5 Black Women on What Happened in Alabama

"Alabama's women wrote the verdict on Roy Moore," declares an NBC News headline, with the accompanying story pointing out that 58% of women voted for Doug Jones in Alabama. But a deeper look at the numbers reveals that headline is missing a word: black. As the Washington Post reports, 63% of white women voted for Moore; only 2% of black women, who made up 17% of voters, did. And the black turnout was strong, with African-Americans making up as much as 30% of voters, compared to 29% and 28% during the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections; that figure is a bit higher than the state's black population, which ABC News puts at 26.8%. Slate's takeaway for Dems: "Mobilizing black voters in conservative states en masse may be more possible than many imagined—even for candidates not named Barack Obama." How five black women responded to the news on Twitter:

1. @austinchanning: "Thank black women by supporting black women. Pay us. Vote with us. Hire us. Read our writing. Fund our projects and ministries. Vote us into office. Purchase from our businesses. Amplify us. Stand against racism and sexism."
2. @kdc: "Like I don't think people get that Black women don't turn out because of some maternal instinct to save everyone. We get usually hit first and worst by oppressive policies so we are saving ourselves. You just benefit."
3. @rdp: "ICYMI: 97 percent of Black women voted for Jones while 65 percent of white women voted for Moore. We won't always be there to clean up the mess."
4. @RaquelWillis_: "The real tea is Black women saved themselves not y’all."
5. @CharleneCac: "Black women are not political mules to be used every time a mediocre white candidate needs to win. No amount of verbal appreciation will do us justice. Turn over the money, resources and power, then we can talk."

(More black women stories.)