As Omarosa reveals an inside view of the Trump White House through her latest book Unhinged and released recordings, she confirms the worst firsthand.

 

Racists think Black people lack intelligence.

Misogynists only see value in women they can sexually exploit.

It is unfortunate that, seemingly, the only things mainstream America believes constitutes proof of racism are:

1. Disparaging things Black people say about White people.
2. Actively participating in a lynching.
3. Using the “N word.”

A man that routinely calls Black American citizens things like “sons of bitches,” “really dumb,” and “low lives” hardly needs a “N word” gotcha tape to demonstrate his commitment to bigotry. A man that feels as if one of the strongest compliments he can pay a woman is a personal compliment to her comeliness, with dozens of allegations of sexual impropriety, needs no mystery Russian sex tape to confirm his cemented views of what roles nature has established to gender. It is far past the point that neoliberal ideology realize that what is in your heart cannot determine if we should regard them as racist or sexist. That impact is greater than intent has been established canon for quite some time.

A lot of interest has been demonstrated in finding or disproving the existence of the “N word” tape. It is misplaced. The search for the tape itself is a constant gaslight to what the overwhelming majority of what Blacks in America have been saying for over three decades: this man is a racist.

This, quite frankly, is what is so devastatingly fascinating about the Omarosa spectacle playing out before our eyes. The president, who has long established himself as a person who does not respect non-deferential Blacks or women that serve no immediate sexual role (even if only in fantasy space), has been seemingly outfoxed and indeed boxed in by his opponent least likely: a Black woman.

In the megalomaniacal mind of this man, he “made her.” This in spite of the fact that she had previously served in the White House before ever having appeared on reality TV.

This man would have never in a million years seen Omarosa as a threat because he is too racist and far too sexist to have ever taken the time to assess her vast mental acuity, and he had no interest in having sex with her so how much could she even matter?

You have to appreciate the intricacy of this moment:

Blac Chyna: “I am the undisputed mistress of the supreme level finesse job.”

Omarosa: “Hold my beer.”

It is notably lamentable that so many of the women in media who were disheartened by the Press Secretary’s demonstratively accurate depiction as a person paid to lie have been so noticeably absent in the treatment of Omarosa as she has been publicly ridiculed and tormented with public dehumanizing language. It shows that this type of sisterhood and solidarity simply isn’t available to Black women.

She has been painted as irrational and unstable. Saturday Night Live created skits that demonstrated an almost spurned lovesick partner quality, in stark relation as to what is purported to have happened: a general of the U.S. military led her to one of the most secured places on the face of the earth and without due process or even access to a lawyer, medical supplies, or her husband proceeded to hold her against her will and coax her to sign documents with the weight of law. This is the definition of duress.

Yet, through all of this, she managed to keep herself composed and provide receipt after receipt for every claim she has made.

What is happening becomes as big a victory for applied intersectionality as anything we ever get to witness—played out in broad spectacle in front of the entire culture.

To be sure, you don’t have to want to be a hero to become one. People end up doing the right thing for the wrong reasons all the time.

Also, let’s be clear—someone that meets an activist’s threshold was never going to make it to the inner sanctum to even spill tea of this quality.

So, we can dispense with the most obvious question: Is Omarosa self-motivated? Certainly. With her deep insider knowledge of the inner workings of perhaps the most corrupt Oval Office, her studiousness in note keeping must absolutely be considered nothing short of future scholarship. In this age of paid access and Nat Sec redaction, she has provided the average American invaluable insight into the process.

So, she is selling a book? America is still predicated on a capitalist economy and every person has a right to make a living.

It is insignificant in the light that those recordings are also in the service of transparency and democracy and paint her as a patriot of the first order.

Life is complicated and, as we learned from Omarosa, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”