Beto for America | page 4
House Bill 2383 | page 5
TSU falls in overtime | page 7
When I Get Home | page 8
March/April 2019
Volume 71, Issue 6
Kamala Harris unveils new campaign promise at TSU
Senator Kamala Harris speaks in front of a packed crowd at TSU’s Rec Center
Ryan Nickerson Managing Editor HBCU graduate and United States Senator Kamala Harris (D- California) returns to her roots as she rallied an exuberant crowd at Texas Southern University. Speaking at the Student Recreation Center, Harris preached the importance of trust, truth, and unveiled a bold, new campaign promise: making the largest investment into teachers’ salaries in United States’ history, if she were to become president. The rally also made it clear Harris’ base is not just AfricanAmerican women. When Harris took the stage her speech appealed to Americans across the social spectrum, deploying talking points that convey optimism and unity. On January 21, 2019, Harris announced she will be running for President of the United States in the Democratic primary. A daughter of the Civil Rights Movement, Harris was born from an Indian mother and Jamaican father in
Photo credit: Brandon Aninipot
Oakland, California, where racial tensions between the black community and the largely white police force helped shape her long-standing values of truth and justice. If elected President, Harris would be the United State’s first woman president and the second president of color. “I love being in Harris County!”, the California Senator said as she took the podium on Saturday, the crowd holding up signs that read: “This is Harris County.” Later she addressed the state’s and the country’s politics, confidently stating, “we are better than this.” Harris is open about her disdain for the current administration, but, as she would go on to say, she grew up with a mother who didn’t allow complaining. If she or her sister complained, her mother would respond with the question, “What are you going to do about it?”
Carrying her mother’s words to heart, Harris decided to run for President of the United States. According to her speech, Harris believes one of the biggest problems in America right now is people’s lack of trust in their government. But in order to regain trust, politicians must start telling the truth. Harris told what she believes as that truth: the economy in America is not working for working people. If elected president, Harris will propose, “the biggest middle-class tax cut in American history.” It would include up to $500 dollars per month for each taxpayer, paying for it “by repealing the Trump tax cut.” Harris went on to address the growing threat of climate change, police brutality, gun control and the family separation policy at the border. She condemned racism, antiSemitism, Islamophobia and transphobia. “They are all real and we have to actively combat them.” Harris said, “when we wake up thinking in the middle of the night, thinking about God -- some people call it ‘the witching hour’ -- our thoughts have nothing to do with a political party.” Her speech reached its climax when she unveiled her new campaign promises. “We are a nation that pretends to care about education, but not so much the education of other people’s children,” she said. “Our success as a country is a function of the two groups that raise our children: family and teachers, and we aren’t paying our teachers their value.” That’s why Harris unveiled an initiative to close the teacher pay gap, which, according to Harris, would be “the largest investment in teachers’ salaries in the history of the United States.” Harris believes all great fights are born out of optimism. But the fact of the matter is, America has never had a woman president. Some believe America is not equipped to have one. Jaime Rodriguez, a Washington-based Democratic political consultant, believes otherwise. “If you believe in a female president you have to support them,” he said after Harris’ speech. “You can’t say ‘this time around the other candidate is a better choice. There is always the ‘this time around’ excuse. You’re either for a woman president or not.” Sherry Browning, a local Third Ward resident, remains hopeful that, “she will be the first female, let alone a black lady, to win the presidency.” Browning went on to say, “I think she’s sincere, and just by her attending Texas Southern University, that spoke volumes as well.” With the 2020 election around the corner, America waits and listens to see if Harris truly is for the people.
“The vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us.”