Kamala Harris: “In my entire career, I’ve only had one client and that’s the people.” (6/15/19 Las Vegas, NV)
The exact opposite of Kamala Harris sits in the Oval Office today. A greedy, self-obsessed bully who has never, not for a single minute, served “We, the People.” Though Donald Trump stood before (ahem, boldface lie warning) the “largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in-person and around the globe," and solemnly swore on, not one, but two bibles to
"... faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," his every action, word, and appointment since then has been in defiance of that pledge.
Never in our nation’s history has the fruit fallen so far from the tree. Two more years of this and the Constitution will be lying beneath a pile of rubble. To say Senator Kamala Harris has been working overtime to protect the people — you and I and our families — from the current destroyer-in-chief would be an understatement. But Kamala has been working on behalf of us for much longer than the last two or three years.
There are many important qualities about Kamala that make her a superior candidate for POTUS, (notwithstanding the many other Democratic candidates who also have superior qualities) but to me, her passion as an attorney for the people, her understanding of the urgency of this moment, is critical.
One of the issues that consistently comes up as a negative is the fact that Kamala’s role as the People’s Prosecutor resulted in unfair targeting of POC. This is categorically misleading, and I would like to put it to rest once and for all.
(From 13 Trailblazing Facts About Kamala Harris)
SHE HAS INNOVATIVE WAYS OF DEALING WITH CRIME.
In 2005, as district attorney, Harris launched Back on Track [PDF], a program designed to reduce recidivism by offering nonviolent, low-level drug-trafficking defendants job training, life skill-building, and the chance to avoid prison. Back on Track was highly successful: Two years after it launched, just 10% of graduates from the program had reoffended, versus the normal 53% for drug offenders in California. Plus, the program is cheaper than prison.
“I reject the false choice that you either are soft on crime or tough on crime,” she has said, insisting instead that we must be “smart on crime.” Her approach to criminal justice emphasizes preventing crime rather than reacting to it, and rehabilitating offenders rather than considering them lost.
In that spirit, she focused on truancy among elementary schoolers after discovering that 94% of murder victims under age 25 in San Francisco were high-school dropouts. Students who are chronically absent in elementary school are more likely to drop out of high school, and high-school dropouts are more likely to end up in jail or dead by age 35, so Harris began developing programs to help parents improve their children’s school attendance, with the threat of criminal prosecution for parents whose children were habitually absent and who did not respond to other methods of intervention. ***
I have periodically used a personal analogy of being a truly good teacher when I speak of her in this regard. Getting a good education in “education,” being a single parent with young children, a home daycare provider for 7 years, a stepmom, and just the experiences of living through some pretty tough stuff, helped me fine-tune a very effective way to manage a classroom when I finally got to be a real teacher. My own “4th grade class” system of respect and responsibility seems to parallel so much with how Kamala operates, I just ache to share it. Please, bear with me.
On the first day of school, as I introduce myself and classroom procedures and rules to my students, I explain two things about myself:
1. I am likely one of the strictest teachers they will ever have.
You should see the looks of alarm that cross their faces. Especially kids that have heard of me before. Were they tricked? Almost everyone sits up a little, a few slink down some. I tell them that I have certain expectations of everyone in my class, without exception. I say what I mean, and I mean what I say. (Thanks, Foster Kline and Jim Fay, Discipline With Love and Logic, back in the 80’s.) Without dwelling too long on this, I move on to my next point:
2. I am likely one of the nicest teachers they will ever have.
You should see the looks of confusion that quickly replace the alarm, mingled with a bit of relief. I explain that I will never yell at any of them, I will never intentionally embarrass any of them, and, further, I will never allow anyone else to treat any of them that way either. They are under my protection for the time they are in my class, as long as they follow the rules and do their best to meet my expectations. Each and every one of them will be safe to learn in our classroom. The students are still a bit confused at this point, and some have questions. “What are the rules?” someone inevitably asks.
“Well, what should our rules be, in order to have a safe classroom?” I ask. And we proceed to develop together a list of rules that inevitably is basically the same every year, just worded and ordered their own way:
- No interrupting
- No hitting, touching, biting, kicking, etc.
- No put-downs (Includes no yelling, no shaming!)
- Use manners (please, thank you and excuse me)
- No arguing with adults, come to me with problems
- Safety first always
- Follow directions (listen to the teacher)
Every one of “their” rules gets a full week of 30-minute Character Education disscussion the first quarter so that we can process exactly what the rule means and why it matters. They write their own letters with the list of rules and take them home to explain them to their parents, then sign them together. They have buy-in. Every student wants to feel safe. Every parent wants their child to be safe.
