Kamala Harris has only one card and she plays it over and over again. And then she plays it some more.
When we look at black history, we know that so much of the fight — especially during the Civil Rights Movement and, of course, before — has been about equality.
You know, we often talk about the place that housed one of the people who, for me, was a hero and really was a beacon of what can be — Thurgood Marshall — and the house that Thurgood Marshall lived in, called the United States Supreme Court. And on those marble walls is etched “Equal justice under law.” We have always fought for equality.
But now we are also talking much more rightly about equity,
Equality is yesterday’s news. Let’s talk about rigging the system.
Understanding that we must be clear-eyed about the fact that, yes, we want everyone to get an equal amount — that sounds right — but not everyone starts out from the same place. Some people start out on first base; some people start out on third base. And if the goal is truly about equality, it has to be about a goal of saying everybody should end up in the same place. And since we didn’t start in the same place. Some folks might need more: equitable distribution.
Or, to be clear-eyed about it, unequal distribution.
You can’t fight for equality and equity. No one starts out from the same place. Kamala started out as the daughter of wealthy foreign students who grew up in Canada and lives in a Brentwood mansion. That doesn’t mean that she should be held back. Different people are born with different skills, physical abilities, and potentials. Handicapper General Kamala can’t change that no matter how many sandbags she ties to them. No matter where someone is born, they can achieve things on their own, whether it’s by pursuing their dreams, or by sleeping with the married mayor of San Francisco in exchange for political connections.
That’s not something you’re born with. It’s not about where you start, but where you end up.
Equality is freedom. Equity is a plantation.
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