Americans are looking forward to creating history by electing Kamala Harris as the first black female president.
This would be earth-shattering!
VP Harris is now the Democratic Party candidate facing off against former president, Republican Donald Trump. The latter has been convicted of 34 charges of falsifying business records. He faces sentencing soon, as well as further trial on additional charges.
Some legal experts say that Trump, if elected president, would be able to pardon himself for federal crimes. He could then have his allies pardon him for state crimes.
Trump expected an easy win against an unpopular, lacklustre President Joe Biden. But with VP Harris stepping in to replace Biden, the American public have rapidly embraced her campaign.
Trump’s conniving plan to bamboozle the American voters now appears uncertain. Vice Harris has shaken up the race. In just a couple weeks she is surging ahead in the polls as America embraces her presidential bid.
KEY ISSUES ON VOTERS MIND
The key issues on voters’ mind are the high cost of living, immigration, jobs, climate change, national security, taxes, racism, and social justice, among other things.
Wall Street financial analyst Jim Cramer says that “a Kamala Harris presidency will be good for the American economy”.
This is a major endorsement from one of America’s well-known financial experts. Taking this as a good signal, Kamala Harris says that “she wants to create a care economy”.
While we do not know exactly what this “care economy” means – and look forward to more details – it is reasonable to believe that VP Harris intends to focus on improving the lives of those at the bottom rung of the economic ladder.
However, I believe that it is not just the idea of building a “care economy” that is important. There must be a broader public policy focus on tackling social justice issues. This includes police mistreatment of black people and other minorities.
Police violence against black people is a major problem in America.
George Floyd’s horrendous murder by a white policeman, Derek Chauvin, in May 2020, exposed shocking police behaviour.
Now, we have the recent brutal murder of Sonya Massey in July 2024 by another white policeman. This shows the importance of electing a president and congressional leaders who are willing to pass social justice legislations.
Police killings of innocent black people, imprisonment on false charges, and torture have gone on too long. Over 97 per cent of the people killed by police in the big cities are black people, like Sonia Massey and George Floyd.
THE CRY FOR JUSTICE
My friends, racial abuse by American police of black people and other minorities is so bad that it was the subject of a June 3, 2024, United Nations Human Rights Commission report.
This grave UN report condemned police torture of detained black prisoners in Chicago, Illinois, which went on for years.
The UN report pointed out that…
“The heinous alleged human rights violations appear, to a significant extent, to be rooted in systematic racism and have disproportionately affected people of African and Latin American descent.”
Systemic racist police abuse has gone on too long in America. It is a carryover of America’s abusive segregationist past. It now needs urgent federal, state and city government actions to end it.
Racism is a disease of the mind. It appears to be a part of America’s national psyche. And also appears to have infected the general system of law enforcement and administration of justice.
It seems to me quite shameless that we do not have condemnation of racism from the mass media, religious and civic leaders and from the American political establishment.
Trump’s capture of the Republican Party was facilitated by his welcomed appeal to the other racist MAGAzombies, who blindly follow his lead. He is saying out loud what many hold in their heart.
Their so-called Project 25 aims, in my opinion, to codify racism into unjust laws. For the MAGAzombies, it is an unrelenting fight for power to roll back civil rights legislation.
When a society tolerates, encourages and elects such an open racist as Trump, it is a signal that racist behaviour is acceptable.
Finally, for the police as human beings, it is a “wink, wink, nod, nod” that bad behaviour is acceptable, which can become a recipe for social disaster.
This is why this election has such great importance. A victory for Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party must also be used as an opportunity to push for legislative justice and the further advancement of the rights of black people and other minorities.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is still an important Black agenda issue that must remain steadfast in our minds.
Let us, therefore, not be delusional, thinking that racism and ethnic hatred is going to disappear when VP Harris’ political nemesis, Donald ‘The Convicted’ Trump, is perhaps carted off to prison.
Oh, yes! Perhaps ranting and raving, in an orange jumpsuit, or dirty white straitjacket…
“I am the Chosen One!
I am the Chosen One!”
What do you think?
My dear friends, we all know that life is full of uncertainties. But we can still hope and dream to have a better-quality life, free from fear that some racist cop is coming to kill a black person.
We need urgent action, too, to stop the abuse of power in cities and state governments that manifests in book banning, as a form of cultural brainwashing to further whiten the American educational system.
What would brother Bob Marley say?
“Brother you’re right, you’re right …
You’re right, you’re so right.
We’ll have to fight (we gonna fight)
We must fight, fighting for our rights!”
Kamala Harris’ presidential bid, and her possible victory, can enable the continued fight for human justice. Let’s embrace the possibility, and work towards this reality as a bold step forward to achieve equality and justice.
That is just the ‘bitta’ truth.
Norris McDonald is an economic journalist, political analyst, and respiratory therapist. Send feedback to [email protected] and [email protected].
