Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first Africa-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
By Chido Nwangwu. Follow on X (Twitter) @Chido247
First, for this November 5, 2024, U.S elections, I’ve already Voted for the person I believe to be deserving of being the next President of the United States of America. This candidate does Not seek to insult the heritage of millions of recent immigrants. It’s driven by a worthy sense of responsibility and mission.
Second, I Voted for strategic security, economic prosperity, political diversity, freedoms and a basic sense of decency. It seeks to respect different cultures and mosaic of interests that make America a unique land of opportunity and diversity.
It is Not to torment and deport certain foreigners from the United States, and deprive them of the comprehensive benefits of their heritage and cultural economy.
Third, considering the major conflicts, flashpoints and crises around, America needs to keep and fortify itself as a united country. This enhances its capacity to take on its primarily external foes — rather than the Trumpian hunt for what he called “enemies within.”
Fourth, I believe that the choice of either of the two major candidates, namely: Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party and Donald Trump of the Republican Party have major implications for the citizens and the country.
Fifth, for a wider perspective and grand assessment of the moral destination of the two fighters for the presidency, I’ll take us back, again, to reflect on the weighty words spoken on June 3, 2020, by one of America’s greatest soldiers of past 100 years. He was assessing the insensitive, divisive and unworthy handling of the brutal, installment murder of another non-confrontational Black man, George Floyd:
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us…. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”
Those are the profound words of Gen. James Norman Mattis, an embodiment of America’s highest dedication to its armed forces. He put in 44 years in the Marine Corps and retired as a USMC General. Then, he came from retirement to serve as the 26th US Secretary of Defense from January 2017 to January 2019 — following an invitation from the incumbent President Trump to rebuild the armed forces of the United States.
Sixth, Americans deserve to be led by someone who will be a champion for all Americans. Without a scintilla of doubt, America, in these times Needs a leader without the poison of prejudice and explosive toxicity. It’s a moral question in this fight of 2024 for the proverbial soul of America.
Seventh, I Voted for someone with decades of service to Americans, a professional with the appropriate temperament, possessing the intelligence befitting a scholar of jurisprudence, an officer and leader in the battle for law and order, a motivator of progress, a drum major for inclusiveness/diversity, a modern-day leader committed to the building of a new America —for a better, democracy and decency.
I have Voted for an American President who would Not be like former President Trump, notorious for: relentless hostility, insolence at opponents, megalomaniacal indulgencies, impulsive indiscretions and recklessness to overwhelm and, operationally, clog to destroy the presidency, and impunity, alleged criminality during his first term in government.
Yes; I have Voted for U.S incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris, a former Senator, to be the next President of the world’s foremost hyper-power!
Americans and most of the world do know this: there’s no more time for Trump’s endless juvenile antics, self-preening excesses, immoral expressions of racism and shameful divisiveness of this man from an ancient time, irreversible time. The time when Blacks could not vote or be voted for. The days and nights of darkness and deprivation and decimation. No!
Someone should tell him: “Mr. Trump, We’re Not Going Back there!”
I Voted for America! I voted for Kamala Harris. I voted for Africa!
•Dr. Chido Nwangwu, author of the forthcoming book, MLK, Mandela & Achebe: Power, Leadership and Identity., is the 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 on X (Twitter) @Chido247
