Harris, 2019.
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Kamala Harris (1964- ) is a centre-right Democratic senator from California who is running for US president in 2020. The Clinton wing of the party seems to be moving behind her.
In the 1960s her parents met as grad students at Berkeley. Her father was born in Jamaica, her mother in India. Harris was born in Oakland, California and grew up in a mostly-Black neighbourhood of Berkeley.
In the 1970s, after her parents split up, she lived in Montreal, Canada with her mother and younger sister Maya. She travelled to Jamaica and India to visit family. Her grandfather in India was a diplomat and a Brahman, the highest caste.
In the 1980s Harris went to Howard University (’86), joining Alpha Kappa Alpha, and then got a law degree at UC Hastings (’89).
In 1995 she dated a married man 30 years older than her, Willie Brown, a womanizer and machine politician who was mayor of San Francisco from 1996 to 2004.
Harris circa 2010.
In the 2000s and 2010s she won election after election, becoming:
- 2004-11: District Attorney of San Francisco,
- 2011-17: Attorney General of California,
- 2017- : US Senator.
In 2014 she married Douglas Emhoff, who is White. She has no children of her own.
In 2019 she is now running for US president.
Some of her record:
- In 2004 she stood up to the police in the case of Isaac Espinoza, refusing to seek the death penalty.
- In 2005 she started Back on Track, which helped first-time drug offenders turn their lives around instead of locking them up in prison and destroying their lives further.
- Got bias training for police officers as district attorney.
- In 2009 wrote a book, “Smart on Crime”, where the word “racism” appears only once.
- In 2010 blamed the school-to-prison pipeline on parents. The numbers prove it!
- In 2011 she ??? the Occupy movement.
- Opposed the legalization of recreational marijuana (till 2018).
- Championed the death penalty as attorney general even though she was “personally” against it.
- Refused to defend as attorney general Proposition 8, the expressed will of the people of California to outlaw same-sex marriage.
- Her office argued in favour of overcrowded prisons because California needed the cheap prison labour.
- Refused to quickly investigate certain police shootings.
- In 2015 would not support a law that would require her as the California attorney general to investigate killer cops.
- Went after predatory lenders as attorney general.
- Locked up parents whose children repeatedly skipped school. A policy she pushed – and laughed about. It is right there on YouTube!
- Let Steve Mnuchin and his bank (One West) get away with breaking foreclosure laws at least a thousand times, kicking people out of their homes. Mnuchin is now the head of the US Treasury. No tough love for him.
Top cop: At first she stood up to the police, but over time became another dirty cog in the machine of White supremacy. Willingly so, given her support of marijuana laws and the death penalty. She even started calling herself the “top cop”.
Harris listening to Brett Kavanaugh, 2018.
As senator she champions cash bail reform and outlawing lynching. She is wonderful during Senate hearings when questioning President Trump’s top people.
– Abagond, 2019.
Sources: mainly Google Images, Vox, The Young Turks.
See also:
- If her campaign does not implode:
- Kamala Harris and Occupy
- Kamala Harris and Black Lives Matter
- Kamala Harris: a media guide
- Alpha Kappa Alpha
- The 2020 election
- Democrats
- Barack Obama – written in February 2007 at the same point in the election cycle
- Obama retrospective – written in 2017, ten years later
- Hillary Clinton 2016
- Bernie Sanders
- Barack Obama – written in February 2007 at the same point in the election cycle
- the police
- killer cops
- “tough on crime”
- slave patrols
- The New Jim Crow
- lynching
- cash bail
- Willie Brown
- Steve Mnuchin
- Brett Kavanaugh
- other public prosecutors
- Bob McCulloch
- Marilyn Mosby
- Larry Krasner
614
Abagond 
She doesn’t speak to my spirit. She just isn’t resonating with me. It’s too early but we need to get rid of the orange monkey.
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Prison reform and climate change are my top political concerns. Her record when it comes to the police is a huge turn off. No thank you.
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medicare for all, b*; corey booker is my favorite senator however
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I can’t and I will not vote for her.
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Because I rarely watch the tv unews and read most of my news online I’m not even sure how to pronounce her name. The other day I heard, for the first time, a white tv reporter pronounce her name as Cam-e-luh, as in rhymes exactly with Pamela. This was surprising to me bcause in my head I had been pronouncing it Kuh-maul-uh, as in the last two syllables would rhyme with Paula.
I guess I need to watch some more videos online. But it also have me the feeling that for all I see her name everywhere, I really don’t know her yet to make any kind of decision about her.
I don’t like that, just like Barack Obama, she does not descend from Black American Slaves. I honestly can’t truly call someone the First Black President until someone is.
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She conspired to get Kevin Cooper (and dozens of other black men) locked up. She is an enemy of black people and should not be trusted.
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Because of Kamala Harris’s Asian and West Indian background will Indian-Americans and West Indian/Jamaicans support Harris in large numbers to support her? She went to an HBCU Howard University and she’s also an AKA sorority sister. So I am sure she will get lots of support from the affluent black Americans who belong to the Jack and Jill and Links.
