I’m not a prolific diarist. I’m much more of a lurker. Occasionally, I spout my (usually) unpopular opinions on Democratic policies and politics. This diary is about an unpopular opinion on this deeply popular representative. I fully expect that this unpopular opinion will not gain me many friends and may gain me quite a few flames. However, before it becomes too late, I feel I should present my unpopular opinion on this deeply popular representative.
Let’s first start with who Sen. Harris is, before we work to who she isn’t. Kamala Harris was born in 1964, the year Johnson signed the civil rights act. She is the child of Indian and Jamaican parents. She is a first generation American, the child of immigrants. She is an alumnus of the historic Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, the first sorority for African American women.
As a prosecutor from the San Francisco area, she stood fast on not seeking the death penalty for a man accused of killing a police officer. This was a campaign pledge Harris made, in a deeply “liberal” city. Indeed, even the head of the Police Officers association noted it as nothing unusual:
Gary Delagnes, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, said Tuesday that given the city's leanings, Harris is pursuing the proper course and understands the severity of the case.
"In most cities in America, this would be a death penalty case," he said, but "(life without possibility of parole) is as much as we can expect in this town."
Senator Harris was a prosecutor until very, very recently. This means her main function in government was to lock up Black and Brown peoples. Inflammatory? Maybe. Unfair? Possibly. Untrue? Not by any stretch of the imagination. San Francisco, like much of the US, has a racial justice problem. For more see here, here, here and here. Senator Harris is NOT the cause of this issue. Her role, as in the role of so many prosecutors, is to lock up offenders. As someone who cloaks herself in Blackness, Harris should understand that she was a central cog in the wheel of Black Incarceration. Either she does not, which is nearly impossible to believe considering her schooling and her association with Black culture, or she does understand and chooses to continue both racist and segregationist policies. And here is where my problems begin with Senator Harris.
Senator Harris is NOT by any stretch a Black woman. She is not African American, as was Barack Obama, though she does seek to emulate his meteoric rise to power. The junior senator from California is an Indian/Jamaican American. Not black. Not Black. Not African American. India and Jamaica. I cannot think of a single instance when she has claimed her heritage. But I can list numerous examples, where both she and others will label her as a Black woman. She isn’t. Here is Senator Harris’s Chithi (Harris’ mother’s younger sister) on her niece, the Senator:
It is funny that some newspapers like The Los Angeles Times described her as the first black woman to enter the Senate while some describe her as an Indian American. Let them write whatever they want. Whether black or brown, she is a caring, soft-hearted person who can't see anyone suffer."
"Even though she was born and brought up in America, my sister has inculcated in her South Indian culture and values. She believes in going to the temple because her mother believed in it. Kamala is what she is today because of her mother. The credit doesn't go to any other person. It is my sister, her mother, who brought her up like this," Dr. Gopalan said.
emphasis mine
So, here’s my question: Why is this South Indian woman pretending to be Black? Why is she allowing editorials, colleagues and voters assume she is of African descent when she isn’t? I can think of 2 reasons and neither are good for her or for the Dem party. Either Mrs. Harris is using her racial ambiguity to score votes or she thinks that cloaking herself in Blackness is no big deal. Well, she’s wrong. Black Americans, to be distinguished from African Americans (those that come from a specific African country, i.e. Kenya), built this country. We built it with our blood and our stolen children, in bondage and without wages. She has no right to our story, she has not been given permission, and she has not paid, in blood, what our people have for generations. This is my problem with Kamala Harris, and I haven’t even gotten to her time as the Attorney General of California. I have not yet mentioned how she ran from a fight over the constitutionality of the California cash bail system:
A legal challenge to the bail system in San Francisco courts will go forward without the active support of Attorney General Kamala Harris, who has changed her mind and declined to file a motion in its support, her office said Wednesday.
Or her non-prosecution of Steve Mnuchin’s bank:
The violations included reducing homeowners’ chances to challenge foreclosures by backdating documents and manipulating bids at property auctions to cut off the owners’ rights, according to a memo from attorneys in then-state Attorney General Kamala Harris’ office. The memo, reported by the news website the Intercept, said the lawyers had recommended that Harris sue the bank, OneWest, to seek damages for the homeowners, penalties for the state and an injunction requiring the bank to change its practices.
Harris did not sue.
Or her arguing against early prisoner release programs because the prisoners were needed to fight the California wildfires:
Late last year, lawyers for California Attorney General Kamala Harris caused a controversy after they argued against an early prison-release program, because they believed it would “severely impact fire camp participation.” Harris distanced herself from those comments after a public uproar.
Those are all stories/diaries for another time. My only hope going forward is that people will stop calling Senator Harris a Black woman. She’s not and the suggestion otherwise is offensive to those whose families died in chains.
