vice Presidential nominee, Kamala Harris

I have only lived in America for 13 years but I have embraced it and it has embraced me. I might not be “African American” but I am a Black woman who is deeply invested in this country and who intends to spend the rest of my life here. I am hoping that means one day a family, and one day Black children. I care about my Black American brothers and sisters  now more than ever. I’ve never seen so many Black Lives Matter signs and murals, on walls, in windows and everywhere. But, it’s real change I really want to see. One thing I know for sure though… if black women have anything to do with it, and we continue to put in the work as we have always done, that change will come.

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