34

Background

At the start of an important discussion, Kamala Harris describes her appearance:

I am ... sitting at the table wearing a blue suit.

This is being used as an argument against her potential run for presidency:

enter image description here

Question

I haven't encountered this convention before and am curious why she did (/does ?) it.

Improve this question
3
  • 20
    Is this really a political question? Not a single one of your points hints at a political angle, and it does not seem like you are asking for one.
    – MisterMiyagi
    Commented Jul 24 at 4:40
  • 18
    @MisterMiyagi fair question. I'm not sure, I think the linked post of the meeting is intended as a sort of (political) attack on Harris (possibly taking her statement out of context), so I am curious if there is context to her making the statement that the short video misses. When I watch the video, I am puzzled as to why she does it, however, I am as far from an expert as one can be. tl;dr I'm just curious.
    – stevec
    Commented Jul 24 at 4:44
  • 5
    A politician, at a political event/meeting... it's entirely politics. It's a politician trying to connect with and ingratiate themselves to a specific subset of the voters. It's easier to catch flies with honey, than it is with vinegar. And people tend to make decisions from an emotional level moreso than a logical/rational level. So, you make someone feel seen/heard for a minute, you gain that goodwill, and you likely get that vote.
    – Bardicer
    Commented Jul 26 at 16:51

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
118

Snopes has an article on this that mentions amongst other things

Harris was speaking at a roundtable with disability advocates, who were discussing the impact of the Supreme Court's reversal of its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision concerning abortion rights on people with disabilities (...)

(which happened in 2022) and points out that

self-description was consistent with both a commitment to gender inclusivity and best practices for accommodating people who are visually impaired.

So this is on brand for her as a matter of (presumably) personal values as well as political strategy to accomodate people with disabilities or their representatives.

The video for the event is here: Vice President Harris Meets with Disability Rights Leaders. Several (but not all) people introduce themselves, or are introduced, with gender pronouns, and/or references to ethnicity or appearance.

Given that all people attending seem to read prepared statements I assume this was intended to be filmed and broadcast, not as an actual discussion, which might make the way of introduction part of a public/political statement.

Here is the transcript of Vice President Harris's remarks: Remarks by Vice President Harris in a Roundtable with Disability Advocates.

Improve this answer
13
  • 68
    This also seems to suggest that she did this for this particular meeting, where it was especially relevant. It doesn't seem to be the case that she does this all the time, or even in any other situation than this one meeting.
    – quarague
    Commented Jul 24 at 7:03
  • 9
    Thinking about why informing visually impaired folks of one's attire may be useful.. I think for those who are completely blind, such information might be irrelevant? But it could be beneficial to people with partial vision who can discern shapes and colours but might not see details clearly, like facial expressions necessary to identify who is speaking in the meeting. Perhaps someone can help me understand if this is wrong or incomplete.
    – stevec
    Commented Jul 24 at 12:35
  • 29
    @stevec even a blind person will have heard of certain symbolisms (i.e. a woman wearing a suit vs wearing a shirt, blue as a signifier for the democratic party etc.), so this helps to put them on an even footing when talking about the event to sighted people.
    – Eike Pierstorff
    Commented Jul 24 at 12:54
  • 8
    Good supporting evidence to add would be how other people introduced themselves at this meeting, but I admit I didn't look into it.
    – Joel Harmon
    Commented Jul 24 at 12:59
  • 37
    It's common to provide visual descriptions for the blind, even though it might not be essential, just as subtitles for the deaf may describe music.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jul 24 at 13:30
18

I think (but have no proof) that she may be describing her appearance because attendees of the event are wearing masks and the attendees and the audience may have trouble identifying who is speaking without seeing their mouth move.

By stating that she is a woman sitting at the table wearing a blue suit, people can look for the person who matches the description and identify her as the speaker.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .