By Ariama C. Long, reprinted from Word in Black
Black women voters and elected officials poured their hearts and souls — and finances — into campaigning on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris for president for an emotionally turbulent three and a half months. Now that the 2024 presidential election is over, many are asking how her biggest supporters are faring and dealing with the stress of the process and the result.
Generally speaking, politics can cause a form of chronic stress that evokes negative emotions and feelings of distress, said Brett Ford, associate professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. Ford said conversations about race and gender discrimination alo can often “feel” political, and perhaps lead to chronic stress-like tension.
“The mental health impact of this election cannot be overstated, especially where it concerns women of color,” said Sen. Samra Brouk, who chairs the Senate Mental Health Committee. “As a Black mother and an elected official, I can relate to feeling stressed, frustrated, or fearful about our future. I will continue to fight to secure mental health resources, improve maternal health outcomes, and uplift our young people so we can ease community burdens and help our most vulnerable individuals.
A final count of 89% of Black women voters cast their ballot for Harris in 2024, according to the Associated Press (AP) VoteCast, a survey of the American electorate conducted by NORC (formerly the National Opinion Research Center) at the University of Chicago; more than any other demographic, and an unsurprising number considering that Black women remain a major and loyal voting bloc for Democrats.
Nationally, Black women advocates and organizers treated Harris’s announcement of her presidential candidacy in July as a battle cry, raising more than $1.5 million in just a few hours on a Zoom call. They rejoiced wholeheartedly when Harris made history as the first woman of color to be named the Democratic presidential nominee. They strapped on their boots and picked up their canvassing armor, trekking into Republican districts and swing states by the thousands in hopes of swaying voters. In short, they showed up and showed out for Harris.
When it became clear on Election Night, and into the next day, that President-elect Donald Trump would win the electoral college and the popular vote, the news left many women devastated. For Black women in particular, there was a sense of bone-weariness at first — a collective sigh of “I’m tired” or too tired to process this.
“I think that’s so real. Anecdotally, in my group chat, among my sorority sisters and friends, there’s this feeling of ‘sis breathe’ — like you have to take care of yourself right now,” said Dr. Nadia E. Brown, a professor of government and chair of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program and affiliate in the African American Studies program at Georgetown University. That was largely the mood before Harris gave her concession speech on Wed., Nov. 6, which can only be seen as another rallying of the troops with a soft nudge of determination in the face of overwhelming defeat.
To cope with the loss, Black women organizers and electeds AmNews spoke with said they cried and laughed with their friends, reached out to women in their families to check-in, hugged their kids, got a massage, got their nails done, read inspirational posts, or took time off to contend with their mental and physical health.
Since the election was called for Trump, Brown said she has limited her news media diet and started listening to more historical and fashion podcasts to focus on some things that are “joyful” for her.
“I feel proud of us for that and being able to hold space for one another, for turning to one another to decompress, because I think that there were generations that didn’t prioritize self-care and just kept on going,” Brown said. “We know that internalized stress leads to a whole host of autoimmune disorders and cancers. It’s just not good.”
According to a long-term study conducted by Boston University, Black women are more likely to experience disproportionate health burdens and poor health outcomes due to myriad reasons, especially the environmental factors like racism, implicit bias in the healthcare system, and low-socioeconomic status neighborhoods that play a role in shortening Black women’s lives. The psychological trauma and stress of experiencing racial discrimination alone may increase cortisol, the body’s stress hormone, and lead to elevated blood pressure, memory problems, and other conditions, said the study.
Black women are also already more likely than other racial and ethnic groups to die from cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, lupus and auto-immune diseases, and several types of cancer. They are twice more likely than white women to develop diabetes when over age 55 or have uncontrolled blood pressure as well, according to other studies.
Senator Lea Webb, who chairs the Women’s Issues Committee, won her re-election to office in Ithaca on Election Day and was instrumental in getting the state Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) ballot measure passed. Even though she celebrated personal wins this month, she’s still grappling with the implications and impact of the presidential election on issues she cares deeply about. She said some things as a state official are out of her control and the stress is “constant,” but that as a public servant, she’s determined to fight for her constituents.
“As Black women, we often bear some of the largest disparities in these issue areas and are often the most impacted, so the gravity of that, along with figuring out ‘where do we go from here,’ is most certainly concerning,” said Webb. “I’ve just been continuing to surround myself with folks who are also doing the good work and definitely trying to take time for reflection and self care.”
Webb said she journals, does physical therapy, enjoys traveling, spends time with her family, loves karaoke and music, and paints as a way to destress in her life right now. She also has a “literal village” of friends, family, and colleagues whom she relies on for support to stay anchored.
“It can be quite challenging and daunting, but what keeps me going is knowing that I have other folks who are also on this journey with me, for sure,” Webb said.
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