August 30 67 Days to the Election
The signs went up overnight at the bus stops in Denver.
Metal, official-looking, professionally affixed to the bus stop poles.
BLACKS MUST SIT
AT THE BACK OF THE BUS
KAMALA’S MIGRANTS
SIT IN THE FRONT
Similar signs showed up a thousand miles away, in Chicago.
Later in the campaign, a Nevada homeowner’s yard sign supporting me was defaced with the N-word. The doorbell camera showed the vandal toting all the equipment he needed to do the job.
When I became top of the ticket, Republican lawmakers had a closed-door meeting, the message of which was a warning to lay off overt attacks on race and gender and restrict criticism to my record in the Biden–Harris administration.
This came after several members attacked me as a “DEI hire.” All of this did nothing to lower the volume of Trump’s dog-whistling.
Sadly, racist, sexist attacks are not exclusive to Donald Trump. And someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make those bus signs.
As the first woman, or Black woman, in every office I have run for, except the Senate, where I was the second, racism and sexism have always been present.
They were not new to me: I would not let them throw me off my game.