I’m not interested in your Kamala Harris memes. I just want you to vote.

I’m not impressed by the fawning over Kamala Harris and the high-fives from feminists.

Questlove and Sheryl Lee Ralph’s endorsements are nice, but I couldn’t care less about them.

I’m tired of the in-support-of Harris memes and I’ve been tired of the off-handed statements about Black women saving America.

We’ve been saving America for centuries.

What matters is that the people — all people — vote. Anyone who is afraid for America’s future must vote. Every person who believes women have agency over their reproductive systems can’t not vote. (Shoot, any person who thinks women deserve their C-suite jobs need vote.) Every person who knows LGBTQ people deserve equal rights needs to hotfoot it to the polls.

If you believe all Americans are created equal — Vote. Vote. Vote.

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It’s great that Harris has the potential to connect with younger people, but it doesn’t mean squat if those meme creators and re-posters don’t vote. So, if Harris wins the Democratic nomination for president, we have to vote for her and it’s not because she’s a woman, or a Black woman. Her candidacy is not a victory for the pantsuit nation and the pussy hat parade — it’s our last chance to save democracy.

Pop culture is full of dramatic, political utopian fantasies like Veep, Scandal, and House of Cards, where women ascend to the presidency and ultimately all is right with the world. We know what chaos looks like, and we take for granted that it will all work out in the end.

In the writers’ room, democracy always wins. But this is real life.

Charlottesville was a dress rehearsal. Jan. 6 was real. Project 2025, which calls for the firing of thousands of civil servants who could be replaced by political appointees who demonstrate loyalty to Trump, is in the pipeline.

If we allow Trump and his VP pick, JD Vance, to win, we don’t deserve the America we say means so much to us. The one our ancestors died to keep and protect. The one my grandfather — a Black man — fought valiantly for in World War II and faced discrimination in when he came home from Europe, forcing my grandmother — a Black woman — to hold our family down.

This election is about so much more than Kamala Harris being the first Black woman candidate. And yet, it’s ironic that once again Black women bear the brunt of holding America accountable to its ideals of equality. When Black women were enslaved, their children were ripped from their wombs and our hearts. America’s elite — that includes Democrats — ridiculed us, acting as if we were all “Hottentot Venuses” and “welfare queens.” Still, because Black women have an inherent understanding that when any American is denied their human rights all of us are at risk, we must rise to the occasion. We don’t have a choice.

Ida B. Wells and Mary McCleod Bethune risked their lives in the 19th century with their abolitionist and civil rights work. Shirley Chisolm defied the odds and became the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination back in 1971. Under the tutelage of Stacey Abrams, Black women organized Georgia, delivering Biden a 2020 presidential victory and ensuring Raphael Warnock was elected as a Georgia senator in a highly-contested 2022 run-off, helping Democrats take control of the U.S. Senate.

In recent history, pop culture has been more than willing to pay lip service to the fabulousness of Black women, demanding that America listen to them. In this election, the key difference is that instead of working to advance someone else, it is a Black woman who will potentially be the front runner to lead the country. This requires political action, support, and trust. All of our lives depend on it.

I’ve trusted in Black women since the day I was born — my mother, grandmother, aunties, friends, and fellow newspaper women — and they have never led me astray.

Harris is electable, if you elect her.

We are off to a good start. Harris’ campaign raised more than $100 million between Sunday afternoon and Monday evening, as reported to CBS. Democrats are finally coalescing. As of Tuesday morning, Harris secured over 2,600 delegates, well over the threshold of 1,976 delegates needed to win the nomination. (That includes Pennsylvania’s 159 delegates, who voted unanimously to support her.)

She kicked off her campaign Monday morning with two high-profile appearances. First, she spoke at a White House event lauding NCAA champions, and praising Biden for his exemplary term as president. (That’s the kind of loyalty Democrats need, isn’t it?) At Harris’ Wilmington headquarters Monday evening, she drew cheers talking about her work as a California attorney general and prosecutor who took on perpetrators who “abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain.”

“So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type,” she said to a thunderous crowd.

So what if you don’t like Harris’ laugh? Get over the fact that Harris reminds you of the pretty, popular girl in high school who ignored you. That says more about your self-esteem than it does about her potential presidency.

I’m excited Harris is a Howard University alum. I’m thrilled she’s a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the country’s oldest Black sorority whose legacy of powerful Black women always rise to the challenge of saving America. I’m excited that 44,000 Black women met virtually Sunday to strategize Harris’ win and raise money. One thing Black women know is the deal. We will vote for Harris. America needs to follow suit.

I’m not interested in a celebration. I don’t want a pat on the head. I want everyone who cares to vote. Or all the work that Americans — especially Black women — have done for the good of America will be lost.