Commentary
Report: Kamala Harris to Announce Run for President
NNPA NEWSWIRE — The California Democrat, who promised reporters that she’d ponder the decision over the holidays, is now expected to make a formal announcement on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
The California Democrat, who promised reporters that she’d ponder the decision over the holidays, is now expected to make a formal announcement on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
CBS News Radio in California first reported that Harris likely will hold a campaign rally in Oakland where she’ll officially throw her hat into the ring.
Harris, 54, has been making the rounds of television talk shows and appearing at several events this week as part of a brief tour to promote her new book, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey.”
At every stop, when asked about running for president, Harris has answered with some variation of “I’m not ready yet” to announce her decision and cited family considerations, according to CBS News.
But several sources with knowledge of her plans told the network that she has in fact decided to run, with the enthusiastic blessing of her husband and two stepchildren.
The debate within her camp has been how, and where, to launch her campaign.
Details have emerged that the current expectation is for Harris to enter the race with a campaign rally in Oakland, the city where she was born and began her legal career.
Harris has continually been as outspoken as any critic about President Donald Trump and his policies.
While the president continues to push his agenda to build a wall on America’s southern border, Harris called the proposal, “Vanity Project.”
She also scoffed at Trump’s contention that America faces a border crisis.
“It’s an emergency of his own creation,” she said, noting that hundreds of thousands of federal workers remained furloughed or without pay during the shutdown.
During the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference in September, Harris told the Black Press that America faced a “critical time” under Trump’s presidency.
She said the American Dream sought by King was still deferred.
“It’s about where we came from and where we’ve got to go … this is a pivotal moment,” Harris said.
“I think we all know when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. talked about the Dream, it wasn’t about being asleep. It was about being awake.”
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
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Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024
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Commentary
Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”
Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.
By Emil Guillermo
I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”
I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.
Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.
Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.
That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.
And it just doesn’t happen that often.
Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.
When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.
Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.
On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.
I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?
I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.
Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.
Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.
I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.
And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”
It was the night of the eclipse.
ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE
In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.
For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.
I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.
For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.
Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.
In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.
History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.
Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.
If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.
You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets
About the Author
Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!
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