Between August 19-22, 2024, the four-day Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago, Illinois. As planned, the convention confirmed the exit of President Joe Biden and welcomed Vice-President Kamala Harris's nomination as the presidential candidate. The convention happened amid complex national and international political dynamics, including Israel Gaza war, inflation, healthcare, immigration, and abortion. These dynamics were covered, but there was a major enigma. The speeches from several politicians, activists, and famous people covered political issues around almost all the continents in World, but none mentioned Africa, despite all the wars, humanitarian tragedies and exploitation rare mineral and natural ressources on the continent.
The most anticipated moment came when Vice President Kamala Harris, AfroAmerica Network Black Woman of Year 2020, addressed the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night. The main focus of her speech was accepting the nomination and clarify her policies if elected. At the end, the key points were her background, Donald Trump persona, policies on economy, affordable housing, women rights, and medical care, wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and dealing with dictators in Asia. Like other speakers, Vice President Kamala Harris had no word about Africa whether on the on-going wars in Africa, dictarors, or building productive partnerships with reliable African countries.
Her deliverance followed the speeches from several prominent figures over the four days, including her running mate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Georgia Baptist pastor and United States senator from Georgia Raphael Warnock, the famous poet, activist, model and AfroAmerica Network most influential person Amanda Gorman (see AfroAmerica Network Most Influential People), President Joe Biden, First lady Jill Biden, Former president Barack Obama and Former first Lady Michelle Obama, Former President Bill Clinton and Former First Lady and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Brandon Johnson, mayor of Chicago, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Rep. Grace Meng of New York, Convention committee chair Minyon Moore, and many more. The performers included musicians Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Sheila E, Ari O'Neal, Pink, Mickey Guyton, James Taylor, and Maren Morris.
There were some key takeaways from all the speakers, with the following few examples.
Amanda Gordman, in her poem “This Sacred Scene,” said: " We face a race that tests if this country we cherish shall perish from the earth and if our earth shall perish from this country. It falls to us to ensure that we do not fall for a people that cannot stand together, cannot stand at all. We are one family regardless of religion, class, or color. for what defines a patriot is not just our love of liberty, but our love for one another."
Inspiration and Warnings Towards the Democrats.
Raphael Warnock warned Americans to be vigilant.
"And we must be vigilant tonight because these antidemocratic forces are at work right now in Georgia and all across our country, and the question is: who will heal the land?", he said.
Former President Barack Obama warned his party on the complexity of the next elections saying that "To make progress on the things we care about, the things that really affect people’s lives, we need to remember that we’ve all got our blind spots and contradictions and prejudices. And that if we want to win over those who aren’t yet ready to support our candidates, we need to listen to their concerns and maybe learn something in the process. "
But he also inspired hope, saying" Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican or somewhere in between, we have all had people like that in our lives. People like Kamala’s parents, who crossed oceans because they believed in the promise of America. People like Tim’s parents, who taught him about the importance of service. Good, hardworking people who weren’t famous or powerful but who managed in countless ways to leave this country just a little bit better than they found it."
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Vice-President Kamala Harris Focus: Background, Israel Gaza, Everyday Needs, World Dictators .
Kamala Harris started her speech and continued to focus on her background saying “The middle class is where I come from, My mother kept a strict budget. We lived within our means. Yet, we wanted for little. And she expected us to make the most of the opportunities that were available to us.”
Then, she focused on what the common people may need, saying “My entire career, I have only had one client The people” and that her priority is to make sure that “everyday needs”, such as housing, groceries and healthcare are affordable. She also spent time calling the attention to women rights.
On the foreign policy, she focused on Israel and Gaza war, Ukraine wars, dictators in Asia, and immigration from South America.
On Israel Gaza war, she expressed her opposition to the restrictions on arms sales to Israel and said that she “will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself.” She nevertheless expressed her concerns on the destruction that Israel has caused in Gaza, with 40,000 Palestinians including children, women, and elderly killed.
“So many innocent lives lost,” she said. “Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.”
Regarding Ukraine war, she said: “As president, I will stand strong with Ukraine and our NATO allies" adding "Five days before Russia attacked Ukraine, I met President (Volodymyr) Zelensky to warn him about Russia’s plan to invade... I helped mobilize a global response, over 50 countries to defend against (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s aggression.”
Africa Missing in All Speeches: Eyes are On Vice-President Kamala Harris To Make History but Also On Africa.
Eyes are on Kamala Harris to make history. If she wins the November 2024 elections, she will be the first woman, the first Black woman, and the first person of South Asian descent, the second Black person to become President of the United States of America.
However, none of the speakers during the entire Democratic National Convention in Chicago has mentioned Africa at all despite on-going wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, etc.... This has raised a big question mark.
In fact, Africa has become the battleground of world super powers, multinational companies, and powerful individuals, due to its wealth in mineral and natural resources, including Cobalt, Lithium, oil, gold, diamond, uranium, rare woods, and others fueling world economies. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the on-going wars whose aim is to loot its mineral riches, an estimated more that 12 millions people have been killed.
Hence, eyes are on the upcoming campaign rallies and speeches focusing on foreign policies to see how, if elected, Kamala Harris will approach the political dynamics and on-going human tragedies in Africa.
@AfroAmerica Network, 2024
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