August 22, 2024, 11:15 p.m. CDT
Night four: Jamil Smith’s closing thoughts
August 21, 2024, 3:15 p.m. CDT
On night two, hope and tough love from Obamas
Jamil Smith, Editor-in-chief
Shortly before the delegate roll call began during the 2024 Democratic National Convention’s second night, I noticed someone in the media section dressed as if we were at a concert. And then, suddenly, we were.
As Georgia’s delegates cast their votes for Vice President Kamala Harris, Atlanta’s own Lil Jon showed up, electrifying the crowd with “Turn Down for What.”
Thanks to the palpable energy behind Kamala Harris’ candidacy for President, being in the Democratic Party is an invitation to an actual party. For many delegates whom I spoke with on the convention floor on Tuesday night, feeling joy in their politics again was like reuniting with an old friend.
I saw something different, though, in the unique roll call, which featured a DJ, for goodness’ sakes: an embrace of the cultural expression that makes America what it is, the very variety that Republicans have been so busy trying to suppress, subjugate, and eliminate. Each state, district, and territory have a song from a native or relating to a theme or historical moment, but speakers took the opportunity to celebrate their diversity through their dress, languages, and political stances — including calls for statehood from both Puerto Rican and D.C. delegates.
Nowhere was the rejection of political and cultural Trumpism more evident than in the speeches given by Michelle and Barack Obama. The former President and First lady sensed how much the political left’s worry, anger, and doubt has supplanted optimism during the Trump era, and not only deployed the word “hope” many times throughout their addresses, but invoked campaign slogans from Barack’s two runs for president. Once Michelle Obama said that “hope is making a comeback,” it became clear that they’re handing Harris the imprimatur of “hope” to carry forth.
Though she spent much of her speech giving voters tough love (that I agree with), it was clear Michelle Obama was not just trying to help Democrats win the White House. If President Joe Biden once sought to “save the soul of America,” the Obamas sought instead to help us revitalize our political body, jumpstarting the civic capacity that Trump and Republicans work so diligently to destroy.
The former first couple also had some scores to settle, and they were not afraid to throw down. The former President made an unsubtle reference to Trump’s penis size while quipping about his successor’s obsession with crowd sizes. Michelle Obama noted openly how much Trump’s birtherism — of which Harris is now getting her own taste — upset both she and her husband. But rather than telling us as she did in 2016 that “when they go low, we go high,” the former First Lady only dipped slightly, then landed a combination.
She praised Harris by saying that she “understands that most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward,” alluding to Trump’s myriad bankruptcies and business fiascos. Then, the line arrived. “We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth,” she said. Many in the crowd breathed in as if we felt that one in the ribs. “If we bankrupt a business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third or fourth chance. If things don’t go our way, we don’t have the luxury of whining or cheating others to get further ahead. No.” Later, she noted that Trump’s “limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black.” Suffice to say: for too many of us, that is a relatable emotion.
If Harris wins, there will likely be no reason for the Obamas to speak in public about Donald Trump the person ever again. This was their chance to get it off their chest, and perhaps sensing that we needed to do much the same, they chose to do it on the DNC floor in support of their tormentor’s worst nightmare coming true: losing the election to a person whose identity embodies nearly everything he stands against. They did not only tell us to “do something.” The Obamas put their teaching into practice, catalyzing their rightful bitterness towards Trump for the most pragmatic ends.
August 21, 2024, 12:30 p.m. CDT
Sights from night two of the Democratic National Convention, captured by The Emancipator’s own Tami Nguyen.
August 20, 2024, 4:15 p.m. CDT
Democrats land blows on Donald Trump in night one speeches
Jamil Smith, Editor-in-chief
A momentous, historic, and joyous first night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention stretched past midnight here in Chicago, and few at the United Center seemed to mind. After having some time to sleep on what we witnessed yesterday, I had some thoughts.
- President Joe Biden’s moving, forceful keynote address was an appropriate ending to a successfully strident night for the Democrats. He explained — better than perhaps ever before — how the Charlottesville, Virginia, neo-Nazi riot in 2017 pushed him to set aside the grief of losing his son Beau to glioblastoma and run for president. It went on to be a surprisingly antiracist speech at times, spotlighting his administration’s reduction of the wealth gap while also noting how the corrosive racial hatred that former President Donald Trump pimps ultimately corrodes the American project.
