Following the announcement of Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement from the Supreme Court, President Joe Biden’s campaign pledge to appoint a Black woman has come to the fore. Biden has been called out by Black Congresswomen, NAACP officials, and journalists to keep his word. But although the President has received a lot of heat for breaking promises in the past, this is one promise that I – as a Black woman – have no desire for him to keep.
Biden’s vow to appoint the first Black woman Supreme Court Justice reeks of performativity and manipulation. Before the South Carolina primary, Biden’s presidential prospects seemed rather unfavorable. But his promise, made only days before the primary, helped secure the endorsement of Black Congressman Jim Clyburn and consequential support of many Black voters in South Carolina. However, in the time that Biden has been serving as president, he has done little to substantively benefit the lives of Black people.
Soon after inauguration, Biden’s administration swiftly began planning to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill — lip service that does absolutely nothing to address material needs. Historically speaking, he has also played a much more active role in perpetuating oppression against Black folks, including encouraging President Ronald Reagan to be even tougher on crime. Accordingly, any promises that Biden makes to “uplift” Black people must be considered in the historical context of his opposition to our well-being. Such token gestures should not be applauded.
Moreover, Biden’s promise exemplifies the liberal co-optation of identity politics. The Combahee River Collective, a Black Feminist lesbian organization, coined the term “identity politics” in 1977, claiming “the most profound and potentially most radical politics come directly out of our own identity.” In their statement, the Collective emphasized the significance of identity as a personal source of political radicalization and creativity. But since then, “identity politics” has been defanged and redefined by the American political establishment as superficial “representation” of various identities. Such identity-reductionist ideology typically entails the ostensible empowerment of people with marginalized identities, even – or rather, especially – when their views and actions are antithetical to the liberatory politics championed by the Collective.
Biden’s choice for Vice President, Kamala Harris, exemplifies identity reductionism. Harris is continuously praised for being the first Black, South Asian, and female Vice President, but this praise ignores the harm her politics have caused Black people everywhere. In a 2010 debate for California Attorney General, Harris prided herself on“increasing the conviction rates” and “sending twice as many serious and violent felons to state prison” as San Francisco District Attorney. Her satisfaction in contributing to mass incarceration, which disproportionately targets Black people, is vile and unprincipled. Harris’ Blackness does not absolve her of this, and it does not make the novelty of her Vice Presidency worth celebrating.
Even if the soon-to-be Justice’s politics aren’t as blatantly egregious as Harris’, the placement of Black people in high positions within oppressive institutions does not bring us any closer to liberation. On the contrary, it legitimizes and condones a system that protects the elite. The problem with the Supreme Court is not merely the individuals who serve on it. The Court is an institution founded to uphold a constitution written by wealthy, slave-owning White men and based on oppressive principles. That fact won’t change regardless of who is sitting on the Supreme Court.
So no: I don’t care to have a Black woman on the Supreme Court. Forgive me for not wanting a seat at a table serving a piece of Biden’s identity-reductionist pie. I urge other Black folks to instead turn to the original identity politics — the one that was actually theorized by Black women and not weaponized against us. Our identity can enable the most profound and most radical politics, so let’s aspire to more than a few Black faces in elite spaces. Black people – Black women – deserve so much better than that.
The original artwork for this article was created by Harvard College student Duncan Glew for the exclusive use of the HPR. Writer headshot by Aaron Kang.
