You're listening to Comedy Central. Wow. Let's face it, this past year has been a dumpster fire. One of the only highlights was seeing Kamala Harris inaugurated as our new Vice president. Unfortunately, that left us with one small problem. There are no black women in the United States Senate. Now that Kamala Harris has ascended to the vice presidency, no black women in the Senate. But this is the year black women were praised for saving America's asked by
the way, you're welcome. The truth is in the Senate is two thirty year history. We've only ever had two black female senators, Kamala Harris and Carol Moseley Braun. You know it's bad when black women have better representation on the Bachelor than they do in the US Senate. I wanted to find out what's going on, so I called Stephanie Brown James, co founder of the Collective Pack, a
nationwide organization working to elect black candidates to office. So black women seem to be doing great in the House a representative right, right, right right, But we're having an issue with sent huge. Black women vote more than anybody else in this country. So many of the issues were voting on impact our families. The Senate has been talking about maternal mortality. Returnal mortality impacts black women more than
anybody else. So to not have a black woman saying how this bill should be created and that it should be past, that's a problem. It is a problem. Just look at these photos from a recent bipartisan dinner featuring all the current female senators. They are definitely in need of the melement because this looks more like an episode of Designing Women than it does the Senate dinner to try to get more black women into the Senate, Like what like how are y'all, um, are y'all teaching people
how to shake hands and kiss babies? Like what what are y'all doing? Well? I could definitely say and this current reality, we ain't kissing no babies. That we are making sure that with our partner three Point Strategies, we have a Black Campaign School, and so we are training candidates across the country to know the nuts and bolts
of running statewide. At the Black Campaign School, prospective candidates can learn things like how to raise money, how to engage with voters, and oh this actually looks fun, so want to set from d J D nice and this could be the essence festival. We have a whole session about how to wear your hair when you are a black woman running for office, and the answer is girl aware. However you want to. You know, you don't have to come out here looking like Carrie Washington and scandal every
day to get elected because them wigs, who them wigs? God? What do you think is the reason that there have been so few black women in the Senate? Listen, as a woman, the sexism issue is key. Most of our U S senators are male. Number two. Racism, it does exist in America, Okay, And so you know you have um the fact that this woman has to go across the state talk to so many different voters, some of whom have never actually had a conversation with a black person.
And so that alone is showing you that there's a lot of hurdles that she has to overcome. I get it. If you want to connect with voters who are unfamiliar with you, sometimes you gotta do what they do, or in other words, pander. So I had a few ideas on what black female candidates could do to get elected statewide. You know, you need to do more stuff that white people do like you know, John Mayor concerts or light right,
like a John Mayor concert or a fish concert. Um letting the dog look him on the face, something wild like that. No, you know what, you're right. Let's see um leaking footage of them not washing their legs in the showery, I don't even know what that needs, or saying that they don't. You haven't heard this thing that these white folks don't wash your life girls all of a black twitter. And I've talked to them, I'm taking
poles at work, they don't. And she doing campaign ad saying I stopped washing my legs in the shower and I keep Manaids in my purse. You know what they'll say, unless that is your natural thing. What we would tell these black candidates and black women especially is you don't have to and you shouldn't do anything to pander for votes. It really is about the issues. If you are yourself, you can talk about the ideas you have to, you know,
make their lives better. That's what we should be paying attention to when it comes to what these black candidates are talking about and seeing that, yeah, they actually have really great ideas and we don't need them to pander for votes. I like maniates. I don't understand what the problem is. It is too and John Mayor like, how you making a chicken salad? Tune? A salad macro is all of the salads that don't have lettuce in it. Those are my favorite salads. Yeah, if we want to
send it that is truly representative of the electorates. You need more black women in office. Fortunately we have some options in two. Val Demming's is running for Senate in Florida, and both Sherry Beasley and Erica Smith are running in North Carolina. So there's hope. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to listen to John Mayre and eat everything with Mayonnaise. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Ears Edition. Subscribe to The Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive contents,
and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast