By Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D.
Emeritus Professor of Sociology
I walked into the house. The TV was on. I saw the huge red “Breaking News” letters with the loud sound effect. The announcer said: “President Biden has just dropped out of the 2024 Presidential election”. I slowly sat down on the edge of my couch shaking my head in disbelief. This was Sunday July 21st 2024. My watch said 2:15pm. I was stunned.
It was exactly three weeks since the June 27th President Biden debate debacle in which he had performed so poorly. He had been defying his Democrat Party calls for him to step down. After Biden had released to the media the letter of his decision to drop out of the 2024 campaign, barely twenty minutes later he released another message that he was endorsing Vice-President Kamala Harris as the Democrat Presidential candidate. It was as if the election campaign and Biden’s announcement was a huge pile of wood and grass on which he had poured some gasoline. His announcement that he was endorsing Vice-President Kamala Harris as candidate was lighting a match that he tossed on the pile.
The news cycles were on fire as TV anchors were breathlessly reporting the latest development. Act/Blue election arm campaigns for Democrats raised 30 million dollars in just 2 hours. On that Sunday alone they raised 50 million dollars from small donors. 44,000 black women met on zoom to raise campaign funds. 40,000 black men met on line later in the week to raise campaign funds for Kamala Harris. Over 100,000 white women met on zoom to raise campaign funds for Kamala Harris. During this second week, thousands of white men will meet on zoom to do fundraising. Over a week later, the huge fires of enthusiasm for the political campaign excitement for Harris are spreading all over the country.
During Harris’s tenure as Vice-President over the last three and half years, she gave many public speeches and interviews. Often, she laughed. In one of the numerous speeches she made references to falling from a coconut tree. Trump, Fox News, Republicans, and the right-wing ecosystem did not like her laughing. They wanted to use the laughter video clips as a political weapon to embarrass and to humiliate her. They were portraying her as a laughing clown who could not be taken seriously. This has totally back fired for Trump, Fox News, and the Republicans. I absolutely love her laughter as a refreshing change. This country needs more laughter among its citizens and especially leaders.
Millennials are the American population that is between 28 to 43 years old. Generation Z are between 12 and 27 years. Memes about Harris’ candidacy immediately organically exploded on the internet. The memes included coconuts and Kamala is Brat. Millennials and Generation Z constitute 93.39% of the population and 166 million Americans under the age of 40 make up 50.7% of the population. If this enthusiasm among the new young people translates into voting, the young people will save our democracy. Harris is promising an optimistic message rejecting our past 8 years of political divisiveness and hate and instead to look to a better and brighter future of love, prosperity, and return to human dignity.
What has been revealed during the last 8 days is that America may be the luckiest, most resilient and blessed nation on this earth. President Lincoln saved the Union through the Civil War of the 1860s that killed six hundred thousand people. Jim Crow was defeated with the Civil Right Acts of the 1960s. If President Biden and the Democrats had lost in the November elections, the nation was going to end as it was sure to degenerate into an authoritarian state as Project 2025 was going to be implemented. One cannot say that anymore. There is hope.
The hope is that all citizens of the red and blue states, peace and prosperity loving Americans of all police departments, workers, churches, college students, democrats, and what is left of the non-maga Republicans, those who hate the principles of Project 25, will all vote for Kamala Harris and the Democrats. We will be saving democracy, women’s reproductive freedoms and voting for freedom writ large.
I am rooting for the one who will stop the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars. And slow down the chimbwi chiyupe lifestyles.
Unfortunately, that person is tRump!
I don’t support either Democrats or Republicans. Democrats wear a plastic smile and use the black race to advance their LGBTQ agenda which in turn destroys the traditional black family not only in America but worldwide. The case of Obama reminds me of how we all rallied around this man just because he was was black and yet we did know his LGBTQ agenda. His 1st trip to Africa was to Egypt where he declared that Islam is a peaceful religion. Nonsense! Was it Islam that voted him to power? Trump and MAGA are open racists. I would rather have a self confessed racist. At least I know what I am dealing with. No pretence. One last thing. I agree with Trump on one thing; a man is a man & a woman is a woman.