From Nimrata Randhawa to Nikki Haley: The Rise of the Republican who is being propelled to 2024
In her speech last night, the former Ambassador to the United Nations and former Governor of South Carolina made some very questionable statements about the status of race relations in the United States. The uneven communication between Trump Admin priorities and Nikki Haley’s time serving as former UN ambassador raised many questions about the role that America envisions itself playing on the international stage and at home. Nikki Haley’s address to the Republican National Convention was tone deaf and served a contradiction in itself to everything that the Trump Admin has done to suppress dissent from critics and embolden Q-Anon and white supremacists. As someone who ran on the Reaganomics model of government, Haley’s speech rings hollow and doesn’t address the true issues facing America right now.
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While I didn’t see any value in sitting on the RNC because of the nature of the number of Trumps speaking, there is invariably one (or two) moments are worthy of commentary and that I hope serve to open the box about the state of politics we are in and the nature of our relationship to those who have historically oppressed us.
Her record with people of color and especially with the Muslim community follows the trend of Republican bigotry. Not many people know about who Nikki Haley is because she is a ‘rising star’ within the party after much admission that old white guys aren’t going to cut it anymore.
Background on Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley has undoubtedly shattered the ‘glass ceiling’ while the shards of have shredded those who were impacted by her policies. There is no denying that. Here are some quick facts about her that people may not know about, as they do tie into her overall background.
- She was born in Bamberg, South Carolina on January 20th, 1972.
- Her original full name was Nimrata Nikki Randhawa.
- She is the child of Sikh-Punjabi business owners and immigrants to the United States.
- She has a long history in public service, having served in the South Carolina House of Representatives. She campaigned on what were then ‘traditional’ and ‘normal’ policy objectives for the Republican Party in 1996 which were severe restrictions on reproductive issues (banning abortion), tax cuts, immigration ‘reform’. She was elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2008.
- In 2010, Nikki Haley aspired to higher ambitions and ran for and won the Governorship of South Carolina. According to Britannica, she was the target of racial slurs from other candidates but nevertheless she came out with the victory. She was a Tea Party favorite, with the backing of Sarah Palin, who was then the Vice presidential pick of Presidential contender John McCain.
- She is the first woman and person of Indian-American ancestry to win a seat as powerful as Governor in the United States.
- Due to the outcry of the Charleston, South Carolina shooting at AME Church, while she initially resisted attempts at lowering the hate symbol that the confederate flag represented, she was successful in taking it down after much public pressure.
- She came out against the resettlement of Syrian refugees and had been a staunch supporter of restrictive Voter ID laws.
- In 2016, Haley presented the Republican Party’s response to then-President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address. This was symbolizing her important rise to the top of Republican ranks at a time when the 2016 primaries were set to happen and at a critical juncture for the whole country.
- In the crowded Republican field, Haley endorsed Ted Cruz, U.S. House member from Texas over Donald Trump who would eventually become the party’s standard bearer. She also endorsed U.S. House Representative Marco Rubio from Florida.
- While representing the Trump admin with United Nations proceedings, she frequently was vocal about Iran and North Korea, two countries who were on track to developing very catastrophic nuclear weapons. The Iran Deal was a signature Obama admin policy that the Trump administration took aim at and removed American involvement from. The rest of the countries that were a part of the pact, the United Kingdom, China, Russia, Germany, and France, chose to stay in the deal.
- In a stern warning to the North Koreans, then-Ambassador Haley warned that North Korea ‘would not be match with the United States in the event of a war’
- The trouble with Haley’s work as UN Ambassador came to a head when there was frequent contradiction of what she announced, versus what the Trump admin wanted. Ambassador Haley would never know of official announcements or plans and even when she did, they were not clearly communicated.
- Nikki Haley was also against the Russian interference of the American election in 2016.
- In the fall of 2018, Ambassador Haley announced her resignation but is adamant that she has a good relationship with Trump and would support him, should he run for President in 2024.
- Soon after she was appointed to the board of directors for Boeing but departed when the company was buckling under pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic and sought a bailout from the U.S. government.
