Kamala Harris, Lady Liberty

WHAT A GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE! This is especially true for Kamala Harris who has a great chance of becoming the first female president of color. But is it really a great day for her?

Throughout time women have been at the forefront of great change. And while on that forefront, they have been ATTACKED viciously. There is also an expectation, Kamala Harris will face sexism, racism, and misogyny as she runs for president. So far, the biggest attack of her opposition has been about the way she LAUGHS. Imagine, being mocked for the way you laugh when you have an impressive resumé when it comes to fighting for the rights of others and prosecuting law breakers. It's like when a little boy says you have cooties because his vocabulary is so limited, and he cannot express what he truly feels.

If we look through history, we will find a large number of women who overcame the personal attacks to forge new paths for the better of community, state and country. In my book, When Will Eve be Forgiven?, I look at several women who were demeaned for their greatness and dedication for change. It has never been an easy path for women, and it won't be for Kamala Harris. 

I want to talk about one woman from my book, Mati-Hari. I choose her because the most vicious attack on Kamala Harris is that she SLEPT her way to the top. The attack on successful women only excelling if they have sex has been used since the creation of man. Christians have been taught how wicked women are using their sexuality to usurp men. This doctrine of women being deceptive and not trustworthy was introduced with the matriarch of women, Eve, in the Christian Bible. Sexy, curvaceous, deceitful, and wanton; these are the words used to depict Eve in the Garden of Eden

Courtesan, artist, free-spirited bohemian, Mati-Hari transformed her mysterious past into a future of world-renowned fame and admiration. Her stage name was Margaretha Geertruida “Grietje” Zelle MacLeod. She was born August 7, 1876, in Leeuwarden. Mati Hari became known as a promiscuous, flirtatious dancer who openly flaunted her body. She would progressively shed her clothes until she wore only a jeweled braw and some ornaments upon her arms and head.

She would live a life of intrigue seducing men of power and position. Accused of spying and even being a double agent between Germany and France she would be tried by a court February 13, 1917, found guilty and executed by a firing squad October 15, 1917.

From the time of her birth till the time of her death, Mati-Hari defined who she was and who she wanted people to know her as. Time nor circumstance limit who she wanted to be, and history recorded her as the person she declared she was. After her death, her head was embalmed and kept in the Museum of Anatomy in Paris. Her head was discovered missing in 2000 and could have disappeared as early as 1954.

Here, a woman clearly used her sexuality in an effort to help her country. Kamal Harris has not used her sexuality in the way Mati-Hari did. Mati-Hari did not hide who she was and how she operated. Neither does Kamala Harris.

In 2004, Vice President Harris was elected District Attorney of San Francisco where she was a national leader in the movement for LGBTQ+ rights, officiating the first same-sex wedding after Proposition 8 was overturned. She also established the office’s environmental justice unit and created a ground-breaking program to provide first-time drug offenders with the opportunity to earn a high school degree and find employment, which the U.S. Department of Justice designated as a national model of innovation for law enforcement. And years earlier, in 1990, she joined the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office where she specialized in prosecuting child sexual assault cases.

In 2010, Vice President Harris was elected Attorney General of California where she oversaw the largest state justice department in the country. She took on those who were preying on the American people, winning a $20 billion settlement for Californians whose homes had been foreclosed on and a $1.1 billion settlement for students and veterans who were taken advantage of by a for-profit education company. She also defended the Affordable Care Act in court and enforced environmental laws.

In 2017, she was sworn into the United States Senate where she championed legislation to fight hunger, provide rent relief, improve maternal health care, expand access to capital for small businesses, revitalize America’s infrastructure, and combat the climate crisis. She questioned two Supreme Court nominees while serving on the Judiciary Committee. She also worked to keep the American people safe from foreign threats and crafted bipartisan legislation to assist in securing American elections while serving on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Her life's journey has not come close to a woman who uses her sex to help her community, state, and country. 

The adjectives used to describe women have not changed much since biblical times due largely to the fact human nature has not changed much either. The Book of Proverbs in the Christian Bible has more vivid adjectives describing womanhood than any other book in the Bible. 

The list of adjectives include: adulterous, aged, angry; bad, beautiful, brawling; careless, chaste, clamorous, comely, compassionate, complacent, contentious; deceitful, devout, diligent, discreet, dishonest, domestic, drunken; elect, evil; fainthearted, fair, faithful, foolish, foreign, fretful; glorious, godly, good, gracious, grave, great,; haughty, high-principled, holy, honest, honorable,; impudent, indiscreet; jealous,; kind, loose, loving; obedient, odious, outlandish; peevish, peaceable, pitiful, prudent; quarrelsome, reverent, righteous; sensible, serious, shamefaced, shameless, silent, silly, simple, sober, steady, strange, submissive, subtle; temperate, trustworthy; unloved; virtuous; wayward, weak, wealthy, whorish, wicked, wily, worthy; and young.

In the coming days and months, there will be many words used to describe Kamala Harris, but Kamala has clearly defined herself through her past accomplishments and future vision for an America where the rights of every person, regardless of their sex or color, is upheld. ADJECTIVES are just that, adjectives. BUT here RECEIPTS are her receipts. She has proven herself time and time again.

So, let them talk. Women have withstood slander and defamation throughout history, and it never stopped them. It's an old trick. As my book, When Will Eve be Forgiven?, highlights, we, women, are free or should be free from MISOGYNY and live into who we are. If I am correct, the nastiness coming towards Kamala, will only fuel her in her purpose. She's a fighter and not a wilting violet. It is a great time to be alive and witness the strength and fortitude she will display as she vies to be the 47th president of the United States. We are witnessing HISTORY. It's not CLOTHES off but GLOVES off for Kamala Harris.