Muriel Bowser, Letitia James, and the hazards of being a Black woman in power
D.C.’s mayor and New York’s AG are under scrutiny, and we all know why.
By Carron J. Phillips
“Do yourself a favor,” comedian Trevor Noah once advised. “If you truly want to know what to do or how to do it? Or maybe the best way or the most equitable way? Talk to Black women.”
“They can’t afford to f*ck around and find out,” he said.
What some of us have always known and experienced has been demonstrated to the nth degree, as others are starting to realize the negative side effects that come with being a powerful Black woman facing the Trump administration.
Consider just two: One has had power taken from her, and the other has been subpoenaed over allegations of misuse of power.
In just a few weeks, the travails of Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and New York Attorney General Letitia James have highlighted the challenges that come with being an empowered Black woman in America and the consequences of holding President Donald Trump accountable.
“While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can’t say that given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we’re totally surprised,” Bowser said about Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard in the nation’s capital after he said the city had been “overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of violent youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people”—without any actual evidence, of course.
Trump’s language might have been coded, but the motive could easily be inferred. It’s why he assumed control of a place that was once known as “Chocolate City” and that, until a few months ago, had “Black Lives Matter” painted on the street.
In Trump’s home state, James was one of the few individuals to hold him accountable. The civil charges she filed against him and his organization in 2022 highlighted over 200 alleged instances of fraud. Trump and the Trump Organization were found liable for systemic business fraud, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties against Trump and his associates.
Trump declared in 2023 that James should be prosecuted. By 2024, he demanded that both James and the judge overseeing the case be “arrested” and “punished accordingly.”
“She’s a disaster for New York,” he said of James this month. “She’s a horrible, horrible human being, and I think she’s a total crook. There’s no question about it, but that’s just my opinion. ... She’s a very bad person. She’s a very, very bad, a very bad person. ... She’s a sick person.”
This is the part where I point out the clear differences between the women Trump attacks and one he supports.
“I wish her well,” the man who was found liable for sexual abuse said about Ghislaine Maxwell, a woman who was then facing charges related to decades of sex trafficking (and since has been convicted).
The hypocrisy is never subtle.
If it hasn’t clicked yet: Trump most despises Black women in power. It’s been proved by the perpetual playbook he uses against them, which is to attack their intellect—a racist trope that’s as old as time.
“Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett is a Low (Very!!!) I.Q. Individual, much in the mold of the AOC Plus Three Gang of Country Destroying Morons - Only slightly dumber,” he recently spewed on social media. His disdain for former Vice President Kamala Harris, his 2024 opponent, has been on record for years. Ironically, she predicted what he had Immigration and Customs Enforcement do to immigrants and citizens in Los Angeles earlier this year and what he’s doing right now in D.C.
“Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged and he is out for unchecked power, that’s what he’s looking for,” she said at a campaign rally last year. “He wants to send the military after American citizens.”
The mentality shared by Trump and others is prejudiced and misogynistic. In this context, it's not just about him targeting a Black woman who leads a “Black city” or one who serves as the chief legal officer of a state like New York. It’s about attacking Black women leaders and the citizens who dared to elect them. Ironically, it’s the same disgusting notion that started the birther movement and Trump’s entire political career, which laid the foundation for a revamped ideology like “Make America Great Again.”
For a political party that insists it believes in the rule of law, the Republican Party and its leader have proved to be allergic to the idea of accountability when it comes to their own actions. And, more often than not, Black women have found themselves in the crosshairs whenever they’ve attempted to hold Trump’s feet to the fire—or for simply existing.
Carron J. Phillips is an award-winning journalist who writes on race, culture, social issues, politics, and sports. He hails from Saginaw, Michigan, and is a graduate of Morehouse College and Syracuse University.
“She’s a disaster for New York,” he said of James this month. “She’s a horrible, horrible human being, and I think she’s a total crook. There’s no question about it, but that’s just my opinion. ... She’s a very bad person. She’s a very, very bad, a very bad person. ... She’s a sick person.”
trump is so good at describing himself. Horrible human, check. Total crook, check. Very bad person, check. Sick person, check!
The only things missing are "Malignant Narcissist" and "Sociopath".
I would never count out NY AG Letitia James. She won against Trump — and she will hold him accountable.