According to an article written in the Delaware Online newspaper by Charanjit Singh Minhas:
This is something Nikki Haley (nee Nimrata Nikki Randhawa), former governor of South Carolina and U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, reportedly learned in her hometown of Bamberg, South Carolina, when she was 5.
Nikki’s parents had attempted to enter her in the “Miss Bamberg” contest but her application was rejected because she did not qualify for either crown: black or white. Eventually, a few years before entering politics, she changed her religion from Sikhism to Christianity.
Some context on her conversion to Christianity appears in Illume Magazine:
Born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa, Nikki Haley converted from Sikhism to Christianity when she was 24, before marrying her husband. The couple were married in two separate ceremonies, one Sikh and one Christian. In 2004, she told the Charlotte Observer that her family attends “both” Sikh and Christian services. Since then, she has emphasized her Christianity.
“She claims to be a Christian but also attends a Sikh temple and was married in a Sikh ceremony, so a lot of people can’t figure how you can claim both,” aid Ray Popham, pastor of Oasis Church International in Aiken, SC. “I think she needs to be straight up with people, if she is both. If she believes that you can be both, then she should say that up front.”
Tony Beam, host of the radio show “Christian Worldview Today” and a Christian pastor who supports Haley’s opponent in the race, questioned Haley’s Christianity on his program. “Once you commit to Christianity, it excludes other religions. I am not saying she is not who she says she is, but I do know those questions are being raised.”
Haley’s campaign has updated her website to confront these charges. After some people complained that her faith in “the power and grace of Almighty God” left it open which “God” she believed in, her website was changed to emphasize her specific “faith in Christ.”
Haley has confronted similar attacks in the past. In 2004, her opponent Rep. Larry Koon mailed voters a letter pointing out her full Indian maiden name. An email campaign also falsely called Haley a Buddhist, and in some messages a Muslim.
Clearly the Separation of Church and State as mandated by the Constitution is a section that most conservatives skip over [and one that the Supreme Court has weakened in their most recent decision] because it doesn’t comply with their thirst for power and being able to use religion as a vehicle to force people accepting less from government because their God will come and save them.
As Governor of South Carolina, she joined with other Republican Governors against resettlement of Syrian refugees fleeing the deadly civil war. But as United Nations Ambassador, she was at odds with the Trump admin over what the official position was on Syrian refugees.
Her visits to Zaatari Camp in Jordan to see the true plight and humanitarian crisis experienced by those who were were deemed as the failed legacy of the United States to protect human rights, when U.S. needed to be a more active player on the world stage. This was a moment where she was pledging U.S. support for ending the conflict and addressing the humanitarian toll, while Donald Trump was on a different page saying that the United States would be taking a different direction by not contributing financially to address the humanitarian crisis. As the Associated Press reported at the time:
Yet as Haley pledged Sunday that the U.S. would increase support, her message was diluted by President Donald Trump’s own vow to put “America First,” his planned budget cuts and hardline position on admitting refugees.
“We’re the №1 donor here through this crisis. That’s not going to stop. We’re not going to stop funding this,” Haley said. “The fact that I’m here shows we want to see what else needs to be done.”
Her time as Governor of South Carolina was spent supporting strict voting ID requirements which have a record of being clear attempts at voter suppression because they involve the ability to have access to a Department of Motor Vehicles near communities of color [which in rural America is a major issue due to the distance needed to travel to one and the lack of availability of DMV centers] and could possibly also prove to economic barriers in affording an identification card in the first place. If people don’t have a picture ID from the DMV, then they would need to show their military id or passport.
Both of these present barriers to inclusion because not everyone would be in the armed forces and not everyone has the financial resources to acquire a passport. Students on college campuses would also be implicated and wouldn’t be able to cast their ballot. This was a poll tax by another restriction. From an article by The State (a local paper in South Carolina), they reported that:
If you can show a picture to buy Sudafed, if you can show a picture to get on an airplane, you should be able to show a picture ID to (vote),” Haley said during the signing ceremony, surrounded by supporters and lawmakers who pushed the bill.” — Governor Haley, 2011
Opponents of the bill were staunchly adamant that this restriction voting was specifically partisan and determined to drive down the voting ability of Democrats and people from marginalized communities.
