Angie Nixon says Black women need more than ‘passive allies’ after Marjorie Taylor Greene condemns racist attack
TheGrio...
Nixon says Greene’s defense surprised her as she calls for “willful accomplices” to push back against attacks targeting Black women.
After conservative firebrand Laura Loomer attacked U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Angie Nixon and other prominent Black women in politics as “ghetto Black bitches,” an unforeseen defender emerged in former Republican U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“I’m not a Democrat and I’m not supporting Angie Nixon, but the Republican Party and President Trump owns Laura Loomer and her nonstop vitriol. This hateful, racists, and demeaning rhetoric should not be tolerated. Ever,” Greene, a former MAGA supporter who had a vicious falling out with President Donald Trump before resigning from Congress, wrote on social media.
During an interview with theGrio, Nixon said Greene’s defense was certainly unexpected, but also called on others to stand up for Black women.
“Oh my God, yes. Like what?” said Nixon when asked if she was surprised after learning of Greene calling out Loomer for her racist remarks.
“To see one of the most racist—I would say she’s racist—right-wing conservatives, Marjorie Taylor Greene, come to my defense. I mean…for her to call out other leaders for not saying anything about how I’ve been attacked is just wild to me,” Nixon told theGrio. However, acknowledging Greene and Loomer’s ongoing feud, she added, “But also I know that her and Laura have problems.”
Greene, aside, Loomer’s attack on Nixon, and others like U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson led several Black women and Black men in rallying to support them.
“It feels great because we’re our sisters’ keepers, and if one thing I know is that my sisters, my Black sisters, are gonna have my back,” said Nixon.
However, acknowledging that support has not been widespread, she added, “This shouldn’t just be Black women having to defend Black women, particularly in this party…Black people, Black women especially, we’re always coming to the aid of people when they’re being wrongly attacked or wrongly accused.”
Nixon told theGrio, “We would love to not just have passive allies. We would love to have willful accomplices that lock arms with us and push back against all these blatant attacks on us.”
The Florida U.S. candidate lamented about the more than 600,000 Black women who have lost their jobs during the second Trump administration, as well as racial disparities in health care and pay that are impacting Black Americans, specifically Black women.
“It is just abysmal,” said Nixon, adding, “I’m going to Washington, D.C., to put an end to it and to help alleviate some of these issues that we have.”
Since clinching the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Florida on Aug. 19, Nixon’s name profile has expanded nationally. She told theGrio that there have been attempts to “villainize” her and her association with the Democratic Socialists of America.
“We’ve gotten some hate, like what we’ve seen from Laura Loomer…I am OK with being at the forefront, on the front lines of it, but it does suck at times because it’s like, here it is again,” said Nixon. “I’m a Black woman, and I’m being attacked for how I talk or how I dress, how I just show up authentically myself, and it’s sad.”
But the newfound attention on her and her campaign has also brought positive attention, says Nixon, who shared that her campaign has raised close to $3 million.
Still, the Florida lawmaker says it upsets her that the racist and sexist attacks against her and other Black Democrats are being “normalized.”
Nixon told theGrio, “I just have to continue to push through and push forward.”
“At the end of the day, I am someone who only fights for hardworking everyday people, and I am going to continue to uplift the needs of everyday people,” she added. “We’re in a battle for the humanity and the soul of our country.”