This week the Democratic Party presidential ticket was on your minds. We share your letters for “'Kamala Auntie': On the Vulgarity of Bourgeois Identity Politics in 2020” and “Biden Offers Nothing But More War, Austerity and White Supremacy - Without Trump.”
“'Kamala Auntie': On the Vulgarity of Bourgeois Identity Politics in 2020” by Julie Kuttapan argues that Kamala Harris’s identity as a woman of color is being weaponized by the Democratic Party to cover her attacks on people of color and the working class as a whole.
Bee Gee Burk writes:
“She’s a career politician. Success! Phony. Beware. But it’s all ‘liberals’ anyway. All pie in the sky talk and inclusivity. But nothing really helpful to the poorest materializes. Then they blame it all on conservatives. The pattern.”
Marc Salomon writes:
“Far be it for a white guy like me to say, but having watched Willie Brown cultivate Kamala Harris for the past 25 years, if you thought that Obama had no connection to the Black communities, wait until Harris, you ain't seen nothing yet. Under Willie Brown's time in office, 96-04, SF's Black population dropped from 12% in 1990 to 6% in 2000. So Willie only invited in diverse faces that will serve the dominant white and Asian business and family interests. The indictments and pleas for municipal corruption centered around the Brown machine have been trickling in all year. Should Harris get elected and Brown has a direct line to the federal budget, grab a hold of your wallet and revolver, because this heist is going to get ugly.”
In “Biden Offers Nothing But More War, Austerity and White Supremacy - Without Trump” Glen Ford attacks the racist, war-mongering Democratic ticket and it’s attempt to project all of America’s evils on Trump.
Paul Billings writes:
“The ruling elite are apoplectic about continuing US economic/social decline as well as weakening global power and influence, vividly seen from-
“1. UNSC vote- Despite whining by Trump, Pompeo and UN Ambassador Kelly Craft, both US motions against the Islamic Republic of Iran were roundly defeated at the UNSC last week.
“2. Looming strategic debacles confronting the Pentagon in Afghanistan (longest running war in US history), Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen,
“3) Inability of the US to resolve the structural economic problems which gave rise to the Great Recession of 2008. Since that time, the US ‘economy’ has been propped up by the FED supporting Wall St/large Banks with $ trillions of taxpayer money, by deliberately looting the Treasury. Trumps ‘Executive Order’ suspending payroll taxes which support SS and Medicare Trust funds is designed to begin the looting/dismantling of SS and Medicare.
“4) Very high debt levels which continue to grow; highest levels of unemployment since the Great Depression
“5) Endemic state/police violence directed towards working people, racial minorities, etc.
“6) Continuing decline of manufacturing -- Boeing is incapable of building an airplane that can stay in the air, US tech firms cannot compete in 5G with Huawei; the US has no high-speed rail.
“7) Increasing influence of Islamic Republic of Iran in the ME and the 25-year energy/security agreement about to be signed between Iran and China.
“The ruling elite running the country have no solution to the immense social and economic problems confronting Americans, which have been accelerated by the Corona pandemic. Their response is increasing state/police violence against people of color and anyone else deemed a threat to capitalism, currently on center stage at the Republican National Convention, which has featured an unending litany of fascistic rants against working people, labor unions, people of color, etc. Support for continuing state/police violence coupled with continuing nonsensical, hysterical and bellicose rants towards Iran, China, Russia (and any other country deemed an obstacle to US global hegemony) from Trump, Pompeo, UN envoy Kelly Kraft, or other members of the corrupt regime in Washington in no way alters continuing US decline.”
The contradictions of U.S. imperialism and the ploys put forward by the ruling elite to cover them will only increase as we go forward. Our work is to challenge these ploys at every instance
Jahan Choudhry is Comments Editor for Black Agenda Report. He is an organizer with the Saturday Free School based in Philadelphia, PA.
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It is best to be wary when American politicians create expressions like "shining city on a hill." One of Reagan's signature phrases has been reused time and again by republicans and democrats a
Surveillance is an integral part of policing in this country.
The events of January 6, 2021 at the Capitol have been discussed and written about endlessly, but without much useful analysis.
Electoral politics in this country is a cover for oligarchic rule. Democratic party victories provide very little material benefit for the people they depend upon for support.
Glen Ford's legacy is recognized all over the nation. Japanese- American newspaper Rafu Shimpo printed this tribute to his work.
