Need To Know With Dr. Nsenga Burton-The Complex Reality of Hypervisibility.

BEP Narrator: 00:00:02

A Black Executive Perspective now presents Need to Know

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with the award winning hyphenated Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Dr.

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Burton.

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What do we need to know?

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Hello and welcome to Need to Know with Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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I am your host and I am happy to be here.

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Today we are going to be talking

about a phenomenon that some

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of you may be familiar with.

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Um, and it's a phenomenon, um, that we

discuss in academia quite a bit, but

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it's called this idea of hypervisibility.

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And hypervisibility is when

you appear to be everywhere, i.

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e.

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like black women, black

girl magic, all the things.

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Um, You know, our celebrities

and what have you, but then

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at the same time, you're made

invisible, um, an important spaces.

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So, um, today, we're gonna be talking

about that and we're gonna be talking

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about it relative to, um, the workplace.

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Right?

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So, when we think about the workplace,

and we think about many of the things that

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we're called to do within the workplace,

black women do a lot of the heavy lifting.

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A lot of times when we are able

to lead or we obtain positions of

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power, it's really at the worst

possible moment for a company.

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Um, that's when we get the shot and we

have to dig in and do all of the things.

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Um, so a real, uh, Example of this

right now is what's going on in the

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White House, which is a workplace.

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I know people think of it as a symbol

of democracy, but it's actually a

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workplace where people work many,

many employees every single day.

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They report to work and our current

Vice President, Kamala Harris is in

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the White House as Vice President,

and she is the 1st woman and 1st

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person of color Vice President in

the history of these United States.

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So, um, in English, in

case you've been living in.

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The Democrats are in a tizzy, uh,

because of the performance of President

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Joe Biden at the first debate with

former President Donald Trump.

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And so there have been lots of calls for

him to step down, lots of calls for them

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to open up, um, the floor at the DNC

to take potential, uh, new candidates.

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Um, and at the beginning of this

discussion, there was literally

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no discussion of Kamala Harris.

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The actual sitting Vice President.

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And so that made me think, or got

me to thinking about the precarious

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position in which women in general and

black women specifically often occupy

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in corporations, board, boardrooms.

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Um, and in this case, the white house.

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Um, even the idea that, you know, she's

not doing anything, which you hear a

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lot of, she's not doing anything as

Vice President, but we do know that

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the role of the Vice President is

to support the President and to not

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outshine the President, um, uh, is.

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Interesting as well.

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Right.

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So there's this idea that she should

be out in front and, uh, leading when

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in fact she is the Vice President.

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And so, you know, when people bring

this up, I often say, okay, so tell

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me, you know, five things, um, that

Mike Pence did as Vice President.

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They can't name them.

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I said, well, tell me three

things, um, that, um, Biden did.

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When he was Vice President

under Obama, they can't name.

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All right.

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And it's not saying that Vice

Presidents don't do anything.

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It's just that their role is

to be 1 of support and they're

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not necessarily out front.

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But the reason I'm bringing this

up is when you are a woman, and you

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are a person of color, black and

Asian, in Kamala Harris's case, then

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the expectation is greater, right?

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You should do more.

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You should be more available.

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You should have, um.

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A presence that is greater

than what is expected of

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others who don't look like you.

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Right?

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So when we think about Kamala Harris

and people talking about she hasn't

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done anything, I just would like to

highlight some of the things that

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she has done in her current role.

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Um, and I guess you could also look

at this on the GOP side in terms of

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who the potential Vice Presidential

candidates are, um, and the fact

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that there were no women candidates.

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Um, well, we could also look at this

from the GOP side and the fact that, um.

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Donald Trump is vetting the Vice

Presidential candidates and there are

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no women currently, um, uh, in the

group of people that he's vetting.

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And I think he's now down to two

people, but the fact that there are no.

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Women, members of Congress, or governors,

or what have you, who could be vice

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Vice President is also fascinating.