And what of consequences? It works about the same way. We work it out together. Of course, I always have a plan in mind, which is a good thing — because the kids can be pretty brutal when they are thinking up consequences for each other (lol) — so I have to help them consider “logical consequences” versus “punishment.” And, I explain, the consequences have to be applied EVERY TIME to EVERY ONE, equally, or they will be meaningless. That’s a lot of work for a 4th grader, but they are way smarter than we think.
Then I tell them my own simple expectations: Be here. Do the work. Have a positive attitude.
I make their homework meaningful but simple practice, consistent, and THEIR responsibility. If they don’t have it done, they stay in for recess and do it then. I don’t yell at them or shame them. But students who turn all their homework in get a little reward each week. Like in real life. I talk a lot about this, because they are on their way to being an adult in the 4th grade, and I don’t wanna hear about their mom or their dog not doing it or losing it. I don’t care. It’s the same homework every day, every week, and they can handle it. It really works. To the point that one morning when I worked in a very tough gang ridden neighborhood, sweet Carlitos came up to me and said, “I’m sorry, Mrs. D, I didn’t get my Spelling ABC done, my brother got shot last night.” I had already read about it in the morning newspaper, and I was wondering if would be at school that day. I was worried about him. “I know, Carlitos, how is he?” I asked and gave him a hug. “He’s okay. I know I have to stay in for recess. It’s okay.” He actually smiled at me through his watery eyes.
So, what is my point? Structure, rules, expectations and consequences are for the good of the entire body. Everyone feels safer — everyone IS safer — when these things are clearly understood and consistantly followed. My students almost always performed well. They always attended well above average. They were almost always kinder to each other as the year went on and often became protective of weaker students, who might have been bullied in a different scenario. Oddly, I’ve even had entire classes became compassionate toward and protective of the attempted “bully” himself. My classroom was sometimes a kinder, safer place than the home or the outside world was to them. It was just for a year. Or less. But some of them were kinder and more thoughtful forever. I know because they told me later.
We have the exact opposite of that going on in Washington D.C. right now. This president couldn’t make it through one day in my 4th grade classroom. He wouldn’t make it through the door, because part of my being in my class was making eye contact and saying good morning, hello, smiling, or nodding as I greeted them, by name, each morning, so I could check in with them individually first thing. If it was just a nod, I knew there was a problem.
Kamala Harris is that same strict, demanding, caring, teacher. Actually she is all that and more. When she questioned Judge Kavenaugh, she did not yell and scream at him, she did not lose her cool like Lindsay Graham or half the Republican senators. (Talk about scary!) She simply asked him to be accountable — he was the one squirming. She is and has been personified as the enforcer, which she was. Which we need!
Some people have decried her as being unfair to those who have been caught up in the justice system that it has been her duty to enforce. But she cares about the people first, and she works to ensure that laws and enforcement are executed for the benefit of the people. Despite being the very compassionate teacher that I was, when a disturbed student tried to bite me, or threw a chair across the room, the consequences were swift and appropriate — and moved to a level above. Like most teachers, I was often given very challenging students, and sometimes even more so because of my reputation. I often had to deal with unacceptable and unsafe behaviors. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t care about those students, or that I ever did it in a mean or bullying way. Rules are rules. Safe is safe.
We desperately need someone to enforce the rules and laws of our country. We desperately need someone to keep us safe, so that we can get back to the urgent business of preparing for the future. I honestly believe that Kamala Harris is the president we need now.
Personal:
Birth date: October 20, 1964
Birth place: Oakland, California
Birth name: Kamala Devi Harris
Father: Donald Harris, an economics professor
Mother: Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a physician
Marriage: Douglas Emhoff (2014-present)
Education: Howard University, B.A. political science and economics, 1986; University of California, Hastings College of the Law, J.D., 1989
Religion: Baptist
Other Facts:
First African-American, first woman and first Asian-American to become attorney general of California.
First South Asian-American attorney general in the nation.
First Indian-American and second African-American woman to serve as a senator.
She is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants.
Grew up attending a black Baptist church and a Hindu temple.
Her name comes from the Sanskrit word meaning "lotus" flower.
Timeline:
1990-1998 - Serves as deputy district attorney for Alameda County, California.
1998 - Is named managing attorney of the Career Criminal Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.
2004-2011 - District attorney of San Francisco.
2011-2016 - Attorney general of California.
January 3, 2017-present - Serves in the US Senate.
January 21, 2019 - Announces she is running for president in a video posted to social media at the same time she appears on ABC's "Good Morning America."
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