Tag: Kamala Harris

bookmark_borderWhy I am voting for Donald Trump

Posted on by Marissa

Today’s election is a very important moment for our country. I’ve identified as a Republican for many years and have volunteered for various Republican campaigns and organizations, but the past few years have really changed how I see the world. Tomorrow I will be voting for Donald Trump. I feel more strongly about this decision than I’ve felt about my choice in any other election, and here are three reasons why: 

  1. I never thought that the continued existence of historical statues would become a political issue. Tragically, countless statues have been permanently removed, torn down, and destroyed, something that has been devastating to me. Donald Trump is the only candidate who has spoken out for statues. He has stood up for them in his public remarks, signed an executive order increasing punishments for people who harm statues, and signed an executive order calling for a new statue garden (unfortunately canceled by Biden).
  2. Additionally, I never thought that the United States government would require people to undergo a medical procedure. Yet that is exactly what the Biden administration did by introducing an OSHA rule mandating the covid vaccine. In my opinion, this is a huge violation of individual rights, and I would never support any politician from the Biden administration as a result.
  3. The horrible thing that happened to the Christopher Columbus statue in St. Paul, Minnesota is important enough to list as its own reason. The images of what was done to this statue – see this blog post for more details – are horrific, traumatizing, and seared permanently into my consciousness. Tim Walz deliberately chose to allow the atrocity to happen, and late characterized it as an understandable act of “civil disobedience.” The Italian American Civil Rights League issued a press release correctly characterizing what happened as “racism” and “a flagrant hate crime,” which you can read here. Additionally, Dr. Christopher Binetti published an important article, an excerpt of which is below:

When rioters came to destroy the Columbus monument on the grounds of the state Capitol in Saint Paul, Governor Walz ordered state troopers, who were on the scene, to stand down and let it happen. The main culprit, shown lassoing the head of Columbus in broad daylight, was penalized for his crime with only community service. Walz never returned the statue to its rightful pedestal. Italian Americans have been in a state of second class citizenship under Walz, ever since.

Italian Americans are not safe anywhere in America because of Walz’s actions. Thanks to him, the attack on the Columbus monument in St. Paul was copied all over the country: In Richmond, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Ohio, etc…

Walz wants to erase us because he loathes us as Italians. This is not about Columbus or even Howard Zinn, whose warped views of history Walz seems to embrace. This is about the dehumanization of Italian Americans in Minnesota and throughout America. Remember, that in order to destroy Columbus, his statue had to be physically lynched. No one seemed to care about that symbolism; how it reminded us of the horrifying lynching and riotous massacre of Italians, in 1891, in New Orleans. Make no mistake, Walz loathes Italians.

Binetti correctly, and importantly, characterizes what happened as “the lynching and tearing down of the Columbus monument.” Indeed, a mob of bigots and bullies decided to viciously lynch Christopher Columbus at the Minnesota state capitol, and Tim Walz decided that it was OK for this to happen. This statue, and the horrible thing that was done to him, must never be forgotten.

For these reasons, my little statues and I are voting for Donald Trump.

bookmark_borderKamala Harris’s repugnant comments on Columbus Day

Posted on by Marissa

“European explorers ushered in a wave of devastation, violence, stealing land, and widespread disease.” – Kamala Harris

Unsurprisingly, Kamala Harris posted the above in a tweet on Columbus Day. Seeing statements like this is hurtful, exhausting, and demoralizing. I am sick and tired of being made to feel that my very existence is something that I need to apologize for. I did not choose my skin color. I did not choose my ancestry. I did not chose to be born, and I did not choose which country or continent to be born in. And I don’t deserve to be shamed or humiliated for these characteristics, as Harris has done with this statement. 

Perhaps European explorers did usher in those things that Harris claims. But honestly… who cares? What is the point of mentioning this, and what is Harris trying to accomplish by doing so?

European explorers lived multiple centuries ago. Neither they, nor their alleged victims, are alive. I certainly didn’t cause the atrocities listed by Harris (nor did anyone who is alive today); therefore I do not deserve to be punished for them. The only thing accomplished by harping on and on about the alleged atrocities of European explorers is to inflict shame and humiliation on people like me, who didn’t do anything wrong. To inflict suffering and punishment on people who don’t deserve it. It’s disgusting that anyone – let alone a major political party’s candidate for president – would consider this a good thing to do.

Octavian destroyed the lives of Antony and Cleopatra, and the English army burned Joan of Arc alive at the stake. Why do Harris and other Democratic politicians not go on and on about that? Why does our society care so much about the alleged devastation, violence, theft of land, and disease inflicted on indigenous people, but not care a whit about the suffering that I’ve experienced going through life as an autistic person being held to neurotypical standards of success?

It’s because, in the eyes of Democratic politicians, not everyone’s pain matters. Not everyone’s experiences and perspectives matter. But rather only the pain, only the experiences and perspectives, of groups deemed (arbitrarily and randomly) to be “oppressed.” In the eyes of society, indigenous peoples’ pain matters, but not mine. Black people’s pain matters, but not mine. Queer and trans people’s pain matters, but not mine. It’s like a clique of popular kids in middle school. Only those people deemed “cool” enough to be in the clique matter. There is only empathy, recognition, acknowledgement, and inclusion for those deemed “cool” enough to be in the clique, and not for anyone else. 

As an autistic person, I’ve been told all my life that everything I do is wrong. I’ve never been deemed “cool” enough to be in any clique. I’ve grown up feeling that I need to apologize for my tone of voice, the words I use, my body language, my hobbies, the way that I dress, the way that I do my hair… the list is endless. And now I am being told that, because I am descended from European explorers, I need to apologize for existing in the US.

No. No more. I am sick and tired of living in a society that acknowledges everyone’s pain, everyone’s experiences, everyone’s perspectives, except for my own. It is past time that I be included, that I be shown empathy and recognition, that my struggles be acknowledged and my accomplishments celebrated, rather than me being condemned for immutable characteristics over which I have no control. Harris should apologize for the intolerance and lack of empathy that she has demonstrated with this statement.

bookmark_borderAn example of the bias of Yahoo News

Posted on by Marissa

While checking my email the other day, I came across this infuriating set of headlines on Yahoo:

I can almost hear the awe and admiration in the author’s voice when reading the headline about Harris’s “historic speech” as the “first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to accept a major party’s presidential nomination.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s reason for doubting election results is sneeringly dismissed as “baseless.” 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: News articles and headlines are required to be neutral. This is the entire purpose of the news media. News articles, and their headlines, must contain information only, without opinions or value judgments.

Despite this, Yahoo, as well as other media outlets, has a pattern of consistently portraying one party’s politicians in glowing terms while criticizing, condemning, shaming, attacking, and calling attention to every possible negative thing about, political figures of the other party. Because the things that have been going on in this country over the past few years are so triggering to me, I almost never read news articles. Yahoo’s disdain for people whose political views differ from those of the establishment is so blatant that its existence is obvious merely from looking at headlines. Given that the entire purpose of the news media is to present facts only, and to abstain entirely from voicing opinions, this situation is completely unacceptable.

To characterize something as “baseless” is an insult, not a piece of information. Therefore, it is unacceptable for a news headline to contain this word. (Unless it is part of a quote by a person whom the article is quoting… but that is not the case here. “Baseless” is the headline writer’s own word.)

It is mentally exhausting to be made to feel shamed, insulted, and attacked day in and day out for having political beliefs that are different from the majority. Shame on Yahoo for their repeated use of bigoted, biased, pejorative, and sneering headlines.