I Am Finally Ready To Have a Conversation About Kamala Harris
#ItHasToBeSomeone2020
SO. I haven’t said anything, but we need to have a conversation about Kamala.
Does Kamala Harris have my vote, yeah sure, however what I am not about to do is go back and forth with Black people who feel uncomfortable with her as a candidate because of her past criminal justice policies. I am not going to attempt to convince them not to be concerned. They should be concerned. Her history as a prosecutor is concerning. I don’t think it is fair, or anyone’s place to attempt to tell the demographic of people most impacted by the criminal justice system they need to brush past her criminal justice policies. I am just not going to do that.
I am not resharing this video to attempt to denounce her, I want to show this to the people who are upset that some voters just aren’t feeling her and just don’t want to. Are some people with “concerns” just attempting to mask their misogynoir, yeah sure, but then there are people who were always concerned about her long before now, and this video is one major reason why.
This video is from 2010 and I can’t say that 2010 Courtney wouldn’t have agreed with the concept that if you put pressure on parents with the threat of jail, their kids would stop missing school. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I didn’t know how truancy rarely has to do with parental neglect, but it is often a reflection of barriers within the family structure and/or issues a student is having at school. Even if you would have told me, I am not sure I would have received the information. I thought most issues rooting from instability were reflections of personal failings and irresponsibility. Even if it is due to those reasons, jailing a parent struggling with keeping their home life stable exacerbates the issues, but at the time it sounded like a plan to “redirect irresponsible parents”. Maybe she really thought this was a great solution like I once did. “Tough love”.
The law field is powerful because it makes up how we determine who is scrutinized and punished, sometimes for reasons outside of their control. There has to be some form of human understanding when attempting to address social issues through law enforcement. Truancy is a social issue, a human services issue, a family issue. Social workers and counselors should have been at the forefront of addressing truancy. I am not saying that they weren’t involved, but the DA’s office should have only been called upon if there was a crime that was preventing the child from attending school. Kamala criminalized truancy from what I hope was ignorance on how to address the root from a human services standpoint. Hopefully, she has gained some some insight, because I know I have.
We are 9 years past this video, the world, my life, and my understanding has changed greatly. I know what I didn’t know before, about addressing barriers to stability with families is the solution, not punishing families for going through a crisis or experiencing struggle. People are resilient and more than anything, they just want to be stable and at peace. If you can help alleviate the barriers, people can figure it out on their own and thrive.
I am hoping in the past 9 years, Kamala has been influenced by more research and has a better understanding of what causes some situations to occur and has a desire to be a solutions based leader, addressing the root and not always jumping to punishing the aftermath. I have learned and through that education has come growth. I can extend this grace to her, but to officially earn my vote as president she does need to show me, and many others, that this is a dated version of herself and moving forward she, like myself, is dedicated to being a more understanding, just leader.
