A Letter to My Sisters

No One Is Coming to Save Us. We Must Secure Ourselves

To My Sisters,

We stand at another crossroads, where the weight of being both exceptional and overlooked feels heavier than ever. Watching Vice President Kamala Harris lose in this election was not just a political defeat; it was a reminder of the battles we fight daily—not because we lack competence or courage, but because the systems were never designed for us to win.

For many of us, her loss felt personal. I struggled to find the words for my feelings for days. Now, I can say it represented the exhaustion of feeling compelled to prove our worth in environments that refuse to acknowledge it or diminishes it, the heartbreak of watching overqualification be dismissed, and the frustration of seeing brilliance eclipsed by mediocrity. It is a familiar story, one we know too well.

But let me be clear: this is not the end of our story.

Black women have always been the architects of progress, resourceful visionaries who build and rebuild despite being handed scraps. Time and again, we have turned disappointment into determination, pain into power, and setbacks into stepping stones. We are the blueprint, even when the world refuses to acknowledge it.

Now is the time for us to bet on ourselves—not because we are alone, but because our collective strength has always been the force that moves mountains.

We must remember: our value is not defined by systems that were never built to see us succeed. Our worth is inherent, rooted in the history of women who dared to rise, even when the odds were stacked against them.

No one is coming to save us because we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. Together, we will take this moment of collective disappointment and transform it into a movement of alignment, empowerment, and success.

Sisters, let’s rise.

In strength and solidarity,

Shannon D. Smith