A Black Executive Perspective now presents Need to Know with the award winning hyphenated Dr. Nsenga Burton. Dr. Burton. What do we need to know? Hello and welcome to Need to Know with Dr. Nsenga Burton. I am your host and I am happy to be here. Today we are going to be talking about a phenomenon that some of you may be familiar with. Um, and it's a phenomenon, um, that we discuss in academia quite a bit, but it's called this idea of hypervisibility. And hypervisibility is when you appear to be everywhere, i. e. like black women, black girl magic, all the things. Um, You know, our celebrities and what have you, but then at the same time, you're made invisible, um, an important spaces. So, um, today, we're gonna be talking about that and we're gonna be talking about it relative to, um, the workplace. Right? So, when we think about the workplace, and we think about many of the things that we're called to do within the workplace, black women do a lot of the heavy lifting. A lot of times when we are able to lead or we obtain positions of power, it's really at the worst possible moment for a company. Um, that's when we get the shot and we have to dig in and do all of the things. Um, so a real, uh, Example of this right now is what's going on in the White House, which is a workplace. I know people think of it as a symbol of democracy, but it's actually a workplace where people work many, many employees every single day. They report to work and our current Vice President, Kamala Harris is in the White House as Vice President, and she is the 1st woman and 1st person of color Vice President in the history of these United States. So, um, in English, in case you've been living in. The Democrats are in a tizzy, uh, because of the performance of President Joe Biden at the first debate with former President Donald Trump. And so there have been lots of calls for him to step down, lots of calls for them to open up, um, the floor at the DNC to take potential, uh, new candidates. Um, and at the beginning of this discussion, there was literally no discussion of Kamala Harris. The actual sitting Vice President. And so that made me think, or got me to thinking about the precarious position in which women in general and black women specifically often occupy in corporations, board, boardrooms. Um, and in this case, the white house. Um, even the idea that, you know, she's not doing anything, which you hear a lot of, she's not doing anything as Vice President, but we do know that the role of the Vice President is to support the President and to not outshine the President, um, uh, is. Interesting as well. Right. So there's this idea that she should be out in front and, uh, leading when in fact she is the Vice President. And so, you know, when people bring this up, I often say, okay, so tell me, you know, five things, um, that Mike Pence did as Vice President. They can't name them. I said, well, tell me three things, um, that, um, Biden did. When he was Vice President under Obama, they can't name. All right. And it's not saying that Vice Presidents don't do anything. It's just that their role is to be 1 of support and they're not necessarily out front. But the reason I'm bringing this up is when you are a woman, and you are a person of color, black and Asian, in Kamala Harris's case, then the expectation is greater, right? You should do more. You should be more available. You should have, um. A presence that is greater than what is expected of others who don't look like you. Right? So when we think about Kamala Harris and people talking about she hasn't done anything, I just would like to highlight some of the things that she has done in her current role. Um, and I guess you could also look at this on the GOP side in terms of who the potential Vice Presidential candidates are, um, and the fact that there were no women candidates. Um, well, we could also look at this from the GOP side and the fact that, um. Donald Trump is vetting the Vice Presidential candidates and there are no women currently, um, uh, in the group of people that he's vetting. And I think he's now down to two people, but the fact that there are no. Women, members of Congress, or governors, or what have you, who could be vice Vice President is also fascinating. But to stick with Kamala Harris, some of the things that she has been doing, and she's been going about it quietly because that's what we're doing. Vice Presidents do with the possible exception of reproductive rights, which she's been very loud about. And she has had to be very loud about based on the fact that Roe versus Wade has been struck down. And then a lot of states, including, you know, I would say, just look at Alabama in particular, have made such strident laws that you can't even do legally. Uh, in some cases, um, so she's been very, uh, much involved in the reproductive rights case. Um, she has, um, you know, been on tour, I would say, um, and actually, her tour has a name. But, uh, she has been on tour to discuss these issues about reproductive rights. She has met with. No less than 18 states to discuss their laws and what can be happening. What needs to happen and strategies to protect reproductive rights. People like to talk about reproductive rights as it's only abortion. It's not it's a whole litany of rights that women should have over their bodies. Abortion is just one of them. And so, because Roe Vs. Wade has it has been struck down that opens the door for lots of other things being struck down as as well. And so we have to think about. That, um, as she has been fighting for reproductive rights and reproductive freedoms, uh, immigration is something else. People were saying that she was slow to get on board with the immigration, um, uh, with the immigration reform. Um, that's probably true. Uh, but once she got on board, she hit the ground running. Uh, she has proposed the Central American. A Central America forward forward initiative, uh, in which she has helped, uh, yield yield 4. 2Billion dollars in private sector commitments to support the creation of jobs, local jobs, and other measures to slow mass migration from Central America to the United States. So, whether, whether, wherever you fall on. Immigration, right? Because there is a plan in place. We just really aren't doing it. We also know about the bipartisan plan that was put forth by Joe Biden that was killed by the Republicans, because if Trump gets in, apparently they want to be able to bring it back then and have it be part of his win wins for the country. But she has, in fact, been leading. Um, that issue, um, in Central America, and actually came up with, uh, uh, not only a strategy, but also a solution, um, to the problem because a lot of people who are immigrating here. They're not only fleeing tyranny, although we're on the brink of it. Now, they're not fleeing tyranny. They're also fleeing the inability to find work, right? And to feed their families and things of that nature and to improve their lives and improve the quality of their lives, which is why they want to come to the United States. And then, of course, there's voting rights. I mean, she's been working on that since she was a senator even before that. Um, but certainly, as a senator, and, um, you know, she was the one who introduced the freedom to vote act, the freedom to vote. John Lewis act, and, of course, that was voted against and that actually came down to 2 Democratic senators who did not go with. Um, the majority at the time, um, that would be Manchin and Sienma, which we don't hear a lot more about, but it wasn't as if she wasn't trying to do anything around voting. Right? She's been very much involved in that. Um, those, if that had passed, that would have extended the voting rights protections of the 1965 voting rights act that, um. Black people are subject to having our rights reapproved ever so often, unlike other groups in this country. Um, and of course that was voted down as well. Um, but she has helped to craft political coalitions and to apply pressure from outside of the white house. Um, through those political coalitions and civil rights leaders, um, those strategic partnerships is what we would call them, um, to build outside pressure on Congress, um, and engaging privately with lawmakers. Uh, so I say all of that to say, um, this is not a pro Kamala commercial. What it is, is just three categories in which she has done significant work since even before, but definitely since she has been in the White House. And despite her having been basically a Vice President that has had any drama, which we need that in our political lives in the United States. But also, she has been working in some what I would call areas that are heavy list immigration, women's reproductive rights and voting. Those have been her 3 most. I would say her 3 topics that she had prioritized the most. So she's done the heavy lifting and been doing the heavy lifting and without any fanfare. Right, which leads me back to our original discussion. The point is, um, is that now that people are talking about whether or not Biden steps down, uh, if he should be replaced, all of these discussions are happening and people are literally leapfrogging over the sitting Vice President and that is indicative of the experiences of women in general and black women, specifically when we are in positions of power, allegedly, and there's an opportunity. For us to continue to serve or to be elevated or to elevate. We are often under undermine people's memories become very foggy. They become very short or selective if you will, and they can't remember what you did. Or the, the very things that they've been praising you for. I mean, the reproductive rights thing. She's been praised heavily in the press, um, over the last few months. And now people aren't even talking about it. It's like, what is she done? She hasn't done anything. We need somebody that people like people don't like her, but no 1 really wants to talk about why people don't like her. Right? It's not unusual for black women, women in general, black women specifically to be graded on a different curve. I mean, it happens everywhere in academia, um, black women faculty have the worst teaching evaluations. Um, and not because we're the worst teachers is because of how people, uh, undervalue black women. Right the expectations of how we should treat them, um, uh, often people thinking that we are in service to them, because most of the black women that they've encountered, particularly when we talk about these elite universities, uh, black women, they have encountered have been in service to them. And so when you're in front of the classroom, right, or you're the chair of the department, or you're the dean, or as we saw at Harvard, the President, then people are like, all those wonderful things they loved about you, right? Hyper visibility, and they talk about constantly and all the things which helped you get to where you were, in addition to your hard work, they forget about it. Right? Oh, no, you have to go. Oh, no, we can't promote you. Oh, no, you're Vice President. You're sitting, you're the sitting Vice President. We can't consider you. We can't even consider you because you haven't done anything. Right? Right, so I'm just bringing that to your attention and, you know, I think it is a need to know that this happens. It is common for particularly dynamic black women to experience this type of treatment and it is not unusual and so to be. Aware, you know, one of the things that, um, I love about, uh, learning is that you have to unlearn certain behaviors. You have to unlearn certain practices. And so if you're someone who maybe just kind of falls into that unconsciously, right. This unconscious bias, um, really think about what you're saying. Like, you know, when you say to yourself, ah, Kamala Harris hasn't done anything because you heard that on the news or you heard somebody that you respect say it. Um, really think about, you know, did you think that way about the previous Vice President? And if so, why, and if not, why not? And are you holding her to a different standard? And why? So, you know, as the sitting U.S. Vice President. She should be considered, she should actually be the nominee if Biden steps down, if Biden runs and wins and goes away for whatever reasons, she's the next in line, right? So you can't just dispose of her because she doesn't fit with the dominant narrative that Americans love, where it has to either be an older white man, Trump, Biden, Bernie, or, um, it has to be a white person, uh, you know, Gavin, And a bunch of other folks, uh, Buttigieg who I like. I like both of them a lot. I'm just saying, I think they would be great. But in this particular instance, how people are going about it, how the party is going about it, how the public is going about it is really wrong. So this is Dr. Nsenga Burton with your need to know moment on the black executive podcast. I wish you a wonderful day. And I wish you discernment, kindness, and empathy, and critical thinking as we move through the world. A Black Executive Perspective.