Kamala has always been on our side: “In our system of justice, we have rightly said that a harm against anyone is a harm against everyone — that no one should ever be made to fight alone.” She leaves no one to fight alone; we must not leave her to fight alone. How can anyone see the way she is smeared, erased, disrespected, and outright robbed, and not defend her? Some are happy to see her stand up for others, but won’t stand up for her. It’s past time for some respect and reciprocity.
I have no patience for those who are outraged at people calling out racism, sexism, and theft, instead of being outraged at the racism, sexism, and theft. I will not capitulate to bigotry and injustice. This poisonous atmosphere brought us Trump. We can hold our breath—or we can clear the air. Justice is for everyone, including Kamala Harris. She is climbing the rough side of the mountain, and to hell with anyone who can’t (means won’t) see that:
“Even though President Obama broke the barrier, she is still working to break the hardest barrier,” said Minyon Moore, a former senior adviser on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign who knows Kamala and Maya. “We can’t underestimate that.”(Politico)
Mark Thompson, radio host and NAACP activist:
“I think the level of skepticism and disdain is born out of the long-standing tradition of racism and sexism in America,” Thompson told me. “So, a woman, and particularly a black woman, has to explain, ‘Are you an opportunist?’ ‘What are you really up to?’ There’s a level of doubt there that men don’t face.”
Thompson, sighing as he reached for a summarizing thought, paraphrased a 1962 quote from Malcom X (and later sampled by Beyoncé). “The most disrespected, the most unprotected, the most neglected person in America is the black woman,” he said, adding a 2020 twist of his own, “despite the realization of what they mean in the electorate.” (Politico)
Kamala Harris consistently stands against Trump, and stands up for her fellow Democrats. Most recently, she stood up for Katie Hill:
“It was clearly meant to embarrass her,” Harris told BuzzFeed News of the photos. “There’s so much that people do about women and their sexuality that’s about shaming them.”[...] Additionally, she said: “It just sends a signal to other women that’s discouraging them from running for office.” (Buzzfeed)
This is a battle she has fought for years: As CA AG, her office carried out the first criminal prosecution of a cyber-exploitation (otherwise known as “revenge porn”) website operator, resulting in a 2015 conviction on 6 counts of extortion and 21 counts of identity theft. Also in 2015, AG Harris convened a task force of major tech companies, victims’ advocates, and legislative and law enforcement leaders to fight cyber-exploitation, which resulted in the launch of the first online resource hub for victims and law enforcement. Every year since entering the Senate, she has sponsored the ENOUGH Act (S.2162), which would amend the criminal code to make malicious exploitation of private, explicit images a crime.
“And it was for the people that a large part of my early career was about fighting against those who molested children and raped women — because it was about saying that those survivors deserved justice and a voice that gave them safety without judgment. For the People.”--Kamala Harris (Medium). Right from the start, from her time as a line prosecutor in the nineties, she focused on protecting the vulnerable:
Back in the Bay Area, Harris earned a law degree from Hastings in 1989. She was quickly hired as an assistant district attorney for Alameda County, telling her mother that the world needs socially aware prosecutors. She specialized in child sexual abuse trials, a particularly difficult type of prosecution because juries are, Harris observes, more inclined to accept the word of an adult than a child. (Alameda District Attorney Tom Orloff recollects that Harris has “a good courtroom presence, a high success rate. She is a genuinely good person and her social values will work well in San Francisco.”) (sfweekly)
Harris co-founded the Coalition to End the Exploitation of Kids with ex-prostitute Norma Hotaling, which provided legal and health resources to victims of child sexual exploitation. Harris understood, unlike many in the legal system of the time, that children need protection from serial rape, not blame and arrest as “child prostitutes” for falling victim to adult predators.
