Two prominent Black activists, who have met with Kamala Harris multiple times and committed to significant efforts to help her become president, have been revealed to have made divisive comments about white female voters—a demographic Harris is actively targeting with her “White Women for Kamala” campaign.
In a resurfaced clip from the weeks before Biden took office in 2021, Cora Masters Barry and Melanie Campbell made disparaging remarks about “white women.” This clip has emerged as the Harris campaign has been making efforts to court white women in the U.S., including hosting a “White Women: Answer the Call” Zoom meeting to support Harris.
Barry stated, “We have to change our strategy. We got to get our people. We have to get our—they got their people. They got all the trailer parks all covered,” Barry said in the Zoom meeting. “All them people up in West Virginia and the hills, they’re covered. They got them all the way there to Wall Street.”
“[Trump] did that, and we’re sitting here talking about the white women. F*ck the white women—excuse me—forget the white women. They’re going to do what the white men tell them to do,” Barry added, resulting in laughter from Campbell.
Barry further emphasized that the Black community has to “get real serious about organizing to elect Kamala Harris as the next President of the United States.”
Barry, a civil rights activist and appointee of Democrat D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, and Campbell, leader of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, have collectively visited the White House over 50 times during the Biden-Harris administration. This includes almost a dozen meetings with Kamala Harris and her staff, according to Fox News.
The rhetoric from the activists tied to Harris may undermine the campaign’s message of unity, especially given the recent “White Women” Zoom meeting to support Harris.
Last week, supporters of Kamala Harris participated in the Zoom call, which featured over 160,000 white women and raised millions of dollars for Harris’s campaign. The event included celebrity appearances from former women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe, singer and songwriter Pink, and actress Connie Britton.
“As white women, we need to use our privilege to make positive changes. If you find yourself talking over or speaking for BIPOC individuals—or God forbid correcting them—just take a beat, and instead, we can put our listening ears on,” said Arielle Fodor, one of the people leading the training. “As white people, we have a lot to learn and unlearn,” she added. “So, do check your blind spots.”