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@ thatdeborahgirl
Same here. I still catch myself saying kuh-MAHL-luh even though she herself says it as KAH-muh-luh. People say it as if it were a Black name when in fact it comes from Sanskrit. Given that her sister’s name is Maya, it seems her parents picked Indian names that look like Black American ones.
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@ thatdeborahgirl
I noticed that too. Once is an accident, twice is not.
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I remember being over the moon about Obama and him being our first black president, but I am past all of that I cannot just jump on the bandwagon just because she’s black or she’s a woman. I feel the same about Corey Booker he just seems mealy mouth and milquetoast. Neither one of them impress me enough to want to vote for them.
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The conversations on black social media about Kamala Harris. The same topics are about skin tone, and background even though she went to a black HBCU and socioeconomic background. I guess black people need to bear in mind black people are not monolithic people. Just a thought.
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Barack Obama, Kamala Harris and Corey Booker are light skinned black people. If a dark skinned, 4C hair textured black candidate ran for POTUS with the same education level and different socioeconomic background be acceptable to Americans? Even Joe Biden made the comment that then Senator Obama was “The first mainstream African American American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy.”What does that even mean? This tells me a dark skinned, 4C hair textured, with prominent African features is not acceptable to Americans especially the dominant culture. But the majority of white Americans were biased towards Obama because of his last name and immediately labeled him a Muslim. So will they come after Kamala Harris and ask for her birth certificate because of her Indian-American mother and West Indian father?
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After Obama i have come to realization that just because a candidate is a black person does not mean they are going to be some savior of black America. They are just politicians and nothing more.
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I do give her credit for grilling Brett Kavanaugh during his hearing and coming for Trump’s people. But other than that she is self serving.
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30-40% of white Americans will never accept Kamala Harris as authentically American. She does not fit the MAGA image. Not sure how well she will perform outside California.
But, what she says seems to resonate well with female white liberals. And the Alpha Kappa Alpha alumni. She has to make an extra effort to demonstrate that she will not throw black men under the bus.
I hope Abagond might consider a post some time on Howard University, as it has played a large role in black America politics, arts and media.
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@ Mary
I agree. Given Obama’s record and her record, you cannot even assume they will take Black interests into account.
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THE CASE AGAINST Kamala Harris:
Within today’s political sphere or should I say; the Black political realm, the folks who have been at times, Amerika’s literal slaves and at other times, a permanent political door mat, utilized as a tool through mere default by the so-called Dumbocrats; the Black Boule or Talented Tenth, which of course, aren’t that talented at all.
Kamala Harris and the Dumbocrats would have you believe that all they need to do is splash a black face across the tell-lie-vision screen; have Kamala dance or perform a quick “jiggy” while sitting at a table before a press conference and you’ll have the Black vote locked up. Isn’t this is what the Dumbocrats did with Barack Obomber? Well, he didn’t dance but he did sing Al Green’s song : “Let’s Stay Together” in an attempt to express his supposed blackness.
As George W. Bush once said: “There is an old saying in Tennessee, I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee that says: fool me once, (pause) ……. shame on (pause) ……. shame on you (pause) ……. you fool me , you can’t get fooled again.”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ux3DKxxFoM)
As Attorney General of the State of California, Kamala Harris had the opportunity to free Kevin Cooper, A Black man who has been sitting on death row for approximately 3 decades. Cooper has been convicted of killing four people at the Ryen’s ranch in Chino Hills, CA. All she had to do was allow DNA testing that would’ve more than likely cleared this man of any wrong doing. Instead, she balked at the opportunity to free him.
“The Ryens’ 8-year-old son, Josh, was stabbed in the throat but survived. He later testified that he recognized Cooper as the lone attacker. But while being treated for his wounds in a hospital, he communicated to a social worker with hand signals that the assailants had been three or four white men. Cooper is black.” https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Death-row-inmate-s-lawyer-pushes-Brown-for-DNA-13291087.php
Judge William Fletcher, at the Appellate Level of the Ninth Circuit Court wrote a 100-page dissent, which stated: ““The State of California may be about to execute an innocent man.”
Furthermore, when the opportunity arose for Kamala Harris to reform California’s draconian three-strikes law, which would result in a life sentence, even if it were in fact a minor or misdemeanour offenses.
“In practice, Harris defended California’s uniquely cruel three-strikes law, the only one in the country which imposed life sentences for a third “strike” that was any minor felony. She urged voters to reject Proposition 66, a ballot initiative that would have reformed the harsh law by making only serious or violent felonies trigger life sentences.”
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/08/kamala-harris-trump-obama-california-attorney-general
UPDATE:
Twitter suspends anti-Kamala Harris Accounts Suspected of being Trolls
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/twitter-has-suspended-suspected-troll-accounts-posting-anti-kamala-harris-content-.html
The Kamala Harris situation is getting more weird by the day. On February 1st, 2019, digital media struck again. As opposed to suspending accounts due to a lack of veracity; truthfulness or baseless accusations, Twitter has done just the opposite, which means they, the status quo, are actually anti-truth, as it relates to Kamala Harris being SELECTED by so-called elites of the Democratic party to run for the U.S. presidency.