- Biden acknowledged that those protesting for an end to Israel’s retributive mass violence against Palestinians do “have a point.” It’s clear that just doing that won’t be enough, but as my colleague Alex noted in our Emancipator group chat, it is a testament to those who pushed a president who has armed Israel’s assault from the beginning to call for a ceasefire on the floor of the DNC, pounding the podium as he did so.
- I said “strident” above because from virtually the first speaker of the evening, the Democrats were swinging for Trump’s glass jaw. In my view, they connected. His status as a convicted criminal was a frequent topic, of course, as was his incessant racism and misogyny. However, their most salient moments occurred when they attacked Trump’s lazy governance. The Democrats landed their best punches by simply noting how bad Trump was at the job when he had it.
- When critiquing Trump’s objectively abysmal presidency, it was a bit startling (but refreshing) to see the Democrats begin with Covid-19. The pandemic hasn’t been a key topic during this campaign as I would’ve hoped, but from video clips to heartbreaking speeches, that changed Monday night. The standout was California Congressman Robert Garcia’s grief-stricken recollection of losing his parents to Covid, and he laid the blame squarely on Trump’s doorstep. I’m from communities — plural — disproportionately harmed during our persisting crisis with the illness: Black and with a chronic illness that makes Covid even more dangerous. I certainly appreciated the party putting this front and center as Trump and his acolytes continue their politicized, pseudoscientific disregard of the medical community’s expertise.
- Unions struck perhaps the most direct blows on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris, and one hit home for me, quite literally. I grew up not far from the enormous Lordstown, Ohio, car assembly plant, a building nearly the size of the Pentagon. It closed in 2019, months before the union’s contract was due to expire, uprooting many whose families had worked there for generations. So, it was particularly heartening to see a video that both incisively deconstructed how Trump failed the General Motors workers and showed how Biden and Harris would help working-class folks. UAW President Shawn Fain made the most memorable speech, calling Trump a “scab” for his union-busting rhetoric. It’s worth noting that while he and other union leaders on stage were nearly all White, the highest percentage of union membership is Black workers. It’s important to see the party appealing to voters of color in the lower and middle economic strata outside of conspicuous “identity” issues.
- Not that I mind that kind of talk, mind you. The Democrats spotlighted not just racism and how Trump has employed it, but how he plans to metastasize its effects if elected. Michigan Senator Mallory McMorrow had the most visible gag of the night, hauling to the podium a cartoonishly large edition of the Heritage Foundation’s infamous Project 2025 and reading aloud from the new conservative bible regarded to be a blueprint for a second Trump presidency. McMorrow, renowned for her bold “We can’t let hate win” rebuke to a Republican colleague falsely accusing her of grooming kids, told MSNBC afterward that Democrats would keep spotlighting Project 2025 during each night of the convention. However, I think Rep. James Clyburn’s assessment of it may very well end up as the most memorable words said about it: “Project 2025 is Jim Crow 2.0.”
- I’d argue that Democrats were most effective Monday night when they avoided addressing Trump’s racism directly and instead levied critiques and promoted policy that stand to benefit people of color. Nowhere was this more evident than when they spotlighted reproductive rights and access, which has disproportionately hurt patients of color seeking abortion after the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Bringing to the stage four people who’d survived varied, harrowing, and traumatic episodes, post-Dobbs – including one Black woman, Kaitlyn Joshua, a Louisiana resident who couldn’t get the necessary care during her miscarriage. “I was in pain, bleeding so much my husband feared for my life,” she said. The arena was never more quiet the entire evening. Years from now, it may be the moment from night one that everyone remembers most clearly.
- Well, except for one. First, some context: The Republican nominee has opened his sewage pipe plenty about Harris’ identity — including in front of me and hundreds more while on the National Association of Black Journalists stage, here in Chicago weeks ago. Trump tried another birther bit on Monday, fraudulently calling into question whether the vice president was even an American and uttering loaded foolishness like “regulatory jihad.” Throughout this not-yet-even-a-month-long Harris campaign, though, the vice president has just brushed that dirt off her shoulder and kept it moving. That wise approach was evident even when Harris strode onto the stage, smiling brightly and surprising the adoring attendees. She never mentioned race during her brief remarks, but the vice president and her tan suit cast back the joyful attitude of her campaign like a reflective shield against Trump’s desperate pleas for attention. Her focus was on appealing to voters who crave hope and optimism. In the process, the Harris campaign more or less makes Trump’s racism look boring. I’m not fully convinced that’s ultimately good for the country, considering the threat he presents. However, these days, it’s clearly good politics.
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