Another part of me grew uneasy as I considered how her elevation would be fuel for blowback against Black women all over the country. In my book Black Women Taught Us, I explain how many Black Americans were concerned about President Barack Obama’s safety after his election. The political environment has only heightened the daily violences that many Black women and femmes are expected to endure just to survive. This election cycle, I want Black women and femmes to create personal and professional boundaries around themselves that allow them to be their best selves each day. Their books include Black Women Taught Us (Penguin Random House, 2024) and the forthcoming Policing Blackness (University of Chicago Press, 2025).