It also could hinder students from voting, they say. The law, which still must win approval from the U.S. Justice Department, does not recognize student IDs as a valid form of identification for voting.
Assuming it wins Justice Department approval, future voters will have to show a South Carolina driver’s license, other photo ID issued by the state Department of Motor Vehicle, a military ID or a passport.
Some Democrats, including state Rep. Bakari Sellers, D-Bamburg, said they also were insulted that Haley played a song by the Black Eyed Peas, a multiracial hip-hop group, during her press conference.
“That’s what she plays when she’s trying to suppress us and our vote,” said Sellers, whose father, Cleveland Sellers, was a civil rights leader. “They (bill supporters) don’t know what it feels like to fight for the right to vote.”
“This is not a victory,” added state Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Darlington. “This sets us back. Flying on an airplane is not a constitutional right.”The S.C. Progressive Network, who held a press conference to oppose voter IDs, said it is in contact with the U.S. Justice Department in hopes of getting the law tossed out, claiming it is more restrictive than voter ID laws in other states.
Bill supporters say it is not.
Disagreement also exists on how much the bill will cost taxpayers. Opponents say the new law will cost more than $1 million a year to enforce while House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said Wednesday it would be $500,000 to $600,000.
If state money is provided, the state Election Commission plans to print photo IDs for voters who do not have one now.
The two sides also disagree on the level of voter fraud in the state.
Her record reflects it and it's clear as day that she might still be the Reaganomics Republican that she first started her political career championing herself as but at the end of the day, we will never have a clear idea since there is a back and forth struggle of either supporting Donald Trump or supporting his opponents. But to everyone observing the shift in the Republican to the fascist right-wing in the years after Trump got elected, the “moderates” in the party have found that it is not a place that worships Reagan and that it has moved past that point into territory that accepts Q-Anon, one which Richard Spencer (an alt-right figure who recently gave a full endorsement of the Democratic Party) has jumped ship from. The Biden campaign has swiftly rejected the endorsement.
“I plan to vote for Biden and a straight democratic ticket,” Spencer tweeted on Sunday. “It’s not based on ‘accelerationism’ or anything like that; the liberals are clearly more competent people.”
Shortly after, Biden’s campaign forcefully disavowed Spencer’s endorsement.
“When Joe Biden says we are in a battle for the soul of our nation against vile forces of hate who have come crawling out from under rocks, you are the epitome of what he means,” Andrew Bates, the rapid-response director for the Biden campaign, tweeted. “What you stand for is absolutely repugnant. Your support is 10,000% percent unwelcome here.” — Sonam Sheth, Business Insider
When your party is so bad and things are getting so out of hand, that even white supremacists have to cut tail and run, that is how you know that the Republican Party of today has morphed into it’s own kind of parasite, one in which fighting back can get you permanently “canceled” and where you are driven to other opposition party that you used to deliriously rant against. In a party where everyone shouts about the disadvantages of political correctness and “canceling” of people, the Trump Republican sure has made it’s way through the swamp by either swallowing political figures whole or missing the opportunity to seize on messaging that isn’t polarizing and one that unites the party and country in this time of hardship and grief. Former Trump opponent Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina used to be documented on the record as being vehemently against Trump, but now can’t stop the gaslighting and manipulation of information.
With the local elections of the Q-Anon conspiracy theory group of islamophobic “political activist” Laura Loomer — who has been banned from social media due to vitriol she has posted in the past- to Congress and local offices and the full throated endorsement of Q-Anon by President Trump, it seems pretty transparent that this party has shifted from it’s racist roots of the tea party movement to the Q-Anon conspiracy theorist group and COVID-19 deniers support group. The FBI also came out with a report that depicts Q-Anon as a domestic terror threat and one we should be combating as aggressively as we are with COVID-19. Q- Anon is being heralded as the “resistance” to a potential Biden-Harris Administration and takes it’s moniker from the current movement by liberals to counter the Trump Administration at every turn, whether it’s in the halls of Congress or by protesting.
