Vice President Kamala Harris was a guest on Monday’s episode of Drew Barrymore’s self-titled talk show, where a discussion of the vice president’s home life veered into cringe-worthy territory.
As the two discussed her family, Harris shared that her stepchildren lovingly refer to her as “Momala.” Barrymore then said something that just goes to show that maybe we don’t deserve nice anecdotes: Further into the discussion, the “Ever After” actor circled back to the nickname to remark that perhaps it’s the entire U.S. that also needs a “Momala” in the VP.
“I keep thinking in my head that we all need a mom. I’ve been thinking that we all need a tremendous hug in the world right now. But in our country, we need you to be Momala of the country,” Barrymore said with a characteristic earnestness.
Hugs and whatever sense of kinship embolden Barrymore to sit so close to her guests surely help to keep this horrendous world in orbit. But suggesting that a Black woman needs to mother a nation evokes the trope of the mammy, a stereotype rooted in the premise that Black women should be overtly domestic and maternal to the point of subservience. The caricature originated during slavery and has evolved since, but the idea is the same: Black women are expected to serve as everyone’s keepers.
The trope has been made apparent throughout history and in Hollywood, making Barrymore’s comment (and the audience that applauded it) deeply cringe-worthy. Even Harris, for all of her media training, looked as if she was struggling to contain herself while Barrymore seemed unaware of how problematic — not to say terribly cheesy — her comment was.
Though Barrymore almost certainly meant no harm, well-meaning white women in 2024 should have done the homework at this point. The think pieces that resulted from the Black Lives Matter uprisings, the #ProtectBlackWomen movement, any given conversation about the experiences of Black women in the workplace or even the 2020 election — all have offered plenty of opportunities to self-educate about the contradictions of the country’s high expectations and low regard for Black women. (Even a singular Malcolm X quote could get the ball rolling.)
Barrymore is presumably getting paid well to talk to people on a massive platform, and she’d do herself a service by reading the room (OK, maybe not literally the studio where she was applauded). Harris earned her prestigious title not because of her ability to coddle an ailing nation — but because she’s capable of governing it.
