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In a single weekend, Americans went from expecting a presidential race between two elderly straight white men to an election between two people of demographic polar opposites. Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, has generated the same sort of excitement among the liberal party鈥檚 stalwarts as did Barack Obama and then Hillary Clinton when they won their party鈥檚 nominations. In 2008, Obama鈥檚 supporters declared 鈥淵es, we can.鈥� In 2016, Clinton鈥檚 backers proudly proclaimed, 鈥淚鈥檓 with her.鈥� Now in 2024, we can expect 鈥淵es, we Kam鈥� signs to become ubiquitous within liberal enclaves across the nation. 

It鈥檚 past time that a woman鈥攁nd especially a woman of color鈥攐ccupied the Oval Office. In a nation as multiracial as the United States, it makes sense to have racial and gender diversity in the halls of power. On that point alone, Harris鈥� candidacy is exciting. But politics is about much more than demographic representation.   

It is a strange, new phenomenon for women of color like me to see a brown-skinned woman come this close to the highest office in the country. Many of us hate the idea of elections as popularity contests and are genuinely turned off by the emotional attachments that some voters form toward candidates, lifting them up as saviors. But we live in a nation where Harris鈥� racial and gender identity are deeply politicized. Republicans have already rushed to dismiss her as the (based on the acronym for diversity, equity, and inclusion), a telling opening salvo in an election that will inevitably be framed as a referendum on whether women of color are full human beings, rather than which issues and policies best meet the country鈥檚 needs. 

As people of color in the U.S., we live with the ugly racial politics of respectability: the idea that if someone who looks like us fails to meet dominant white culture鈥檚 standards for 鈥減ropriety鈥濃�攊f a person of color is deeply flawed or if they commit a crime, for instance鈥攁ll people of color are to blame. Harris鈥� inevitable missteps and human imperfections will be weaponized and used as justification to further deny women of color political power and agency. Of course, as the prior two presidential administrations have demonstrated, the shortcomings of white male leaders are rarely seen as negative reflections on all white men. 

In other words, for women of color, Harris is us, and we are Harris, whether we like it or not. And I, for one, don鈥檛 like it one bit. I want demographic and political representation. After all, wealthy white men have had both for generations. 

The attacks on Harris were ugly enough in 2020 when Biden picked her to be his running mate. Every right-wing internet meme, every racist and sexist insult emerging from Trump鈥檚 mouth, felt as though it was aimed at women of color as a whole鈥攁 sector of U.S. society that still has the in federal government. And while we work to withstand this escalation of hateful, often violent rhetoric, we must simultaneously find ways to focus on鈥攁nd assess for ourselves鈥攖he policies she actually espouses.

What I want to know is whether Harris will disavow herself from the Biden administration鈥檚 enthusiastic financing and arming of Israel鈥檚 genocide in Gaza. Will she from the ?

I鈥檇 love to know whether her domestic economic policies are going to be as progressive as Biden鈥檚鈥攐r more so. How much will she

Indeed, what will Harris do on climate change, prisons and policing (a particularly salient question given her history as a prosecutor and California attorney general), the Supreme Court, LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, gun laws, immigration reform, or education? 

These are the issues that matter. 

Meanwhile, celebrating the fact that Harris will face off against Donald Trump as a is not helpful. The deadly toll of policing and prisons in the U.S. has been felt most seriously in Black and Brown communities. Think about the fact that those attending the Republican National Convention (RNC) held up pro-police and anti-immigrant signs saying 鈥溾�� and 鈥�.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Although Harris ought to be viewed as 鈥渂lue鈥� in such a context鈥攏ot because she鈥檚 a Democrat but because she is California鈥檚 former 鈥溾�濃�攖he RNC鈥檚 attendees likely understood that policing and immigration enforcement are white supremacist institutions, regardless of whether their enforcers sometimes have non-white faces. 

Ultimately, the right will make Harris out to be far more aggressive than she is likely to be as president. The left will expect she鈥檒l do nothing right, while those in the center might project their wildest dreams on to her as the savior of the nation. Most likely, if she becomes president, she鈥檒l be a complicated version of all three. 

Savvy voters understand that elections鈥攅specially in a system designed to dilute our vote through the electoral college鈥攁re about making strategic choices that get us closer to realizing the world we want to live in. Seasoned activists, keen political observers, and most people who have paid attention to modern history, know that the real work of accountability happens between elections. And the 2024 election is about all that鈥�and dealing a death blow to fascism and white supremacy. 

Thinking dispassionately about the election in such a manner is going to be harder than ever for people who look like Kamala Harris: South Asian women like me, Black women, and those who are the beautiful products of both South Asian and Black ancestry. 

Many of us want Harris to be held to the same high standards that we held Biden, Obama, Clinton, and other politicians to. It鈥檚 likely that she will be no better or no worse on issues than her Democratic predecessors, except that the expectations on her will be higher by virtue of her demographics. By the same token, the pressure on her to prove she won鈥檛 be biased toward people of color will be high too. Already, media pundits are advising her to . 

In the end, a president is going to allow themselves to be pushed on some issues and not on others. For example, a centrist such as Joe Biden moved to the left on domestic issues, largely because he felt grassroots pressure to do so. Yet on arming Israel in its genocide in Gaza, he refused to budge, no matter how high the political cost. Harris will likely be similar, except she鈥檒l face the added pressures of embodying the sort of person the hard right fears and loathes.

If Harris becomes president, women of color will lead movements to hold her accountable. At the same time, we will become proxies for her, and the racist and sexist assaults she faces will impact us as well. 

So here鈥檚 the main memo: Your brown-skinned sisters are not going to be OK between now and November. We neither want you to fawn over Harris and uncritically throw your support behind her, nor do we want to allow Trump to retake office. Rather, vote as though your life depends on it鈥攂ecause ours does. And then work to hold accountable whoever occupies the White House next January.