That there wasn’t a bigger outcry of the news that Russians placed a bounties on the heads of American troops overseas, shows the transformation of this party from one that claims that veterans and military families matter, into a party that has morphed into one that follows orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin and doesn't support our troops. Senator Tammy Duckworth, of Illinois, a former veteran who lost both her legs in an attack on her convoy has been very indignant (and rightfully so) about the lack of transparency when it comes to the Trump Administration and the response that the administration gave when it came to address the threat of Russians placing bounties on the heads of American military stationed overseas:
She told ABC: “I am very frustrated that they are not addressing this and that again President Trump is taking Vladimir Putin’s word above those of his own intelligence and [Department of Defence] community.”
“I just don’t know why he continues to put our adversary above our own people and he has done it again here.” Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment.
Duckworth, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who served in Iraq. She lost both her legs and use of her right arm when the Blackhawk helicopter she was piloting was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. Brendon Cole — Newsweek
This year, people across the world have been contending with a warming planet, a diseased ravaged COVID-19 world and the creeping threat of fascism across the world.
From understanding Nikki Haley’s speech at the Republican National Convention, it seems that Haley’s approach is to ‘fake news’ us into believing that an America that has more people per capita in it’s prisons, a record 30–40 million people facing eviction and a unemployment spike, is not the America that she has worked for, has advocated for and has ‘protected it’s special interests’ is one that she is closely connected to. Her own spin on America that has opened up so much access for her and her family, shows the disconnect between what is actually happening and what work remains to be done to address the national tragedy of COVID-19 which has killed 175,000+ Americans (as of this writing).
Some key things that stood out to me in her speech were:
- “The year was 1984. The president was Ronald Reagan. And Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick’s words are just as true today. Joe Biden and the Democrats are still blaming America first. Donald Trump has always put America first. And he has earned four more years as president.”
- “Now, the U.N. is not for the faint of heart. It’s a place where dictators, murderers, and thieves denounce America, and then put their hands out and demand that we pay their bills. Well, President Trump put an end to all of that with his leadership we did what Barack Obama and Joe Biden refused to do. We stood up for America, and we stood against our enemies.”
- “Obama and Biden let North Korea threaten America. President Trump rejected that weakness, and we passed the toughest sanctions on North Korea in history. Obama and Biden let Iran get away with murder and literally sent them a plane full of cash. President Trump did the right thing and ripped up the Iran nuclear deal. Obama and Biden led the United Nations to denounce our friend and ally, Israel. President Trump moved our embassy to Jerusalem, and when the U.N. tried to condemn us, I was proud to cast the American veto.”
- “This president has a record of strength and success. The former vice president has a record of weakness and failure. Joe Biden is good for Iran and ISIS, great for Communist China, and he’s a godsend to everyone who wants America to apologize, abstain, and abandon our values. Donald Trump takes a different approach. He’s tough on China, and he took on ISIS and won. And he tells the world what it needs to hear.”
- “At home, the president is the clear choice on jobs and the economy. He’s moved America forward while Joe Biden has held America back. When Joe was V.P., I was governor of the great state of South Carolina. We had a pretty good run. Manufacturers of all kinds flocked to our state from overseas, creating tens of thousands of American jobs. People were referring to South Carolina as “the beast of the southeast,” which I loved.”
- “Everything we did happened in spite of Joe Biden and his old boss. We cut taxes. They raised them. We slashed red tape. They piled on more mandates. And when we brought in good-paying jobs, Biden and Obama sued us. I fought back, and they gave up.”
- “A Biden/Harris administration would be much, much worse. Last time, Joe’s boss was Obama. This time it would be Pelosi, Sanders, and the Squad. Their vision for America is socialism. And we know that socialism has failed everywhere. They want to tell Americans how to live and what to think. They want a government takeover of health care. They want to ban fracking and kill millions of jobs. They want massive tax hikes on working families.”
- “Joe Biden and the socialist left would be a disaster for our economy. But President Trump is leading a new era of opportunity. Before Communist China gave us the coronavirus, we were breaking economic records left and right. The pandemic has set us back, but not for long. President Trump brought our economy back before, and he will bring it back again.”
- “There is one more important area where our president is right. He knows that political correctness and cancel culture are dangerous, and just plain wrong. In much of the Democratic Party, it’s now fashionable to say that America is racist. That is a lie. America is not a racist country.”
