There’s probably not a woman alive who is not — openly or secretly — nervous for Kamala Harris, the third woman to be nominated for the vice-presidency, and the first woman of color.
The stakes for her to help take Democrat Joe Biden to the White House are incredible: Get Black people to the polls. Convince suburban housewives Democrats are not socialists. Prove that America is still the land of opportunity. And show men that a woman is equal to the job. 
The latter challenge will be the most formidable.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s knee-jerk response to Harris is that she is “nasty.”
Here we go again. This time, however, Americans must not sit idly by.
We let the 2016 campaign slide off the tracks when then-candidate Trump routinely demeaned women by criticizing their faces, “Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?” (Carly Fiorina); the fact that they have to use the facilities, “I know where she went — it’s disgusting,” (Hillary Clinton); their womanhood, “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever,” (Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly); and their intelligence, “Low IQ. She’s bleeding badly from a facelift,” (MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski.)
The shock value of such behavior worked wonders to not only distract us from the issues but also to portray women as inherently inferior.
IN A RECENT letter to media figures, a group of female leaders tasked the media to call out the double standards waged against female candidates.
Words such as “nasty” — never applied to men — imply untoward behavior.
People also will dissect Harris’s looks, the tone of her voice, her hair, her attractiveness, while men (obviously) get a free pass.
That Harris is ambitious will be twisted as an unworthy behavior, while admired in men.
During an interview this week Trump said Harris was not “liked,” a gender criticism he frequently used against Clinton, as if it’s a qualifier for office, and never used to evaluate a man.
As a Black woman, Harris is accustomed to being a target and likely will brush off such slights. But that doesn’t excuse systemic racism that persists in portraying people of color as less than.
Harris brings a wonderful story to the election. The daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, she and her sister were taught by their middle-class parents that the sky’s the limit to what they can achieve in America.
This is something to celebrate, not mock or insidiously question.