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But to stick with Kamala Harris, some

of the things that she has been doing,

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and she's been going about it quietly

because that's what we're doing.

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Vice Presidents do with the possible

exception of reproductive rights,

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which she's been very loud about.

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And she has had to be very loud

about based on the fact that Roe

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versus Wade has been struck down.

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And then a lot of states, including, you

know, I would say, just look at Alabama

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in particular, have made such strident

laws that you can't even do legally.

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Uh, in some cases, um, so she's

been very, uh, much involved in

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the reproductive rights case.

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Um, she has, um, you know, been

on tour, I would say, um, and

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actually, her tour has a name.

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But, uh, she has been on tour to discuss

these issues about reproductive rights.

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She has met with.

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No less than 18 states to discuss

their laws and what can be happening.

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What needs to happen and strategies

to protect reproductive rights.

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People like to talk about reproductive

rights as it's only abortion.

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It's not it's a whole litany of rights

that women should have over their bodies.

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Abortion is just one of them.

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And so, because Roe Vs.

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Wade has , it has been struck down

that opens the door for lots of other

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things being struck down as as well.

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And so we have to think about.

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That, um, as she has been

fighting for reproductive rights

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and reproductive freedoms, uh,

immigration is something else.

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People were saying that she was slow

to get on board with the immigration,

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um, uh, with the immigration reform.

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Um, that's probably true.

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Uh, but once she got on board,

she hit the ground running.

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Uh, she has proposed the Central American.

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A Central America forward forward

initiative, uh, in which she

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has helped, uh, yield yield 4.

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2Billion dollars in private sector

commitments to support the creation

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of jobs, local jobs, and other

measures to slow mass migration from

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Central America to the United States.

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So, whether, whether,

wherever you fall on.

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Immigration, right?

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Because there is a plan in place.

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We just really aren't doing it.

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We also know about the bipartisan plan

that was put forth by Joe Biden that was

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killed by the Republicans, because if

Trump gets in, apparently they want to

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be able to bring it back then and have it

be part of his win wins for the country.

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But she has, in fact, been leading.

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Um, that issue, um, in Central America,

and actually came up with, uh, uh, not

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only a strategy, but also a solution,

um, to the problem because a lot

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of people who are immigrating here.

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They're not only fleeing tyranny,

although we're on the brink of it.

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Now, they're not fleeing tyranny.

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They're also fleeing the

inability to find work, right?

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And to feed their families and

things of that nature and to improve

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their lives and improve the quality

of their lives, which is why they

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want to come to the United States.

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And then, of course,

there's voting rights.

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I mean, she's been working on that since

she was a senator even before that.

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Um, but certainly, as a senator,

and, um, you know, she was the

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one who introduced the freedom

to vote act, the freedom to vote.

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John Lewis act, and, of course,

that was voted against and that

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actually came down to 2 Democratic

senators who did not go with.

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Um, the majority at the time, um,

that would be Manchin and Sienma,

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which we don't hear a lot more

about, but it wasn't as if she wasn't

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trying to do anything around voting.

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Right?

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She's been very much involved in that.

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Um, those, if that had passed,

that would have extended the

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voting rights protections of the

: 1965

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Black people are subject to having

our rights reapproved ever so often,

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unlike other groups in this country.

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Um, and of course that

was voted down as well.

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Um, but she has helped to craft political

coalitions and to apply pressure

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from outside of the white house.

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Um, through those political coalitions and

civil rights leaders, um, those strategic

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partnerships is what we would call them,

um, to build outside pressure on Congress,

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um, and engaging privately with lawmakers.

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Uh, so I say all of that to say, um,

this is not a pro Kamala commercial.

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What it is, is just three categories

in which she has done significant

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work since even before, but definitely

since she has been in the White House.

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And despite her having been basically

a Vice President that has had any

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drama, which we need that in our

political lives in the United States.

