I do find Trump and parts of the GOP going down this road depressing. Kamala's political positions are dangerous and lead to failure. Thats what needs to be talked about mostly. She is and will always be a champion for DEI because it is an outgrowth of Critical Race Theory which is an outgrowth of Critical Theory which is outgrowth of NeoMarxism. These are all things meant to keep Americans fighting with each other and ignoring real problems that need to be addressed. Mostly by communities without the interference of any government.
But let's address the race thing with Kamala that is real and why it's a source of frustration at least for me.
Because, like Obama, it's more evidence that the Democrats manipulate the American black community to the detriment of the American black community.
Like Obama, Kamala has a father that is black, but not a black American. He is Jamaican. Obamas father was Kenyan. And neither Kamala nor Obamas mothers, who raised them, are black of any kind. Obamas is white and Kamala's is Indian.
So when these politicians, neither of which grew up truly having a black American experience, further their political careers by leaning on their "blackness". There is a very real manipulation going on there. They are leaning on American "blackness" because those are the voters they are talking to, but neither of them actually experienced that in their lives. How could they, neither of them were born or raised in the community and neither of them have a parent that is Black American.
For those of us that have friends from African countries and Caribbean islands, the manipulation feels even more pronounced because we know how different people from those areas of the world are from the black American. And I say different not in a negative way. They are just different.
Yet, these two politicians are presented as "black Icons". And they change the way they talk when they are talking to the black community. It's a manipulation.
Yet, highly intelligent black Americans like Shelby Steele, Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice, Thomas Sowell, and Ben Carson are made out to be villains in this political theatre. All of these black Americans truly lived the black experience in America. Steele and Carson grew up in Chicago and Detroit. Thomas, Rice, and Sowell all grew up in the segregated south in North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Not in those places as they are today. They were black children in these places in 1940s-60s.
These aren't the only ones either. Bob Woodson grew up in Philadelphia and has been a tireless leader in the black neighborhood entrepreneur movement for nearly 50 years. He now leads an effort to mobilize and network black historians and scholars to fight back against the rewriting of American history as a completely negative history with the 1776 Unites initiative. An amazing initiative. One where there are dozens of highly intelligent black scholars involved, all of them grew up in the black communities here in America. That's not the only thing he's involved in. He has also helped launch an initiative battling black on black violence. Newsflash, it's not happening became of white people or slavery 200 years ago.
Why don't these people get the notoriety they all have earned and deserve given their accomplishments?
The answer is easy. Because none of them live their lives as victims nor are they part of movements trying to indoctrinate young black people into identifying as victims, yet, unlike Obama and Kamala, all of these people grew up being raised by two black parents in inner city black neighborhoods or among the black communities of the Deep South.
The manipulation is why it matters. It does not matter as much as political philosophy, but it matters.
And it has nothing to do with racism or misogyny. Those are words liberals use to try and shut down discussions about what is really going on when you have politicians that are dialing up their "blackness" well beyond their lived experiences.
Sadly we are talking about this instead of real issues that impact the black community today that have nothing to do with Slavery 150 years ago or the race based discrimination in some areas of the country 60 years ago.
A great article by Bob Woodson in National Review in May talks about the need to end DEI programs and stop wasting time and money on grievances. A call for people to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work of changing the lives of young people living in violent and cyclically poor communities, no matter their race. Yes, there are other races living in drug infested violent hellholes! (He doesn't say this exactly, he's too nice to say it that way). But he does note that programs that help people overcome hard circumstances are beneficial to all people that grow up in hard circumstances and it's a disservice to the black community and all communities to act like black communities are the only ones with problems.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/05/dei-has-failed-its-time-for-something-better/