Much has been said over the past month on the need for Biden to choose a VP who "meets this moment". Unfortunately, I fear many in the party—particularly white moderates—fundamentally misunderstand the nature of systemic racism in this country & the work required to combat it. 1/

Put simply, the way to meet this moment of historic unrest is with a racial justice platform of historic ambition.

Yes, this moment demands we dismantle our racist police state, but the work to dismantle systemic racism is so much broader than that. 2/

It's also about ending the international disgrace at our Southern border & reuniting families torn apart by our inhumane immigration system. 3/

It's about addressing the epidemic of violence against trans women of color.

It's about fighting back against the surge in violent hate crimes since Trump took office.

It's about ending the Muslim ban. 4/

It's about tackling the Black maternal mortality crisis, ending the habitual underfunding of the Indian Health Service, & rooting out structural racism in our health care systems.

It's about acknowledging that Black students are bearing the brunt of our student debt crisis. 5/

It's about ending racist voter suppression laws that have silenced Black and brown people for far too long.

It's about abolishing the Electoral College, a modern vestige of the White Supremacy enshrined in our Constitution. 6/

It's about atoning for the legacy of redlining & promoting race conscious housing policy.

It's about using all the tools at our disposal to close the racial wealth gap.

It's about valuing the work of WOC and closing the pay gap for Black, Latina, & Indigenous women. 7/

It's about investing in our woefully underfunded public schools, HBCUs, MSIs, & BIE schools educating BIPOC folx.

It's about acknowledging that environmental justice is racial justice. 8/

It's about comprehensive debt relief for Puerto Rico, and advocating for Puerto Ricans' right to self-determination.

It's about ending cash bail.

It's about respecting Tribal Sovereignty and reversing the Oliphant decision. 9/

It's about investing in Indian Country & ensuring *all* Americans have clean water, reliable electricity, and well-maintained infrastructure.

It's about fighting back against White Nationalist violence.

It's about all of this and *so much more*. 10/

Meeting this moment is not just about the protests of the last month, or the damage of the last 4 years. It’s about reckoning with hundreds of years of White Supremacy. 11/

As a queer POC who was able to vote for a queer POC for the 1st time this year, I know how much representation can mean. But we have to be honest about the scale of the crisis we’re facing, and the limits of what representation alone can do to address it. 12/

Rooting out systemic racism in our society will take honesty, ambition, and political courage. It will take Big, Structural Change and intersectional policy of the sort Senator Warren has spent years fighting for. 13/

This is not intended to cast aspersions on any of the Black women under consideration or anyone rightfully excited by the prospect of a Black woman VP. Rather, it’s a critique of the many white Dems acting as if a Black VP is some sort of quick-fix for healing our country. 14/

The way we start to heal the wounds inflicted by our racist history is with policy that is intentional in its anti-racism. As @AyannaPressley puts it so eloquently, "Policy is our Love Language." If you love BIPOC folx, fight for policies that support us. 15/15