WS Chronicle

By Dr. James B. Ewers Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. I’ve seen the Promised Land. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”

The day after he gave this speech to the Memphis sanitation workers, Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Maybe Senator Kamala Harris accepting the offer from former vice president Joe Biden to become his running mate got us a little closer to the mountaintop.

I listened with pride and with purpose last Wednesday as Kamala Harris publicly accepted Joe Biden’s offer to be his vice president on the Democratic ticket. On this day, I thought about what my Jamaican dad told me when I was a boy.

Each day, he told me about the importance of having an education, working hard and being determined. There are no shortcuts you can take to becoming successful.

Senator Harris is of Jamaican ancestry. Her education, hard work and determination have catapulted her into being considered for the second highest office in the United States of America.

Her competence and her credentials will be put to the test in the weeks ahead. She has already been maligned by Mr. T. His ignorance and lack of humanity reach new lows by the hour.

The West Indian community is being empowered by the Harris announcement. “There was just this sense of energy,” said Representative Anika Omphroy, a daughter of two Jamaican immigrants.

Reports suggest there is an increasing number of voters of West Indian descent living in Florida. Having Senator Kamala Harris on the ticket will certainly motivate them to vote.

The pick of Kamala Harris as the Democratic vice-presidential choice ended months of speculation. There were other women such as Susan Rice and Karen Bass considered but at the end of the process, Senator Harris came through as the selection.

The immediate reaction to her has been overwhelmingly positive. The African American community was ecstatic about her selection for this powerful position.

Kamala Harris is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. So, I suspect every AKA has already booked a flight and hotel accommodations for the expected inauguration in January. 

If you are a part of the Divine Nine, you are also happy and overjoyed. Each fraternity and sorority must be both pro-active and resolute in getting Sister Harris to the finish line. This is a proud moment for us as members of Black fraternities and sororities

When Senator Harris was announced as the candidate, the forces of evil began their evil machine. He has already called her nasty. This is just the beginning of an all-out vicious and unrelenting attack on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

The fight for right has never been easy. This fight will be for the soul of this country. There is no other way to say it. We must be prepared to do battle every waking hour.

Our voices and our votes must be heard and felt. We set the record with Barack Obama when he became president. Now, we must break the record if we want Kamala Harris to become vice president of the United States of America.

If you are young, gifted, Black or white and want to realize success, then on November 3, you must vote and get your friends to vote too. If you are a senior citizen like me and you want another highlight to your life, then vote to make Senator Kamala Harris the first Black woman to become vice president.

The future of our nation is in our hands. Let us use our ballots to bring Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the house of the people, the White House.

James B. Ewers Jr. is a former tennis champion at Atkins High School and played college tennis at Johnson C. Smith University where he was all-conference for four years. He is a retired college administrator and can be reached at overtimefergie.2020@yahoo.com.