Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first Africa-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet
Chido Nwangwu Is Founder of USAfrica
The former President Barack Obama and his wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama at the August 2024 second night of the convention of the Democratic Party made effective and persuasive cases for Vice President Kamala Harris to be voted in for President in November 2024.
The Obamas presented Donald Trump as a quixotic and unstable candidate who is infamous for crimes and convictions! Barack raised the issue of the complications of Trump’s behavior: “At a time when the other party had turned into a cult of personality, we needed a leader who was steady, brought people together, and was selfless enough to do the rarest thing there is in politics: putting his own ambition aside for the sake of the country.”
“That’s what this election is about (…) And I believe that’s why, if we each do our part over the next 77 days — if we knock on doors and make phone calls and talk to our friends and listen to our neighbors — if we work like we’ve never worked before, we will elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States and Tim Walz as the next vice president of the United States.”
Before Barack addressed the attendees, Michelle Obama said that
“For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happened to be Black.”
She followed with a critical question: “I want to know — who’s going to tell him, who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?” Deservedly, the audience gave her a big applause. It was a mocking reference to Trump’s June 2024 dubious comment during his debate with President Joe Biden ~ wherein Trump claimed that immigrants are “taking Black jobs.”
“It’s easier to play on people’s fears and cynicism,” Obama said, referring to Republicans who criticize the government and politicians in Washington DC. “That’s the easy path. We have a different task. Our job is to convince people that democracy can actually deliver.”
Quoting and excerpting a longer text from the copy of his speech, the 44th President of the United States, born to a White mother and an African immigrant from Kenya, Obama set forth the choice in the coming elections, thus:
“…in this new economy, we need a president who actually cares about the millions of people all across this country who wake up every day to do the essential, often thankless work to care for our sick and clean our streets and deliver our packages – and stand up for their right to bargain for better wages and working conditions. Kamala will be that president.
A Harris-Walz administration can help us move past some of the tired old debates that keep stifling progress, because at their core, Kamala and Tim understand that when everybody gets a fair shot, we’re all better off. They understand that when every child gets a good education, the whole economy gets stronger; that when women are paid the same as men, all families benefit. We can secure our border without tearing kids away from their parents, just like we can keep our streets safe while also building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
Donald Trump and his well-heeled donors don’t see the world that way. For them, one group’s gain is another group’s loss. For them, freedom means that the powerful can do what they please, whether its fire workers trying to organize a union or poison our rivers or avoid paying taxes like everybody else has to do.
We have a broader idea of freedom. We believe in the freedom to provide for your family if you’re willing to work; the freedom to breathe clean air and drink clean water and send your kids to school without worrying if they’ll come home. We believe that true freedom gives each of us the right to make decisions about our own life – how we worship, what our family looks like, how many kids we have, who we marry. And we believe that freedom requires us to recognize that other people have the freedom to make choices that are different than ours.
That’s the America Kamala Harris and Tim Walz believe in. An America where “We the People” includes everyone. Because that’s the only way this American experiment works. And despite what our politics might suggest, I think most Americans understand that. Democracy isn’t just a bunch of abstract principles and dusty laws. It’s the values we live by, and the way we treat each other – including those who don’t look like us or pray like us or see the world exactly like we do.”
Yes; those are important points.
Millions of people see the world differently. There are several domestic/internal conflicts and killings.
The security alerts and intelligence systems are already flashing and warning the next President of the United States.…
•Dr. Chido Nwangwu, author of the forthcoming 2024 book, MLK, Mandela & Achebe: Power, Leadership and Identity., is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston. He has appeared as an analyst on CNN, ALJazeera, SKYnews, and served as an adviser on Africa business to Houston’s former Mayor Lee Brown. Follow him on X @Chido247