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But also, she has been working in

some what I would call areas that

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are heavy list immigration, women's

reproductive rights and voting.

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Those have been her 3 most.

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I would say her 3 topics that

she had prioritized the most.

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So she's done the heavy lifting

and been doing the heavy

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lifting and without any fanfare.

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Right, which leads me back

to our original discussion.

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The point is, um, is that now that people

are talking about whether or not Biden

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steps down, uh, if he should be replaced,

all of these discussions are happening

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and people are literally leapfrogging

over the sitting Vice President and that

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is indicative of the experiences of women

in general and black women, specifically

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when we are in positions of power,

allegedly, and there's an opportunity.

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For us to continue to serve or

to be elevated or to elevate.

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We are often under undermine

people's memories become very foggy.

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They become very short or

selective if you will, and they

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can't remember what you did.

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Or the, the very things that

they've been praising you for.

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I mean, the reproductive rights thing.

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She's been praised heavily in the

press, um, over the last few months.

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And now people aren't

even talking about it.

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It's like, what is she done?

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She hasn't done anything.

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We need somebody that people like people

don't like her, but no 1 really wants

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to talk about why people don't like her.

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Right?

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It's not unusual for black women, women

in general, black women specifically

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to be graded on a different curve.

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I mean, it happens everywhere in

academia, um, black women faculty

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have the worst teaching evaluations.

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Um, and not because we're the

worst teachers is because of how

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people, uh, undervalue black women.

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Right the expectations of how we should

treat them, um, uh, often people thinking

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that we are in service to them, because

most of the black women that they've

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encountered, particularly when we talk

about these elite universities, uh,

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black women, they have encountered

have been in service to them.

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And so when you're in front of the

classroom, right, or you're the chair

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of the department, or you're the dean,

or as we saw at Harvard, the President,

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then people are like, all those wonderful

things they loved about you, right?

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Hyper visibility, and they talk about

constantly and all the things which helped

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you get to where you were, in addition

to your hard work, they forget about it.

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Right?

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Oh, no, you have to go.

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Oh, no, we can't promote you.

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Oh, no, you're Vice President.

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You're sitting, you're the

sitting Vice President.

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We can't consider you.

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We can't even consider you

because you haven't done anything.

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Right?

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Right, so I'm just bringing that to

your attention and, you know, I think

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it is a need to know that this happens.

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It is common for particularly

dynamic black women to experience

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this type of treatment and it

is not unusual and so to be.

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Aware, you know, one of the things that,

um, I love about, uh, learning is that

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you have to unlearn certain behaviors.

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You have to unlearn certain practices.

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And so if you're someone who

maybe just kind of falls into

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that unconsciously, right.

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This unconscious bias, um, really

think about what you're saying.

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Like, you know, when you say to yourself,

ah, Kamala Harris hasn't done anything

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because you heard that on the news or you

heard somebody that you respect say it.

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Um, really think about, you know,

did you think that way about

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the previous Vice President?

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And if so, why, and if not, why not?

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And are you holding her

to a different standard?

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And why?

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So, you know, as the sitting U.S.

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Vice President.

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She should be considered, she should

actually be the nominee if Biden

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steps down, if Biden runs and wins

and goes away for whatever reasons,

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she's the next in line, right?

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So you can't just dispose of her

because she doesn't fit with the

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dominant narrative that Americans

love, where it has to either be an

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older white man, Trump, Biden, Bernie,

or, um, it has to be a white person,

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uh, you know, Gavin, And a bunch of

other folks, uh, Buttigieg who I like.

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I like both of them a lot.

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I'm just saying, I think

they would be great.

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But in this particular instance, how

people are going about it, how the

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party is going about it, how the public

is going about it is really wrong.

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So this is Dr.

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Nsenga Burton with your need to know

moment on the black executive podcast.

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I wish you a wonderful day.

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And I wish you discernment, kindness,

and empathy, and critical thinking

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as we move through the world.

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A Black Executive Perspective.