We’ve spent the entire month highlighting women’s contributions to our world during Women’s History Month. We’ve celebrated our accomplishments, our sacrifices, and for black women in particular, lamented how far we still have to go to attain equality and liberation. And given the fact that systematic progress in this country is created via policies enacted by people elected into public office, the question I continue to ponder is this: what will it take for black women to fully exert our political power to achieve the full freedom our community deserves?

I think it’s pretty cool that Women’s History Month was established the year I was born, 37 years ago in 1981. As a kid, I can remember with awe learning about Fannie Lou Hamer, Barbara Jordan, and Stephanie Tubbs Jones and thinking how amazing it was to have black women political leaders who were unabashed, unafraid and unbossed. Then, when Carol Moseley Braun became the first black woman to serve as a United States Senator in 1993, I just knew that we’d finally arrived. We could hold positions at all levels of government and the wave of more black women serving in the highest offices in the land was surely inevitable. However, 25 years after Moseley Braun’s historic election, only one other black woman has served in the United States Senate – Kamala Harris from California who was elected in 2016.

The fact of the matter is that if you’re a black woman in America, running for office is more than an uphill battle. We’ve always known there were systemic barriers to fair representation in elected office, whether it’s access to fundraising networks or the false belief that black women aren’t qualified to serve in office. This is especially troubling considering that black women continue to be deeply underrepresented politically despite providing huge voter turnout numbers election after election.

Black women showed up in 2012, voting at a higher rate than any other demographic across gender, race, and ethnicity. Black women showed up in 2016, when our white counterparts gave 53 percent of their vote to Donald Trump, yet showed up en masse to the Women’s March last January. Black women showed up again in 2017 in Virginia, and again in Alabama. On every front, black women have proven that we’re the power behind the Democratic Party, we are the power behind civic engagement in America and we have the power to radically change this country for the better — but only if we’re provided the opportunity, resources, and support to do so.

With more black women running for elected office than ever before, 2018 should by all accounts be the year of the black female candidate. We’ve seen reports in the media about black women reclaiming our time in the Trump era. But there are still many barriers that continue to block us from fully claiming our political power. The Reflective Democracy Campaign highlighted this in their report last year on representation, finding that 73 percent of Democratic candidates and a whopping 97 percent of Republican candidates are white and male. 

Additionally, the report, “Gender, Race, and Fundraising Inequality: What We Can Learn from 2016”, published by The Arena in partnership with The Collective PAC revealed (although it’s no surprise!!) that black women candidates tend to have the most difficulty raising money, a key factor in garnering support from traditional gatekeepers like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and major donor organizations. In fact, candidates of color raise just $1.12 for ever $2 raised by their white counterparts. As a result, women of color — who make up 20 percent of our population and growing — are just 6 percent of federal legislators, 2 percent of statewide elected executives, 8 percent of sitting state legislators, and 8 percent of big-city mayors.

Yes, these statistics are ridiculous but we have the power to change them now. First, we must proactively recruit black women to run for office — for example, the momma at the meeting that’s always spearheading school improvement efforts should be recruited to run for the school board. Secondly, we must endorse and donate to black women candidates early and often — two things we’re highly focused on at The Collective PAC. And finally, we must advocate that black women receive the support and financial backing of entities that benefit the most from our votes (yes I’m talking to you Democratic, progressive and women institutions!).

As our phenomenal queen and the first black woman to run for President of the United States, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, stated so poignantly, “At present our country needs a women’s idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.” 

Now is the time for Black women to claim our political power and demand the support we need to win for our communities. Let’s not just celebrate women’s history, let’s make history. The power is in our hands.