In her presidential bid, Kamala Harris- like many other blacks who have gone into law enforcement- must step into her career and articulate her vision of reform.

Uncle JoJo went on a bizarre adventure this week when he finally realized that he was not part of the fam.

Kamala Harris, junior senator from California and Democratic presidential candidate, pulled the equivalent of a triple double on a court filled with opposing players. Speaking with the gravitas that only lived experience brings, she took Joe Biden to the floor on his recording regarding bussing to integrate schools. If you have not watched the exchange, you have to see it to understand Harris’ emotion and Biden’s shock. Biden has gotten flak for years regarding his defense of Clarence Thomas during the Anita Hill hearings, and how this represents his spotty record on racial justice. Harris, however, seemingly landed a blow that will finally get traction with the mainstream media.

Various bots and trolls immediately got to work trying to dismantle Harris’ blackness. She cannot really be black, being the child of a black Jamaican and an Indian mother, right? Black personhood makes people insecure because we have a strong claim for reparation; thus, anyone who claims it as a justification for power must be some sort of hustler.

Harris’ history gives her immunity to this claim. She has claimed in interviews that she sees herself as a black woman. She attended Howard University, one of the most prestigious HBCUs that gave us civil rights pioneers such as Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and Kwame Ture. She is a member of a prominent historically black sorority, one whose call sign befuddled a white reporter. For many educated and middle class black folk, Harris does not have to prove her connections to our community.

And yet. Harris served as the attorney general of California, and thus had to navigate the double consciousness all black folk who go into law enforcement faces. Can black people reform a system specifically designed to oppress black personhood?  It is the story of Kimberly Gardner, Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch, Edwin Raymond, and Marilyn Mosby. In fiction, it is Bunk and Kima Griggs and Cedric Daniels from The Wire. It is the theme of BlackKkKlansman.

It is the story of Harris’ support of an anti-truancy law passed in California, which many of her critics are trying to use to disqualify her from office. Others have already written about her enforcement of the law and the impact it had on getting more children to school. Anyone who has had any sustained career in any profession is bound to have red on their ledger. Despite that, I feel the criticism she is enduring for this encapsulates the predicament of black people in law enforcement. Nowhere does the hand of white supremacy strike more heavily than in policing. Progressive circles, who are concerned with prison abolition and curtailing the power of the carceral state, are trying to use her past to say she can never be a true fighter for black personhood.

Reformation and revolution—these have been the twin themes of black personhood since 1865, when the last revolution freed my ancestors from chains. We have had times where we have done our best to integrate ourselves into American society. Without fail, we were cast out. The casting out continues. It is not an accident that the United States continues to incarcerate a disproportionate amount of black people for crimes white people commit in equal proportion; that the debt crisis many Americans are in disproportionate hurts black people the most; and that we continue to find ourselves locked out of jobs and power that would make reformation possible.

I support Kamala Harris because I want to believe in the reformation of the American Experiment. To do so will require black people who are driven to protect and serve, and to hope that their service will break a system arrayed against their people. To do so requires leaders who will go on a national stage, hold the previous holders of power accountable for their actions, and to nudge this nation toward a path of fairness and reparation.

Such work requires leaders like Senator Kamala Harris.