Because right-wing elected officials are now essentially glorified 4Chan trolls, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) mockingly tweeted at Vice President Kamala Harris, who’s Black and South-Asian, for having a white husband on Monday. Greene’s tweet came shortly after Harris pointed out that low-income communities of color stand to be the most harmed by Hurricane Ian.
“@KamalaHarris hurricanes do not target people based on the color of their skin. Hurricanes do not discriminate,” Greene tweeted. “And neither should the federal government giving aid to people suffering from the devastation of Hurricane Ian. Is your husband’s life worth less bc he’s white?”
The attack from Greene—who is, herself, in the midst of a divorce—notably came in response to pretty non-controversial comments Harris made at the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Leadership Forum last Friday. “It is our lowest-income communities and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions and impacted by issues that are not of their own making. We have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality, but we also need to fight for equity,” the vice president said.
Considering the devastating and undeniably racist impacts that Hurricane Katrina disproportionately carried for Black communities, you’d think most people would understand that relief efforts should be modulated to address the greater need among marginalized communities.
But no one should be surprised by Greene’s extremely dumb line of attack on Harris, essentially harassing her for being in an interracial marriage. It’s among the most common “insults” that conservatives lodge against liberal and progressive women of color who are partnered with white men, like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Last Christmas, conservatives went so far as to slam Ocasio-Cortez’s partner’s “gross pale male feet” when he wore sandals in public.
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Greene probably sees her tweet as a triumphant dunk on Harris and all women of color who have the nerve to both criticize racism and parade about town with their white boyfriends. But maybe the Congresswoman—currently facing an ethics complaint for recently kicking a gun safety activist—should look to her own marriage (her husband recently filed for divorce) before hurling insults.
