Attacks On Kamala Harris Are A Warning To Black Women With Presidential Hopes, Avis Jones-DeWeever Says

Negative coverage of California Sen. Kamala Harris in the news media is an attempt to permanently destroy her political career and warn black women against running for president in the future according to Avis Jones-DeWeever, the CEO of the Exceptional Leadership Institute for Women.

In a series of 13 tweets sent Saturday night, Jones-DeWeever took issue with the number of negative articles written about the California legislator’s presidential campaign in recent weeks.

While she said criticism of candidates in an election is typical, she also said that the type and volume of negative media reports against Harris’ campaign is atypical. The author and political commentator noted that despite polling higher than other candidates in the race, Harris is consistently the target of news and opinion articles that analyze negative aspects of Harris’ campaign.

“In fact Kamala’s coverage is so singularly and consistently negative it seems to me the goal may be beyond this specific campaign cycle and ultimately meant to do permanent damage to her political career as well as serve as a warning to any future Black woman considering running for President, “This ain’t for you, Boo,” Jones-DeWeever said.

Jones-DeWeever’s thread on Twitter comes following the publication of several articles by major news publications that have critically examined Harris’ ongoing campaign for president. A piece published by The New York Times on Friday titled “How Kamala Harris’s Campaign Unraveled” claimed that the California lawmaker was the only candidate to have fallen out of the top spots in the crowded race and charged that Harris was an “uneven campaigner” with a staff torn into “factions.”

Earlier in November, The Week published an article that claimed to examine the “real reason” Harris’ campaign is “tanking,” and Politico – also this month – published an article about the Harris campaign that claimed the former California attorney general had no discipline, no plan, or strategy in her bid for the Oval Office.

Harris saw a bump after the first Democratic Primary debate this summer when she went head-to-head against front-runner former Vice President Joe Biden, though she failed to maintain that momentum as the race has continued.

Jones-DeWeever wondered where similar articles were about other candidates in the race, like former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke who ended his campaign after failing to gain a significant amount of support from voters.

The Before and After Welfare Reform: The Work and Well-being of Low-income Single income Single Parent Families author also wondered where more significant analysis of South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s campaign was, specifically calling to attention Buttigieg’s reported firing of a black sheriff in his town amid allegations there was racism in the town’s police force.

Buttigieg has been the subject of at least one viral news piece in recent weeks critical of his relationship with the African American community. An op-ed titled “Pete Buttigieg is a Lying MF” went viral on Twitter following its publication on The Root. That op-ed examined Buttigieg’s past comments about the African American community and education amid the controversial rollout of his recent Douglass Plan aimed at targeting issues in the black community.

While Jones-DeWeever called the attacks against Harris atypical, she said for black women, the attacks might not feel that unusual.

“But at the same time it feels all too familiar in that it is the type of double standard that I’m sure EVERY Black woman in America has experienced in her career,” she said.