United States Vice President Mike Pence and democratice Vice Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris participated in their debate Wednesday night at the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City, Utah
Appearing on the Heavy Live With Scoop Show, I asked Jemele Hill what she thought of the debate between Pence and Harris.
“So what I made of it was what – I think what we saw there was kind of two Americas; if you will,” Hill told me while promoting her second season of her Jemele Hill is Unbothered Podcast which is shown exclusively on Spotify.
“In the America that is in existence right now is an America that allows Mike Pence as a White man to fully comfortably and confidently express himself and not be apologetic about his behavior about his interruptions; about you know… just telling lies and the difference is he’s just being nicer about it than Donald Trump is. So, that’s kind of implematic of America. But the other part of that is Kamala Harris who is extremely accomplished but also, very aware and cognizant on how Black women are perceived in this country; how a Black woman in her power position is perceived and having to navigate her authenticity at the same time trying to debate against an office that she’s trying to win.”
In addition to her podcast, Hill is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and runs her own production company, Lodge Freeway Media with longtime friend, Kelley L. Carter.
Hill had more to say about Kamala Harris and President Donald Trump. “Looking at some of the responses to Kamala Harris, people calling her aggressive — the President referred to her as ‘this monster’ … he didn’t even call her ‘a monster,'” said Hill.
“This monster is as if she’s a thing out here to dehumanize her. I think it just speaks to where we are and conditionally we have been and that Black women have had to fight hard and long in a frustrating fashion in order to be not just seen, but to be heard and in her case respected. And so I gave her a lot of credit and could certainly relate to as a Black woman that’s been in corporate America of that tricky dance of trying to decide as Amanda Seals put it, “Just how Black are you gonna be today?” And that is what we saw her managing kind of, in real time. Knowing that because she’s a Black woman; a woman of color that EVERY movement that she makes, every part of her demeanor is going up for scrutiny and his is not.”