Commentary

COMMENTARY: With Kamala Harris, the fix is in

FLORIDA COURIER — It is painfully obvious that Kamala Harris is unprepared for the scrutiny that comes with waging a presidential campaign.

Published

5 years ago

February 24, 2019

Oakland Post

By Margaret Kimberley

It is painfully obvious that Kamala Harris is unprepared for the scrutiny that comes with waging a presidential campaign. But it is equally obvious that her lack of gravitas may not matter at all.

“The fix is in,” as the old saying goes. She is the choice of the Democratic Party leadership, the Black misleaders, and their partners in corporate media. They will give her cover whenever she needs help. Gaffes and comical pandering at the expense of Black voters may not hurt her chances at all.

Kamala Harris has no natural constituency. She is a relative newcomer on the national political scene and is known only for somewhat close questioning of Trump appointees during Senate hearings. Her record as a prosecutor and California attorney general ought to make her persona non grata with the Black voters who she sought to lock up as often as possible. But she is being foisted upon voters because the party and their rich backers have made her their choice.

The Obama formula

The Democrats are hoping that having another biracial Black person on the ticket can make up for their lack of substance and hers. All Harris knows how to do is pander, and she doesn’t even do that very well.

On The Breakfast Club radio show, she was asked if she opposed marijuana legalization. “That’s not true… Half my family is from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?” She was lying. As a prosecutor, she opposed a 2010 proposition that would have legalized recreational use. She opposed it as late as 2015.

The promotion of a stereotype didn’t go over very well, including with her own father. Donald Harris said that his ancestors “…must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics.”

Hillary pandered, too

Hillary Clinton famously sought to ingratiate herself with Black voters by claiming, also on The Breakfast Club radio show, that she carried hot sauce in her purse at all times. Harris can now be seen putting hot sauce on her collard greens too, but the absurd mimicry isn’t hurting her any. The endorsements are already coming her way.

Harris would be a bad joke were it not for the fact that the right people are behind her. Not only did she needlessly include every person of Jamaican ancestry in her bad joke, but she claimed to have gotten high while listening to artists like Tupac and Snoop Dogg ‒ who weren’t even recording when she was a young student. But the misleaders and their patrons have made their choice and they won’t allow her own foolish words to take her out of the running.

Conversely, Bernie Sanders, the true frontrunner, is scrutinized over minor issues and must fend off bald-faced lies. He can expect a repeat of the treatment he received from the Democratic Party leadership and corporate media in 2016. While the hollow woman Harris can do no wrong, Sanders will get bad press ‒ no matter what he does.

In a bind

As always, Black people are caught in the racist bind which makes one of the major parties the de facto White party, and the other the Black party. The understandable desire to keep the White party Republicans out of office twists authentically progressive political leanings.

If Harris prevails in early primaries and caucuses and looks like a winner, she will become a Black voter favorite ‒ just as Barack Obama did in 2008 after his Iowa caucus victory. Legitimate questions about her record in public office will disappear and she will have a good chance of winning the party’s nomination.

Her silly lies are already being defended. The Breakfast Club hosts ran to her aid when the proof of her stupid fib became apparent. Host Charlemagne the God gave a sad preview of the foolishness still to come: “I want everybody to know they’re doing the work of Fox News. The Black Twitter people you see that are going in on Kamala because of this, Y’all are doing the work of Fox News.”

Worse than ever

After the Democratic Party debacle that put Donald Trump in office, Black voters are worse off than ever. Their enemies get the stamp of approval and what looks like a political victory will in fact be another disaster.

Harris could be Obama 2.0 ‒ and we know how well that turned out. Happiness overrepresentation would be nothing but a tremendous defeat.

***

Margaret Kimberley is a co-founder of BlackAgendaReport.com and writes a weekly column there. Contact her at Margaret.Kimberley@BlackAgendaReport.com.

This article originally appeared in the Florida Courier.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

5 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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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.

Published

1 week ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

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.

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.

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

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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Commentary

Commentary: Republican Votes Are Threatening American Democracy

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We needed to know the blunt truth. The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

Published

1 week ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening. That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

By Emil Guillermo

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

We needed to know the blunt truth.

The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

And to save it will require all hands on deck.

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening.

That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

No man is above the law? To the majority of his supporters, it seems Trump is.

It’s an anti-democracy loyalty that has spread like a political virus.

No matter what he does, Trump’s their guy. Trump received 51% of caucus-goers votes to beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who garnered 21.2%, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who got 19.1%.

The Asian flash in the pan Vivek Ramaswamy finished way behind and dropped out. Perhaps to get in the VP line. Don’t count on it.

According to CNN’s entrance polls, when caucus-goers were asked if they were a part of the “MAGA movement,” nearly half — 46% — said yes. More revealing: “Do you think Biden legitimately won in 2020?”

Only 29% said “yes.”

That means an overwhelming 66% said “no,” thus showing the deep roots in Iowa of the “Big Lie,” the belief in a falsehood that Trump was a victim of election theft.

Even more revealing and posing a direct threat to our democracy was the question of whether Trump was fit for the presidency, even if convicted of a crime.

Sixty-five percent said “yes.”

Who says that about anyone of color indicted on 91 criminal felony counts?

Would a BIPOC executive found liable for business fraud in civil court be given a pass?

How about a BIPOC person found liable for sexual assault?

Iowans have debased the phrase, “no man is above the law.” It’s a mindset that would vote in an American dictatorship.

Compare Iowa with voters in Asia last weekend. Taiwan rejected threats from authoritarian Beijing and elected pro-democracy Taiwanese vice president Lai Ching-te as its new president.

Meanwhile, in our country, which supposedly knows a thing or two about democracy, the Iowa caucuses show how Americans feel about authoritarianism.

Some Americans actually like it even more than the Constitution allows.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1.