Above photo: Demonstration outside of the Chapel in the Mission District where Vice President Kamala Harris attended a fundraiser. Juliana Yarmada/The Chronicle.
“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. 1967, Where Do We Go From Here?
Over the past few weeks, the lack of fervor for Democrats surrounding the 2024 election has changed dramatically. President Biden has stepped aside and Vice President Kamala Harris has taken over as the presumptive 2024 Democratic presidential nominee. According to her campaign, within 36 hours of President Biden announcing his withdrawal, Vice President Harris raised more than $100 million, including $81 million in the first 24 hours.
A record number of organizations run by and in support of African American women joined a “Win With Black Women” call to focus on a new future for voter mobilization. On this call, it is reported that there were 44,000 attendees — with 50,000 more listening on other platforms. It is reported that this call raised $1.5 million for Harris’ campaign.
In a New York Times Op Ed in early July, Clinton surrogate James Carville stated Democrats can’t replace Biden, “…by anointing Vice President Kamala Harris or anyone else as the presumptive Democratic nominee. We’ve got to do it out in the open — the exact opposite of what Donald Trump wants us to do.” Contrary to Carville’s sentiment, many African American women such as political strategist and commentator, Symone Sanders-Townsend, challenged the Democratic party by questioning if they are afraid to have an African-American woman at the top of the ticket?
The politics of the African American community must mature. It has to shift away from the identity politics of phenotype and gender and focus on the politics of policy. What are all of those who “are with her” demanding? How are they leveraging their power to ensure that not only are “we with her” but from the policy output perspective, “she’s with us”? As the adage goes, “why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?”
After the disastrous June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump, President Biden was facing the onslaught of calls to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race. In mid-July, he met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and other House Democrats. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) came out of the meeting reaffirming his support for President Biden by proclaiming, “We’re ridin’ with Biden.”
Electoral politics is about power, leverage and quid pro quo. What concessions did Clyburn get from Biden for that endorsement? What demands did he put on the table? Where was the Democrat’s or the CBC’s version of a “Project 2025” type document that they demanded Biden adopt? Did Clyburn say, “look Mr. President, you either put the full weight of the bully pulpit behind the “John Lewis Voting Rights Act”, the “George Floyd Policing Act” and eliminating Cop Cities or we will leave the meeting and tell the public that you fell asleep in the middle of the meeting? Probably not, and their endorsement put them on the wrong side of history, again!
It is imperative that the Democratic Party not only change the messenger, but they will also have to change the message. What does VP Harris, the presumptive nominee, stand for? What policies that directly affect the African American community and other communities of color will she support and champion? Harris’ run for office must be based on policy, not just the fear of another Trump presidency.
On the domestic front, African American voters should demand to know Harris’ position on “Cop Cities”. What will a Harris administration do to ensure the passage of the “John Lewis Voting Rights Act” and the “George Floyd Policing Act”? What will a Harris administration do to seriously address the wealth disparity between white and Black Americans? This disparity has grown over the past four decades. In 2021, the typical White household had 9.2 times as much wealth as the typical Black household – $250,400 vs. $27,100. What will the Harris administration do to ensure that Social Security is not only protected but enhanced? Social Security is especially important to people of color because they are less likely than white Americans to have pensions or retirement savings. Among seniors, Social Security is the sole source of income for 33 percent of African Americans
On the foreign policy front, what will a Harris administration do to end the US support of the genocide in Historic Palestine? Polls show that a majority of Americans disapprove of Israel’s actions in Gaza. A recent Gallup poll found that 55 percent of respondents disapproved of the Israeli military’s actions in the Gaza Strip. “Approval has dropped from 50% to 36% since November.” What will a Harris administration do to end the US proxy war in Ukraine? According to a new survey from the Harris Poll and the Quincy Institute, roughly 70% of Americans want the Biden administration to push Ukraine toward a negotiated peace with Russia as soon as possible. If democracy is truly on the ballot as both President Biden and Vice President claim, why don’t they listen to “We the People” and bring an end to these atrocities? Americans need to demand that our elected officials are beholden to the interests of “We the People” and not continue to use our tax dollars to further enrich their military industrial complex benefactors.
These are examples of why African American voters and people of color across the country, need to show up and show out at the ballot box in greater numbers than they did in 2008 for Barack Obama and four years ago for Joe Biden. But, when you stand up, show up, and show out in your Greek paraphernalia, understand why you are there and what you are expecting and demanding for your vote. African American voters need to leverage their political capital and expand their perspective beyond identity politics.
Dr. Ronald Walters wrote in White Nationalism Black Interests – Conservative Public Policy and the Black Comminity, “…if a race is dominant to the extent that it controls the government of the state-defined as the authoritative institutions of decision making-it is able to utilize those institutions and the policy outcomes they produce as instruments through which it also structures its racial interests…Given a condition where one race is dominant is all political institutions, most policy actions appear to take on an objective quality, where policy makers argue that they are acting on the basis of “national interests” rather than racial ones.”
It’s not about a woman of color; it’s not about “Skee Wee” and the “Divine 9”. It’s not about a graduate of a HBCU and the Cha-Cha and the Electric Slide’s. It’s not about the shallow politics of phenotype. Electoral politics is about policy and policy output for particular constituencies. Once the community casts its votes and puts her in office, is the community willing and committed to holding the Harris administration accountable for accomplishing the mission that she was sent there to accomplish? Well, if you don’t articulate a vision and demand a mission, how will she be able to accomplish them? The responsibility is not on her, it’s on us!
Understand this, those who dominate the political institutions are going to operate in a manner that protects their interests. Remember what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said to A. Phillip Randolph, “After listening to Randolph’s problems and solutions, FDR replied, “Most of his constituents always came with grievances, but in order to get them resolved, they made me do it; therefore, you have to make me do it.” Following that meeting, Randolph proposed the first gigantic rally to be held in Washington, D.C., which took place some 20 years later.”
Voting for symbolism might make you feel good in the moment but if you don’t demand anything, you won’t get anything. Once the celebration ends and those champaign bottles are empty, what are you left with? Empty bottles! If “you are with her”, what are you willing to force her to do? If these questions make you uncomfortable, is it possible that your blind support is reckless, abusive, sentimental and anemic?
Dr. Wilmer Leon is a nationally broadcast radio talk-show host. Author of Politics Another Perspective. Host of Connecting the Dots w/ Dr. Wilmer Leon. Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email: wjl3us@yahoo.com. www.twitter.com/drwleon and Dr. Leon’s Prescription at Facebook.com © 2023 InfoWave Communications, LLC