Dr. Shannon Thyne, who coordinates the Department of Public Health's child sexual abuse program, works closely with the unit Harris heads at the City Attorney's Office. Together, they created a program to spot evidence of child sexual abuse in emergency rooms. While Thyne credits Hallinan with setting up effective programs to deal with those who prey on children — making it easier, for example, to remove young victims from abusers and put them into foster care — she says Harris has long been the mover and shaker on the issue. (sfweekly)
Domestic violence and child abuse cases are difficult to prosecute, but Kamala Harris tenaciously fought to get convictions for perpetrators, continuing through her work as San Francisco District Attorney and California Attorney General. Abuse cases were made even more difficult to prosecute after the Supreme Court’s 2003 Crawford decision, which strengthened the 6th Amendment right of defendants to cross-examine witnesses—even in cases where victims feel great intimidation and fear. As DA, Harris supported victims and supported the work of her prosecutors, reviewing their work with them and praising their work to the press. Just one example: previous DA Hallinan let serial abuser Elbert Flowers off lightly for torturing his girlfriend:
The DA admits he is “not 100 percent clear” why Flowers received only a two-year prison sentence after his first offense.[...]“Those are hard cases,” he says. “Sometimes you bite the bullet and take a chance. As this one worked out, we should not have let him out, period. He should still be in prison.” (sfweekly)
When the legal system decides to “take a chance” on a serial abuser, victims are the ones put at risk. When Flowers abducted and tortured another girlfriend , new DA Harris made sure he was held to account. The case was prosecuted by Rani Singh, with Kamala Harris backing her up at every step:
The case marks something of a turning point -- some might say an exclamation point -- for the D.A.'s office, which had been criticized in recent years for its low number of domestic violence convictions. The D.A.'s office had 101 convictions in 2004, Harris' first year in office, compared with 72 convictions in 2003.
"The attention (to domestic violence cases) is unprecedented," said Beverly Upton, executive director of the Domestic Violence Consortium in San Francisco. [...]
"It requires a lot of legal creativity," Harris said of prosecuting domestic violence cases without a cooperative victim and with the new restrictions of Crawford.
"You have to be willing to put the resources into these difficult cases and not buckle under the pressure to plea bargain. ... Rani just went out there like a pit bull."(sfgate)
(That 2005 article has several quotes from Harris—not tooting her own horn, but praising the work of Rani Singh. Over a decade later, Singh is assistant DA, and currently works on sex trafficking cases. Kamala Harris knows how to pick good people.) Some want Kamala Harris to apologize for her record as a prosecutor. She’s supposed to apologize for getting convictions of people like Elbert Flowers?
Predators and abusers are also present in the media landscape, and helped determine the way 2016 was covered. The same culture still exists, and is still hostile to those trying to change it, making Kamala Harris’ climb up the mountain even rougher. Media coverage is steering the primary race:
(If we complain about this, the guilty-conscience MSM tell us, it will “backfire”. What, they’re going to erase and smear her even worse?) The largest number of Kamala Harris’ TV news mentions are on Fox—we all know their agenda:
Robbery is the sincerest compliment, so keep an eye on South Carolina:
Kamala continues on joyfully, and she continues to spark joy in others, even in the face of all the unfairness. She leads with empathy and tenacity, and lifts everyone-- “For her to be treated so badly just made me mad”:
She keeps racking up endorsements, including yesterday’s endorsement from an organization that helped create the blue wave in 2108:
Higher Heights co-founder Glynda Carr says the group chose to back the California senator because of her qualifications, record in elected office and commitment to issues affecting black women, including gun safety, health care and the economy.
(AP/WaPo)
Higher Heights is the largest online group dedicated to electing black women:
Also yesterday, Kamala rolled out her Family Friendly Schools Act (S.2784), a terrific proposal covered here and here.
Complete transcript of Kamala’s speech at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Liberty and Justice Celebration at (Medium). Haven’t seen it yet? View her speech at (YouTube).
Kamala2020 info and links are below!
Newpioneer has rounded up some highlights of her sponsored legislation here.
snowman3 has rounded up some more legislative highlights here.
Gay CA Democrat lists 21 bills or proposals here.
Want to know more about her positions and plans? Her policy page is Our America.
Or go straight to an issue: quality, affordable health care for all, economic justice, raising teacher pay, combating the climate crisis, criminal justice reform, action on gun violence, a fair and just immigration system, LGBTQ+ equality, government for the people, debt-free college and student debt, gender equality, American leadership at home and abroad, and fighting for racial justice.