- “This is personal for me. I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. They came to America and settled in a small southern town. My father wore a turban. My mother wore a sari. I was a brown girl in a Black and white world. We faced discrimination and hardship, but my parents never gave into grievance and hate. My mom built a successful business. My dad taught 30 years at a historically Black college. And the people of South Carolina chose me as their first minority and first female governor.”
- “America is a story that’s a work in progress. Now is the time to build on that progress and make America even freer, fairer, and better for everyone. That’s why it’s so tragic to see so much of the Democratic Party turning a blind eye towards riots and rage. The American people know we can do better. And of course we value and respect every Black life. The Black cops who have been shot in the line of duty, they matter. The Black small business owners who have watched their life’s work go up in flames, they matter. The Black kids who’ve been gunned down on the playground, their lives matter too. And their lives are being ruined and stolen by the violence on our streets.”
- “It wasn’t like this in South Carolina five years ago. Our state came face to face with evil. A white supremacist walked into Mother Emmanuel Church during bible study. Twelve African-Americans pulled up a chair and prayed with him for an hour. Then he began to shoot.”
- “We know that the only way to overcome America’s challenges is to embrace America’s strength. We are striving to reach a brighter future where every child goes to a world-class school chosen by their parents, where every family lives in a safe community with good jobs, where every entrepreneur has the freedom to achieve and inspire, where every believer can worship without fear, and every life is protected. Where every girl and boy, every woman and man of every race and religion has the best shot at the best life.”
- In this election, we must choose the only candidate who has and who will continue delivering on that vision. President Trump and Vice President Pence have my support, and America has our promise. We will build on the progress of our past, and unlock the promise of our future. That future starts when the American people re-elect President Donald Trump. Thank you, good night, and may God always bless America.
- “In this election, we must choose the only candidate who has and who will continue delivering on that vision. President Trump and Vice President Pence have my support, and America has our promise. We will build on the progress of our past, and unlock the promise of our future. That future starts when the American people re-elect President Donald Trump. Thank you, good night, and may God always bless America.”
Takeaways From the Speech
Nikki Haley claims multiple times in her speech that her diverse background is a cause for celebration and the fact that she faced discrimination in her own life with her own parents her dad wearing a turban her mom wearing a sari and becoming a object of hate and division because of it. Then she goes on to claim that America does not have any discrimination in it and that people are wrong to talk about injustice and discrimination by painting them as ‘out of control’ and wrong to protest systemic injustices towards the black community and one that even continues very recently in the shooting of Jacob black was attempting to break up a fight between two white women in his neighborhood. As the Associated Press reports:
The shooting in broad daylight on Sunday by police in Kenosha, captured on cellphone video that quickly spread on social media, ignited new protests over racial injustice in several cities. It comes three months after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police set off demonstrations around the United States and touched off a wider reckoning on race.
Blake’s father, also named Jacob Blake, told the Chicago Sun-Times in a story published Tuesday that he didn’t know if his 29-year-old son’s paralysis would be permanent. The older man was traveling from North Carolina to be with his son, who is being treated in a Milwaukee hospital.
He was shot by cops in the back eight times. The riots she is speaking of those are not right those are protests those protests are geared towards the frustration and the anger in the anguish that our electoral politics has not been able to address. In this moment of American history we are seeing the largest rise in deaths of COVID-19 impacting communities of color the most.
We are seeing the unequal distribution of wealth. How is it the billionaires are getting richer but the common man can't even get the government to care enough to give us expanded unemployment benefits in a time where the economic fallout from the virus is hurting Americans of every political party. Nikki Haley is not on record and how out of touch she is once she is sent it to positions of privilege and access that open the doors for her to rectify what happened to her as a child. That goes for anybody who gets into positions of power and privilege but don't remember who they're fighting for and what communities are hurting and need change.
She is also completely ignoring the fact that right now Sikhs need help in getting to the United States because they're being hunted in Afghanistan and they're not being treated right in India under the BJP along with other minorities. Just like she failed in protecting Syrian refugees, she is letting down Sikhs who need her help right now. In talking about her connection to being a brown Asian woman, she neglects to mention the issues we are collectively facing and how discrimination continues to be deadly for Sikhs across the United States.
