Syosset, NY – January 3, 2024 – Laura Harding, President of ERASE Racism, issued today the following statement on yesterday’s claim of victory by Congress Member Elise Stefanik of New York in the resignation of Harvard University President Claudine Gay:

Yesterday, Congress Member Elise Stefanik of New York claimed credit for the resignation of Harvard University President Claudine Gay, the first Black woman to serve in that role. In a press release, Stefanik announced, “I will always deliver results,” as she celebrated the “long overdue” resignation of Claudine Gay for her “morally bankrupt answers to my questions” in earlier Congressional testimony. Yet Stefanik has endorsed a White man running for President of the United States, who has been indicted 91 times, found liable by a jury of sexual assault, and incited an insurrection to overturn the 2020 US presidential election. That is racism – plain and simple.

In Stefanik’s world, a Black woman, who has excelled to the highest, most rigorous levels of academic achievement, should be forced to resign as President for her responses to questions in Congressional testimony, but a White man should be endorsed for President despite criminal activity and an effort to overthrow the US government.

It is time for New York to recognize and reject the overt racism that exists in our state. Black women are not scalps to be claimed in the political games of New York or the nation.

The structural racism that ERASE Racism fights against daily includes the reality that, no matter how smart and capable Black women may be, we are still working in a White supremacist culture that revels in the opportunity to depose us. Even excelling to the highest levels of academia is not protection enough. It simply makes you a bigger target.

To speak with Laura Harding, contact Henry Miller – hmiller@highimpactpartnering.com or 917-921-8034.