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Posts tagged as “Luvvie Ajayi”

Vice President Kamala Harris Announces Bid for Presidency; Win With Black Women Raises over $1.5M in 3 Hours

After President Joe Biden‘s graceful exit yesterday morning from the race for re-election as the Democratic Presidential nominee, he quickly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his pick for the top of the ticket.

Yesterday evening, over 44,000 Black women and allies joined a Zoom hosted by winwithblackwomen.org founder and organizer Jotaka Eaddy and raised over $1.5 million for Harris’ newly-minted campaign to secure the nomination.

It took several tries for the majority of participants from all over the U.S. and overseas to join as the Zoom webinar was initially capped at 1,000. Eaddy and other #wwbw organizers made a point to thank Zoom COO Aparna Bawa for stepping in to increase the participant capacity from 1K to over 40K in real time as the overwhelming desire to join this word-of-mouth call to action quickly spread.

Speakers scheduled to appear were Rep. Joyce Beatty (OH), Rep. Jasmine Crockett (TX) and political strategist Donna Brazile. Others who spoke included former Spelman College President Dr. Johnnetta Cole, journalist and commentator Star Jones, author and influencer Luvvie Ajayi along with reps for HBCUS & the Divine Nine Black sororities and fraternities.

Appreciation for the accomplishments of President Biden during his term (e.g. the $35 price limit on insulin; Ketanji Jackson‘s appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, protection and expansion of the Affordable Care Act) was voiced, along with forward-looking strategies for coalitions (Ana Navarro offered energetic support as a Latina ally), fundraising, and turning out the vote.

Within 3 hours #winwithblackwomen raised over $1.5M for the Presidential candidacy of @kamalaharris via a special link shared in the chat that tracked donations generated via this grassroots community.

Let’s go!

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Editor-in-Chief

Black Women In Politics Database Could Help More Black Women Get Elected In 2018

25th January 1972: US Representative Shirley Chisholm of Brooklyn announces her entry for Democratic nomination for the presidency, at the Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York. Manhattan borough president Percy Sutton applauds at right. (Photo by Don Hogan Charles/New York Times Co./Getty Images)

by Princess-India Alexander via huffingtonpost.com
After one of the most contentious Senate races in recent memory, Democrat Doug Jones defeated opponent Roy Moore, who was accused of sexual misconduct by nine women, in Alabama’s special election in December. Black women were the ones to make it happen.

They out-voted all other demographics that day, with 98 percent of black women casting a vote for Jones. In contrast, 63 percent of white women who voted did so for Moore.
“America got one more confirmation that Black women are superheroes who save the day time and time again,” wrote Luvvie Ajayi, author of I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual on her blog after the election. “I am tired of the world being run into the ground by white men who prove time and time again that they are ill-equipped.”
Ajayi was inspired to find a list of black women politicians she could support. Not finding any, she enlisted the help of three friends to create Black Women in Politics, a living document of black female candidates seeking election in 2018. It’s now an online database that includes more than 400 names.
To start, Ajayi, along with friends Sili RecioLucrecer Braxton and Candace Jones, searched through Twitter mentions, polls and did some old-fashioned googling, gathering more than 100 names of women seeking election in 2018.
The list doubled in under a month, and its creators enlisted the help of a coder to help them turn it into a searchable database. They ultimately moved the database from Ajayi’s personal website to its own domain, blackwomeninpolitics.com.
Black women vote in higher numbers than any other demographic, yet are underrepresented in political positions of power. The site’s mission statement explains why the database is so crucial.
“There are Black women running for political office all over the United States, and we need to know who they are,” it reads. “It is abundantly clear that we need to start following the lead of Black women, because we show up and do what is important, even when we are being disenfranchised and sabotaged from doing the work.”
As of Jan. 25, the database has 414 entries. Visitors can filter the candidates by searching for women running for federal seats, state seats and local seats. They can also choose to view candidates running specifically in blue or red states. There’s a section detailing which candidates are incumbents and which are challengers, as well as a page where where users can suggest more politicians to be added.
The database includes a disclaimer noting it is not an endorsement of every woman running. “Think about it as a phone book,” the site states.