Silly me, after all this time, I thought the U.S. was a Democratic country. Personally, I also thought it was the people’s choice via voting, in terms of who gets to face off against the oppositional party. My bad! (chuckles) (Feb . 3rd, 2019)
I have a lot more to say about Kamala Harris when juxtapose with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown as well. In reality, Kamala gives a very negative vibration for women in politics. Especially when the high ascendancy through the political ranks was swift, but yet, personal morality was low!
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Watched two hours of CBS 48 Hours about Kevin Cooper i thought the death penalty was abolished in California but the state is hell bent on killing him despite learning that all the evidence had been tampered with. Racism played a huge part in how this man is being framed by law enforcement as well.
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After reading the article and these comments, I don’t think I like her.
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Two comments, more or less totally unrelated.
Marijuana laws are supported by police unions because they create more employment for more cops, generating more union dues. Plus, pot arrests are usually rather safe. The support of marijuana laws doesn’t align Harris with police; it aligns her with police unions. Clinton democrats have held this alignment for decades.
I lived in SF in the 1990’s when Willie Brown was running for mayor. At the time, it was clear that Candlestick Park needed to be replaced and baseball fans were lobbying for a downtown baseball stadium. SF voters had twice rejected it when along came Slick Willie running on a platform of a downtown ball park. He visited the middle school class of the son of a friend of mine. A kid in the class asked Willie if he really thought he could sell a downtown ball park to the voters of SF. Willie’s reply, verbatim: “Son, I could sell a dead goat to a convention of vegetarians.”
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A third comment I forgot to add: Because she was a single young woman in the 1990’s who, among other things, dated an older married man, the Repubs are almost certainly intending to try slut-shaming as a tactic against her. This could very well backfire against them in the wake of Trump and Me Too. I reckon the skeletons in her closet are rather banal and no numerous. A bit of ambitious social climber strategic dating, maybe a few boy toys. She is a workaholic, so there wouldn’t be time for much more.
She is without question whip smart and a good lawyer. Also, a rather canny politician. A seasoned trial lawyer, in any debate setting she will defeat pretty much any competition. I think her odds of winning are actually pretty good.
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“The Clinton wing of the party seems to be moving behind her.”
That’s no surprise. Her sister, Maya Harris, was Hillary’s senior advisor and is now Kamala’s campaign chair. Angelique Cannon Harris (relationship unknown) was Hillary’s finance director for the Mid-Atlantic and is now Kamala’s national finance director. Lily Adams was Hillary’s communications director for Iowa and is now Kamala’s national communications director. David Huynh was Hillary’s director of delegate operations/ballot access and is now Kamala’s senior advisor. Marc Elias was Hillary’s campaign attorney and is now Kamala’s general counsel. Sergio Gonzales was one of Hillary’s directors of voter outreach/mobilization and is now Kamala’s senior policy advisor. Kate Waters, who held multiple media-related roles within Hillary’s campaign, is now Kamala’s press secretary.
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Here’s a video I saw on youtube about Kamala’s record as a prosecutor and how she’s trying to rewrite it be claiming she has been consistent in all her positions.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-SaRDG6V-s)
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I don’t know if I have a post stuck in moderation because of a link but paste this:
watch?v=m-SaRDG6V-s
into google and then click the video link from ReasonTV that says “Kamala Harris hopes you’ll forget her record as a Drug Warrior”.
It goes into her record as a prosecutor and show she’s trying to rewrite it to say she’s always been a reformer.
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Looking at the rest of their content ReasonTV seems to be a right-leaning channel, but it shows how much her record opens her up to challenges from both the right and the left. I’ve seen the clip about Harris deciding to threaten jail time for truancy from a channel of Bernie Sanders supporters as well.
If the media does not question Harris about her record as a prosecutor they’ll be dropping the ball. She needs to come clean about supporting dirty prosecutors if she did so. To me, that’s a miscarriage of justice.
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@ Origin
I hadn’t heard of ReasonTV before, but it apparently is affiliated with Reason magazine, which is Libertarian. That’s why it appears to be right-wing on many issues but liberal regarding drug legalization.
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@Solitaire
Thanks for the info.
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” As Attorney General of the State of California, Kamala Harris had the opportunity to free Kevin Cooper, A Black man who has been sitting on death row for approximately 3 decades. Cooper has been convicted of killing four people at the Ryen’s ranch in Chino Hills, CA. All she had to do was allow DNA testing that would’ve more than likely cleared this man of any wrong doing. Instead, she balked at the opportunity to free him.”
In other words, Kamala is the avatar of Kali.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=51&v=tUou2n5-_Jk)
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@ Pete
Comment deleted for moderated language.
https://abagond.wordpress.com/comment-policy/
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she and Willie Brown were never married
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