I have seen a lot said of this exchange in Michigan <----- use this link if you want to see the whole context. I watched it live and rewatched it several times. I could tell she was distracted by something her whole speech in that corner. And then it started. No news outlet that I saw, showed the whole context.
And that is the perfect thumbnail because these young people were a lot of disrespectful.
I am a public speaker and I am close to VP Harris's age. My close friend once said I am a pretty impatient person. I was happy to hear it. It gave me an opportunity to share what goes on for me in the moments when I appear impatient. I connect the dots on most things long before others. It's just a fact that my friend agreed about. Then I said to her, when I finally exhibit what you think is a lack of patience, am I really given the time between seeing the connections and speaking on it? I heard the lightbulb go off. 💡
Even moreso for VP Harris. I haven't been in the rooms that have prepared her for this moment. I did not pleadge any sorority, nonetheless the amazing Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. on the campus where it was birthed. I see the relationship she has with a lot of the women with whom she completed that endeavor. She has wisdom that most discount and I can only imagine.
I saw one of my favorite influencers do her best to address it on her platform.
And earlier I saw one of my other faves give me something to build on...
At first it was going to be a comment on that video, and as usually happens with a long comment, I lost it. Since I am supposed to be asleep right now and my journal is in the other room, I made a bunch of notes for this entry on this envelope.
And hopefully this is more coherent, because this is part of my good service to Sistah Kamala.
I could have written this about VP Harris and the youngins, because she has a long history of supporting people, but especially young people, but I am going to leave that to your getting to know her journey. She and Barbara Lee are my "sheroes", as my friend Barbara would say. And I have watched her development as a political force for making policy that reaches people since the 80s.
Instead I am just going to say what, apparently, only I can say. It was clearly too long for a comment on an IG post. 😌
Hopefully, my dear above is reflecting on the whole of the heckling as I shared above in the first link. I am glad for what she said, because I needed her to say it. Too often sistahs need to defend themselves, and I can only imagine how often she passes on defending herself. Besides her own readiness, she had the best mentor. Joe Biden who spent most of his adult life in the US government, besides Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi hopefully shared the secret sauce with her.
Because of her own good sense she said the right thing in MI and AZ. It wasn't a matter of growth, it is a matter of context in my view. The heckling didn't go down the same way in each place. It is not a matter of to heckle or not to heckle, because protest is important. There is a point that it crosses into disrespect, and that spectacle did.
I want to appreciate Lynae Vanee as I often do, especially for setting the record straight on many in saying these things:
The true ICC context.
VP Harris is indeed the face of change
Meetings she had with grassroots organizers and activists before the rally.
She is the VP, not the president. What will it be like when she has the point? We will have to let that emerge. She knows what she wants to do, maybe even how she wants to do it, but no one can forecast the conditions in which she will need to do it.
As the face of change, her face is Black. And I am not following or echoing this narrative about her being Black and SE Asian. In a pigmentacracy, if you aren't white, you're Black. As I often say, "race isn't real, but racism is." When people refer to her Southeast Asianness, they are referring potentially to how she identifies her other "half" ethnically or in nationality. DNA isn't pie, it is more like genetic soup.
I just shared this in the Anti-Racist Education Group. If you want me to break it down further, book me for a workshop or panel, and I am happy to illucidate.
I will not stand by while people drag Black women, anyone, but definitely not Black women. We go through more than most can fathom. I have another friend who has known me closely for 6 years and marvels at what I manage week in and out. Asking VP Harris to take this with all the rest, why always us? We do we have to carry this burden and why does the most seering attacks have to come from those for whom we care?
I am going to defend her as I can while people are blowing their stuff through her unjustly.
Because people always want to take race out of the equation, they miss this point. It was my issue with the Bernie campaign, maybe even as my dear Dr. Cornell West and Tavis Smiley during President Obama's time, approaches some people. Black people who are in positions of power do not have the advantage of getting away with ANYTHING! That is why the people on the other side have to make up foolishness to attack her and the beige suit with President Obama. It is so sad to see ADOS giving them their grievous ammunition. Race is the first factor in that equation, and if there are no others, as long as you are speaking of the US, it can be the only factor. And just as we are Black women, we aren't women sometimes and Black sometimes, we are always at the same time both.
Asking VP Harris to state what she plans to do about a munitions embargo is not strategic. It is not strategic to show one's whole hand. As an avid Spades and Dominoes player, I absolutely don't and no one in electoral politics should especially. When one is opposite people who want you to lose, to accomplish what one can for the people, one has to deal with people who care nothing for the average person.
Also, if one is in a position like that, they ought to know some stuff that people aren't ready to hear. They need to talk to voters to get them ready to hear, know and vote on what the leader knows. If she isn't a leader to some, so be it - doesn't make it less true. She has never just been an elected. She carries the average person on her back. Why do some of us have to kick her as she does it?
Was selecting Governor Walz not enough of an indication for the self-righteousness of these people? I also remember how impatient my peers were in college and me earlier than then. I had been out in the wild since I was sixteen. I knew what real life was like and the sacrifices it took to make real change by the time I was in college. I guess it is why I have been a chosen confidante by many long before college. I wasn't a betrayer.
Also, everything isn't about backroom deals, as Ms. Vanee termed it "mystery." As I mentioned earlier, I believe it is about strategy. I think like the Agilist that I am, VP Harris and her administration will not be prescriptive. She will be developing her approach when it is her turn. Right now, it is the President Joseph Robinette Biden's turn. I heard Netanyahu say, Joe is some sort of abiding Zionist. 🤷🏽♀️ What I saw between her and the Prime Minister reminds me of the sentiment of some Israelis I met when I was there and what I have seen since October 2023.
I have been about Palestinian liberation for a full 40+ years. No one I have been with in that commitment has expressed violence toward anyone in presence. Self-defense in the moment of trauma, yes, but not the terroristic stuff being reported out. What percentage of the Palestinian population is Hammas for real? Proportionality indeed.
I did not have any sort of security when I was getting death threats. The only time I ever got death threats that had me concerned was when I spoke for the humanity of the original people of that part of the pennisula of "Africa" originally named Palestine.
Why drag this woman like this? Why does it always have to be people we care about? Sure, protest, have your voice heard as she even said in the video, because we believe in democracy. But recognize that she is fit for this, but why does she have to be this fit? I can only imagine how much it hurt her.
Also, to those who don't understand the nuance of political campaigns and politics, it looks like she is the real problem because the two white men (Donald and Joe) with the power and the advantage in the system aren't catching it. One of those men wants to let Bibi to do whatever he wants. She is the one catching it. I heard people say that it wouldn't be safe for those protesters to be even handed about their protesting. What a gaslight! Seems just like the press who says it is useless to interact the other party's nominee for fact checking while they carry his rallies and speeches like he paid them for the air time and the coverage.
A calculation of race, calculates power as well.
Personally, imma let this woman walk out that journey she is on because she has been nothing but successful as I have witnessed - must be in that Bay Area water. 🫗
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