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In 2016, our country was
going through expansive economic growth, declining
involvement in foreign wars, and grappling with deep racial
tension due to the election and presidency of an
African-American. This union wasn’t perfect and was coping
with significant issues around economic inequality, racial
justice, wealth gap, the increasing power of corporations
and the ever-emerging threat of climate change.
Donald Trump was elected
on a fervor of racist underpinnings, foreign interference
and a profound indifference by voters on the prospect of a
Hillary Clinton presidency. I can see those same patterns
now in this election cycle.
We are currently facing a
global pandemic that our country has not experienced in over
100 years and an economy that has shrunk more than ever
recorded in the modern era. The unemployment rate has
tripled with millions out of work, businesses shuttered, and
over 170,000 dead. It has acutely affected the United States
disproportionately more than any other country.
We are facing an election
crisis in which Republicans are refusing to modernize
systems, to provide Vote-by-Mail, and are deconstructing the
United States Postal Service to prevent access to the
ballot. A reduced Postal Service cripples e-businesses and
citizens’ ability to use mail as a reliable way to pay
bills, send products, and vote.
We have an aging Supreme
Court that is one Justice away from stripping civil rights,
healthcare, access to women’s health, and the ability to
hold government accountable.
There is only one
solution: Elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Critics and
some activists are attacking this solution and fomenting a
campaign of disinformation and talking points influenced by
white supremacy and conservative ideology on the selection
of Senator Kamala Harris as the vice-presidential nominee.
There are some honest
critiques of Senator Harris and her record but let’s dispel
the notion that she isn’t Black or isn’t Black enough.
Kamala Devi Harris is the daughter of an Indian mother, a
Black Jamaican father and was born in the United States. She
is both Black in race and Indian in ethnicity. There is no
disputing that Senator Harris is the first Black woman,
Indian woman and woman of color to be on a presidential
ticket. She is a graduate of Howard University and a member
of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She lives in her
Blackness comfortably, and any dispute in how folks identify
her is using racist propaganda similar to Presidential Obama
and Birtherism.
Senator Harris began as a
prosecutor in the early 1990s, eventually becoming the
District Attorney for San Francisco in 2004 and the Attorney
General for the State of California in 2011. She has cast
herself as a progressive prosecutor, but how can a
prosecutor cast herself as a progressive system designed and
structured at its core to be racist?
Many argue that being part
of the system is aiding and abetting a racist criminal
justice system. She has no doubt had policies and cases
where serious critique can lie, such as the anti-truancy
program that threatened parents with the prosecution.
Her office fought to
release fewer inmates despite overcrowding of state prisons,
and appealing a decision that deemed California’s death
penalty system as unconstitutional. If you couple that with
Joe Biden’s record on criminal justice, it paints a picture
of an administration that won’t look for real reform of the
criminal justice system, but leaders evolve.
The Biden-Harris ticket
has released a criminal justice reform that seeks to truly
make amends to a system they both helped sustain because the
politics have changed on that subject. We know the harm that
a Department of Justice under Trump can inflict. One that
aggressively turns the clock back to a law and order state
aimed at Black and Brown citizens as well as a Justice
Department that is an enforcement wing of the Trump regime
used to degrade away at oversight and democracy itself.
Joe Biden and Kamala
Harris are not perfect candidates, but there won’t be an
ideal candidate in this election or any other election. This
primary cycle showed significant flaws in every candidate,
but ultimately, we know that the people chose them. Joe
Biden overwhelming won the primary, and Sen. Harris has
widespread support.
Their main goal is
defeating Donald Trump in the general election and providing
a base of normalcy for policymakers to begin to repair,
build and make better this union. For activists and critics
of the Biden-Harris ticket, advocating and lobbying after
working for their election is the only road to travel.
We know what we have with
Trump – an administration in which activists are under
assault not just due to the inhumane policies, but also
because of the targeting by federal law enforcement very
similar to what J. Edgar Hoover implemented against various
activist groups over five decades ago.
We can give sharp critique
and demand a lot of the Biden-Harris administration, but we
can’t actively undermine their candidacy and help re-elect
Donald Trump. Let’s not do the devil’s dirty work.
Dominique Warren is a
concerned citizen, educator, coach, public policy
professional and father.
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