She does know whatthe Trump administration has been doing to desperate refugees at the US Mexico border considering that she was at the forefront of the Syrian refugee crisis and the US response to it and still failed to counter the suffering that people were going through and continuing to suffer from. She had no plan then and Trump had no plan either to help desperate people fleeing from a bloody civil conflict and to help people that are US border that are coming to to our border because we failed to keep them safe in their countries instead we accelerate the problem and and force them to make dangerous migrations to our border where they face any number of human dignity that no person should ever have to.
She is not standing on the right side of history and in her speech she clearly illustrates the fact that she has no comprehension of what it means to be a working class American in today's time. If you're poor and you're working class the government is not going to come and help you. If you're poor and working-class you have no health insurance. If you're poor and working-class you don't have an advocate for you in the United States Senate -which is on a recess with taxpayer money and fully funded health benefits- who could help you get those unemployment benefits hope you get insurance that covers you and your family 100%. If you're poor and you're working class you definitely don't know where your next meal is coming from or how you're paying for Internet so you could teach your child from home as the COVID-19 crisis continues to disproportionately affect communities of color across the country. If you're poor and working-class you definitely don't know when Flint, Michigan is going to have clean water again even as years have passed and still there has been no action on toxic water in black communities. She talks about how her father taught and historically black university, but she also shows that she hasn't learned anything from her fathers experience in teaching an HBCU. This is an example of how Asian Americans are often complicit in the marginalization and oppression of other groups. Our proximity to white supremacy enables us to help them oppress other groups much quicker. She left her board of director position at Boeing once she learned that the company was asking for a corporate bail out. However, she doesn't address that in her speech where she asked why businesses are taking out major like asking for loans from the government but not paying their workers.
The fact of the matter is is that the current Democratic ticket is nowhere near socialist as the red scare Republicans would have you think. This is the most corporate pairing for the Presidency and Vice Presidency in the history of the Democratic Party to date even after the 2016 nominating process. Republicans would not be jumping ship and coming to the Democratic Party in search of "more civil politics” who don't find a home in the Republican Party.
Nikki Haley completely negates the the last four years and refuses to acknowledge that there is significant interference in the 2020 American election with the hand of Vladimir Putin of Russia and his puppetering of Donald Trump and how he should sabotage the American election process and destroy American faith in the processes that we have invaded and preached about to others.
Trump is also playing by the book when he undermines the United States Postal Service, when he destroys the credibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation among many other crucial agencies that keep America running and safe. During his presidency he managed to take out Dunkin Donuts because America doesn’t run on fascism, only capitalism. He undermines American intelligence and only follows orders from Vladimir Putin of Russia and doesn't talk about the issues that Americans are facing but more interested in making sure your mail doesn't come to you on time. When California burns Donald Trump is saying I don't want to help you because you're a Democrat.
While the country continues to grieve the unprecedented deaths from COVID-19, the Republican party is continuing to play politics it's not helping states that are Democratic because not only is an election year but also because the fundamental differences in both of the political parties. This is not what a President in “normal” times would be doing.
In the overall discussion about what it means to be Asian American and the historic nomination of senator Kamala Harris to the Vice Presidential ticket, Nikki Haley adds another layer of our own understanding of how representation politics can be just as toxic and oppressive as any other kind of politics. Nikki Haley demonstrates that you have to dump your values when it looks like your party is shifting away from what you initially started out as a politician on and it shows the dangers of when we rely solely on identity politics to vote in American elections.
Nikki Haley is currently being touted as the next vice president shall pick if Donald Trump chooses to drop Mike Pence or she is considered to run in 2024. It's pretty bold to say that she would be a contender because that just shows that people think that there will be a country left over after another four years of Donald Trump or the continued electoral victories of Q-Anon which would shift continue to obliterate the Tea Party that emboldened Republicans in the 2010–2020 time frame.
To all those observing across the world and what American politics is devolving into, my simple message and take away is that we’re evolving into a country that is anti-science when we need to save our most vulnerable from a deadly pandemic and the political parties are becoming less reflective of those who live in this country, both in political beliefs but also one that has the working class interest in mind.
- The Republican Party is becoming one of conspiracy theorists (Q-Anon) that are a cited as a domestic threat to the United States.
