Would a Harris Presidency Help Blacks?

The possibility that Kamala Harris will become the second black president has energized many people.  In his New York Times column this week, John McWhorter contends that she should be considered biracial. This week Donald Trump faulted her for belatedly, in his opinion, claiming blackness when previously she emphasized her Indian heritage.  This article raises other questions about how her blackness could be viewed.

Obama and Harris Similarities

Both Obama and Harris are not only biracial but were raised by non-black mothers and grandmothers with absent black fathers.  Both also spent a significant share of their formative years outside the United States and those spent within were never in the large urban areas that typified the American black population of their childhoods.  Both had well-educated parents — Kamala’s have doctorates — and no relationship to the black working class when growing up.  Indeed, Kamala’s mother comes from a privileged Indian Brahmin family. (READ MORE from Robert Cherry: How Best To Fulfill King’s Aspirations)

The leapfrogging of blacks with immigrant backgrounds over blacks who can trace their lineage to American slavery is widespread.  Black students from immigrant families may comprise 40 percent of the Ivy League black student population.

In a 2021 interview, a descendant of slavery, Mariah Norman, discussed how children of immigrants dominated the black student environment at Harvard. She pointed to the Nigerian Students Association that claims 200 members, suggesting that one-third of Harvard’s black student body is in that club. And while the Black Students Association encompasses all, there wasn’t an organization solely for black students like Norman until students got together in 2021 and formed one.

Both Obama and Harris embraced their latent blackness when in college.  Unlike President Biden or JD Vance (or Clarence Thomas) their attitudes as adults were not driven by the environment in which they lived in their formative years.  How does this shape their attitudes on racial policy?

Obama and Harris Differences

When President Obama moved to Chicago, he married a black woman from the working class and, as a community organizer, he learned first-hand the lived experience of the black urban populace.  This informed his race-related policies: support for charter schools, distinction between violent and non-violent crime, and a focus on occupational programs.  More generally, he emphasized creating equal opportunity for black Americans.

By contrast, Harris never created any personal attachments with the black working class.  After graduating Howard, she gravitated to relationships with black celebrities, including Montel Williams.  This culminated with her very public relationship with sixty-year-old Willy Brown that was crucial to her political rise to SF District Attorney.

Without any social anchor to the black working class, Harris was a tough-on-crime DA, aggressively prosecuting drug offenses.  And when liberal politics evolved so did she.  Now she is a strong proponent of abandoning equal-opportunity goals and instead focusing on equity.

Near the end of the 2020 presidential campaign, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris tweeted a video entitled, “Equality vs. Equity.” It emphasized that equity is attained only when there are equal outcomes — when both the privileged and disadvantaged get to the top of the mountain. The video summed up the position of many progressives: Replace the goal of “equal opportunity” with the goal of “equal outcomes.”

The Attack on Standards

In the name of promoting equity, there are aggressive efforts to eliminate any standardized tests that stand in the way of black professional attainment: banning SAT/ACT scores to promote black enrollment in the most competitive schools; reducing the importance of MCAT and LSAT exams for entrance into medical and law schools, respectively.  Some states have even eliminated passing a state bar exam as a requirement for becoming a lawyer.  Medical associations have changed scoring on mid-school measures so that more black students could be accepted in prestigious residency programs.

These attacks on standardized exams often focus on the ability of better-off white students being able to afford preparation classes and tutors.  While these efforts might raise SAT scores 50 points or so, they don’t explain why in 2020 the average white SAT score was 1104 while the black score was 927.

Moreover, Brookings reported that while 15 percent of white test takers scored at least 650 on the math section — a score necessary for success in many STEM areas — only 2 percent of black test takers did so.  This study also noted that racial disparities were slightly larger on the LSAT exam.

Large racial disparities also exist on a wide range of certification exams.  Nationally, 90.7 percent of white test takers eventually passed the social work clinical exam, while only 57 percent of black social workers eventually received passing scores.  In the mid-2010s, on a new education licensing test given in 31 states or jurisdictions, 55 percent of white candidates passed the math portion on their first try compared to 21.5 percent black test takers. A similar gap was seen on the reading and writing portions. (READ MORE: Demands for Reparations Hide Liberal Failures)

According to Harris, if these tests are an impediment to attaining racial equity, they must be scrapped. An alternative strategy would require more effort at improving the educational attainment of young children because early gaps persist.

requires providing in-house support services for at-risk families.  Visiting nursing programs can guide young mothers through pregnancy and the first years of their child’s lives.  Tutoring can be made available to improve school readiness of these children.  And schools must refocus on teach methods, like phonics, that improve educational skills not social justice curricula.

Unfortunately, Harris will continue the leftist approach to reduce standards that might help some of her fellow Howard graduates attain successful professional careers but help few urban working-class black children.

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