More plans: Reproductive Rights Act, Equal Pay, Roadmap to Citizenship for Dreamers, Combating the Racial Homeownership Gap, Reducing the Opportunity Gap, Fair Prescription Drug Prices, Kamala’s 3AM Agenda, Medicare for All, People with Disabilities, Veterans, Combating Violent Hate, A Climate Plan For the People, Transform the Criminal Justice System and Re-Envision Public Safety, Children’s Agenda, LGBTQ+ Equality and Dignity for All, Rural Agenda, Honoring Tribal Sovereignty and Lifting Native American Communities.
Please remember to visit our community group page Kamala2020 and give us a follow! That way all our group efforts will appear in your stream; this makes it easy for everyone to keep up with our latest posts. As always, any who would like to join our group please leave us a comment and we’ll get your invitation right out to you!
If you’d like to volunteer to host one of our Kamala 2020 diaries, please leave your comment in the ”Calling all Volunteers”thread.
Even if you can’t commit to a weekly spot due to your busy schedules, guest bloggers are always welcomed!
Please volunteer! Come share your story about why you support Kamala!
Upcoming schedule:
Saturday—November 9th— noweasels
Monday—November 11th--thumbsupcecil
Thursday — November 14th —
Saturday — November 16th -
Monday — November 18th — anotherdemocrat
Thursday — November 21st -
Saturday — November 23rd— Diana in NoVa
Monday — November 25th — DigitusImpudicus
Thursday — November28th —
Saturday — November 30th —
Monday — December 2nd — DigitusImpudicus
Thursday—December 5th--
As we get closer to the first votes being cast the schedule is beginning to fill up. Let your voices be heard!
November 7-9: Nationwide virtual phone bank for Kamala Join supporters across the country and make virtual phone calls from home for Kamala! Once you sign up (here) you'll receive training materials on how to make calls with the campaign.
November 8: Las Vegas, NV--Kamala Harris holds a town hall with rank-and-file members of the powerful Culinary Workers Union Local 226 (affiliate of Unite Here). Sen. Harris got the first invitation to what will be a series of town halls with Democratic presidential candidates. “Culinary’s 60,000 members are mostly women and mostly immigrants, and immigration reform, health care and worker’s issues are among the union’s top priorities.” (AP)
November 11-12: Kamala Harris holds a “Justice for Veterans” town hall in Greenwood, SC.
November 20: MSNBC and The Washington Post will co-host the fifth Democratic presidential primary debate in Georgia--airing 9 to 11 p.m. ET--on MSNBC and Radio One, streaming on MSNBC.com and washingtonpost.com. Moderators: Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell, Kristen Welker, and Ashley Parker.
While you’re here, don’t forget to visit Kamala’s Official Campaign Website and her Swag Shop for your favorite campaign gear! 😄
And don’t forget to donate:
If you’re on Twitter, please follow@KamalaHarris and @SenKamalaHarris
(If you’re not on Twitter, bookmark to ersatz follow)
on Instagram: @kamalaharris
and facebook: KamalaHarris
Group Guidelines
The Kamala2020 community group has been created to positively support Senator Kamala Harris, and not to engage in negativity towards other Democrats running in the 2020 primaries.
All should be made to feel welcomed here. What’s not welcomed here is petty bickering over any of our preferred candidates, or personal attacks on fellow Democrats. We’re not responsible for the actions of others who may offend, insult or attempt to sow discord and disunity — that’s on them.
What we are responsible for are our own words and actions — that’s 100% on us.
I’d like to ask all group members, as well as those dropping by who support or are interested in Kamala’s bid for the nomination, that we not respond to negativity from other campaign’s supporters with even more negativity. Let’s do better than our best and respond with respect, humor or try to hold our peace. Recipes and cat pics work, too 😃
Doing no harm costs us nothing... pie-fights will cost us everything.
Tamil movie musical number:
Kiran Rathod and Vijay, from the 2003 film Thirumalai (Director: Ramana Cinematography: R. Rathnavelu Choreography: Lawrence Music: Vidyasagar Lyrics: Nagarajan Muthukumar Playback Singer: Udit Narayan) Higher quality version can be viewed at YouTube.