Thank you Peter for speaking out re Harris’s silence re Immigrants and their struggles when and IF they make it into USA. Also no mention of the war her boss Biden has supported for almost a year. Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza.
Strangely, people forget that Trump is himself the son of an ESL immigrant: Mary Anne McLeod was born on the Isle of Lewis, to a poor crofting family. Her first language was Scots Gaelic. And Lewis was a terribly impoverished island--probably what Mr Trump would refer to as a "shithole country," if the inhabitants were a little darker. She was an actual worker (domestic), at least for a while. Both of his paternal grandparents were immigrants from Bavaria. Two of his three wives were immigrants. But it's not like Mr. Trump is likely to wilt in the face of being called out on a contradiction.
His paternal grandfather was a glorified pimp, who set up brothels in Salt Lake City and the Yukon. All part of America's rich pageant.
There might be some calculation, on the part of Harris' advisers, that playing up the immigration side of her story weakens the Black American side of it. After all, her Black American heritage is already distinctly different from that of many of her Black contemporaries. Like Obama's father, neither of her parents grew up in Jim Crow America, suffering the dehumanizing consquences of segregation as a child and adolescent. How that affected her own Black identity or how that now shapes the Kamala "image" her campaign hopes to project is hard to gauge.
This has me once again wishing Peter had some "pipeline" - a person connecting him to the campaign - to get his ideas heard. Seems like he might? OR could have?
I think comments like this one are valuable not just because they are true and the thoughts behind them need to be remembered but also because coming from well known people, like yourself Peter, they help push Kamala Harris to speak up on behalf of immigrants. All she has to do is remind people that the US has always been a country of immigrants, from 1607 and 1619 onwards, and that immigrants and their descendants created this country and that they continue to do so. That should not be so hard and I think that Kamala has the insight and courage to do so. Certainly, I hope so.
Well I agree with you here, but Kamala isn't appealing to the better angels in her campaign or party. She seems to be running for the republican vote, not a progressive democratic one. Evidence how proud she is the have the Cheney vote and her doubling down on the "lethality" of the military. Its pathological, especially in the light of Genocide.
I went to your presentation yesterday at the Jewish Currents event and I was really shocked no one talked about Jill Stein or the uncommitted vote and that Lydia Polgreen went unchallenged when she said "we obviously have to vote for Harris." (and tying this to her affinity for the non-binary!) Especially in NY! Why would any of us who care about Palestine throw our vote to Kamala, especially in a state she will most definitely win?
Seems pretty obvious to me why she doesn't stand up for working class immigrants -- the class divide is just as strong for upper class immigrant Americans (like Kamala's parents) as it is for Americans born here. Trump is taking advantage of that divide and she's not willing to stand up for working class immigrants.
Thank you. I was raised by a community of immigrants and always feel at home with immigrants here from almost anywhere. When I was growing up immigrants were called refugees and they were my people. In cities. But there was a stigma then and i'm guessing, sadly, Kamala feels it now.
I agree with everything you have said, but you don't address the hard problem of what our immigration policy should be. For example, do you believe should the US have an open door policy - not just for asylum seekers, but economic refugees also - with no numerical limits? Perhaps so, but this would need to be defended in greater detail than just appealing to past anecdotal experiences.
Thank you Peter for injecting some sort of decency into the commentaries on the debate. I am so tired of these campaign directed debates where honest answers are often hard to come by and we are still left with questions as to who this candidate really is and what he or she will actually do.
Yada Yada Yada , Peter, dismissed the reality that voters in certain states play disproportionate roles in choosing the president. Kamala was savy and right; you weren’t.
You're mispronouncing Kamala.
comma-la.
Thank you Peter for speaking out re Harris’s silence re Immigrants and their struggles when and IF they make it into USA. Also no mention of the war her boss Biden has supported for almost a year. Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza.
Linda Snider
Why do you refer to her as a progressive Democrat? She seems very centrist to me.
I totally agree and have wondered the same thing as to why she doesn’t deliver a paean to immigrants. But I wish you would pronounce her name the way she pronounces it, instead of closer to the way Trump pronounces it. She may be our president soon, we should all learn how to pronounce her name. https://www.google.com/search?q=how+is+kamala+projounced%3F&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a48ee3cb,vid:XYkZkpLQUS0,st:0
KA ma la, not ka MA la.
Strangely, people forget that Trump is himself the son of an ESL immigrant: Mary Anne McLeod was born on the Isle of Lewis, to a poor crofting family. Her first language was Scots Gaelic. And Lewis was a terribly impoverished island--probably what Mr Trump would refer to as a "shithole country," if the inhabitants were a little darker. She was an actual worker (domestic), at least for a while. Both of his paternal grandparents were immigrants from Bavaria. Two of his three wives were immigrants. But it's not like Mr. Trump is likely to wilt in the face of being called out on a contradiction.
His paternal grandfather was a glorified pimp, who set up brothels in Salt Lake City and the Yukon. All part of America's rich pageant.
There might be some calculation, on the part of Harris' advisers, that playing up the immigration side of her story weakens the Black American side of it. After all, her Black American heritage is already distinctly different from that of many of her Black contemporaries. Like Obama's father, neither of her parents grew up in Jim Crow America, suffering the dehumanizing consquences of segregation as a child and adolescent. How that affected her own Black identity or how that now shapes the Kamala "image" her campaign hopes to project is hard to gauge.
This has me once again wishing Peter had some "pipeline" - a person connecting him to the campaign - to get his ideas heard. Seems like he might? OR could have?
I think comments like this one are valuable not just because they are true and the thoughts behind them need to be remembered but also because coming from well known people, like yourself Peter, they help push Kamala Harris to speak up on behalf of immigrants. All she has to do is remind people that the US has always been a country of immigrants, from 1607 and 1619 onwards, and that immigrants and their descendants created this country and that they continue to do so. That should not be so hard and I think that Kamala has the insight and courage to do so. Certainly, I hope so.
Screw it is right! The demonization and dehumanization are appalling.
Well I agree with you here, but Kamala isn't appealing to the better angels in her campaign or party. She seems to be running for the republican vote, not a progressive democratic one. Evidence how proud she is the have the Cheney vote and her doubling down on the "lethality" of the military. Its pathological, especially in the light of Genocide.
I went to your presentation yesterday at the Jewish Currents event and I was really shocked no one talked about Jill Stein or the uncommitted vote and that Lydia Polgreen went unchallenged when she said "we obviously have to vote for Harris." (and tying this to her affinity for the non-binary!) Especially in NY! Why would any of us who care about Palestine throw our vote to Kamala, especially in a state she will most definitely win?
Seems pretty obvious to me why she doesn't stand up for working class immigrants -- the class divide is just as strong for upper class immigrant Americans (like Kamala's parents) as it is for Americans born here. Trump is taking advantage of that divide and she's not willing to stand up for working class immigrants.
Thank you. I was raised by a community of immigrants and always feel at home with immigrants here from almost anywhere. When I was growing up immigrants were called refugees and they were my people. In cities. But there was a stigma then and i'm guessing, sadly, Kamala feels it now.
I agree with everything you have said, but you don't address the hard problem of what our immigration policy should be. For example, do you believe should the US have an open door policy - not just for asylum seekers, but economic refugees also - with no numerical limits? Perhaps so, but this would need to be defended in greater detail than just appealing to past anecdotal experiences.
Thank you Peter for injecting some sort of decency into the commentaries on the debate. I am so tired of these campaign directed debates where honest answers are often hard to come by and we are still left with questions as to who this candidate really is and what he or she will actually do.
Yada Yada Yada , Peter, dismissed the reality that voters in certain states play disproportionate roles in choosing the president. Kamala was savy and right; you weren’t.