- The Democratic Party is deviating into a political party that is no longer serving as the opposition to the Republican party but now is courting Republican votes and only wants to serve Republican voters. The destruction of the republic is going to continue an accelerated pace if we continue to deny the grievances of the millennial generation who has been left behind in being able to afford the lifestyle that their parents used to be able to afford. In order to spend money you need to have it and with healthcare costs rising with property taxes with the cost of living rising in major cities and you know now the impact of municipalities that no longer have money to keep up with public services, like New York State and City is currently facing, hard decisions will be have to made about where we spend our money and what our moral priorities are in determining how much money is allocated for public services the working class people rely on in order to survive.
The test that Americans face now is creating a formidable opposition party after the Republican takeover of the Democratic Party is complete. If you watch the DNC last week you would have realized that none of the messaging revolved around energizing a base that is young that is working class and that is multi-racial. The deal was sealed when former Governor of Ohio and noted anti-abortion extremist, John Kasich was tapped the Republican standard bearer who would try convince his party to come over across the aisle and vote for ‘ human decency’ and not division and hate.
In an absurd twist, the Democratic Party did not tap the dynamic and powerful woman of color like Representative from New York’s 14th Congressional District, Alexandria- Ocasio Cortez. She was sidelined and only given 60 seconds to second the nomination of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. This isn't even the issue of Bernie losing. This is the issue of a Democratic party that is so out of touch and so out of sync with people that it's supposed to be fighting for and who they claim to be on the side of but keep showing that they don't care about our issues. They keep wanting young people to continue to vote for their party without offering any relief for student loan debt, spiraling cost of living, lack of healthcare access.
A fundamental test that we face is cooperating with the rest of the world in combating a common threat to humanity which is COVID-19. Which is rising sea levels. Which are the fires that are decimating California right now becoming a common norm across the country until it reaches us. It's about the hurricanes that are hitting Texas two at a time. In peak hurricane season more people are going to feel the impact of these violent storms and it will disrupt the entire economies and displace millions as climate change becomes unmanageable and we keep ignoring the problem and those that fight for climate justice.
We are fighting multiple fronts in a year that has not relented in showing us the issues we thought we could open a tab and leave running, but now pop ups on our screen and refuses to leave. That is where we are headed as a country.
Kamala Harris Becomes the Vice Presidential Nominee
When I wrote about U.S. Senator Kamala Harris and her discrimination against a Sikh man who wanted to work within the correctional facilities of the state, a lot of commentary I received revolved around ‘singling her out’ for criticism when in fact there are people of color that have done much worse. First of all, yes there are. Which is why I’m also writing about Nikki Haley (formerly Nimrata Randhawa). Second of all, it is important to provide healthy debate even around candidates that are seeking a public office and it definitely has to be equitable and from both parties. I agree. But talking about Senator Harris has raised some special hackles and the undercurrent is that we all know of her prosecutor background and how many people under her jurisdiction have been impacted by the policies and laws she chose to uphold. History is written and we can’t turn back the clock. But at least digging into someone’s past and trying to highlight that while Senator Harris’ trajectory through Democratic politics is historic, we can’t continue to negate the harm she has inflicted. Nor am I making the argument that we shouldn’t elect women at all. Of course we should. We’re not represented adequately enough on the Progressive Socialist side.
This isn’t even about what her predecessors have done. Every elected official has the chance to chart a course that they see fit and to say that women in office don’t know what they’re doing and whom they’re working for is grossly misogynistic and on the wrong side of history. I do look forward to defeating Donald Trump (won’t give him the dignity he hasn’t given others, in calling him the President) but importantly, we need to start asking ourselves what kind of standards we have for politicians and what accountability looks like. For the Sikh, community, it would be a formal apology from Senator Harris, as we have been asking for over a decade. No one is out to ‘cancel’ Senator Harris. We need an apology. That is all.
My goal is understanding how representational politics and identity have a significant role in showing us how destructive things can get if we just fell on if people look like us and speak our language and have common backgrounds.
The validity of facts are being checked here https://www.factcheck.org so please make sure, as you watch both, the Democratic National Convention and this week’s Republican National Convention that you have the right information.
