Episode 4
It's Policies, Not Heritage
Does it really matter what race a presidential candidate identifies as? I don't think so.
- CNN Host Laura Coates Erupts at Pro-Trump Guest on Panel Talking Race - Laura Coates had words with a panelist after his comments went off the rails.
Transcript
Welcome to the Adkisson Xperiment. I'm Donovan Adkisson.
Speaker:Is Kamala Harris Indian American? Is she African American? Or is she just
Speaker:simply biracial? She has black heritage and she has Indian heritage. I suppose
Speaker:the biggest question that should be asked is, does it really matter? Now,
Speaker:the reason why we're talking about it today, of course, is because Donald
Speaker:Trump was at this, um, oh God, what, what exactly was it? The National
Speaker:Association of Black Journalists. And of course he made the, he made the, uh,
Speaker:as only Donald seems to be able to do. He made the statement about how she,
Speaker:one time she identified as Indian and then she turned black. I don't know how
Speaker:one just turns black, but I guess the question is now coming up is, is she
Speaker:using her, her heritage, her, her identification as a tool of convenience
Speaker:whenever she, she needs to talk to certain groups of people? And
Speaker:furthermore, does it, does it really matter? CNN host, Laura Coates, she had
Speaker:a panel on her show last night. I'm recording this on August 1st and it
Speaker:went, I'm about, uh, five minutes into it. So I'm going to play a little bit
Speaker:of this and then you can, you can kind of, we can go from there. Um, Rosa, I
Speaker:wonder what your reaction has been to this statement that she is only
Speaker:pandering for political benefit.
Speaker:Well, I think I probably know Donald better than anyone on this panel.
Speaker:Forgive me if anyone thinks differently, but I recall in his book, the art of
Speaker:the deal, Laura, when Donald Trump identified himself as Swedish, right?
Speaker:Because he didn't want to acknowledge that his father was German and his
Speaker:mother was Irish. And he thought that that would play better to those who
Speaker:were patronizing his businesses. So can we call the question his past of self
Speaker:identifying as first Swedish, then German and then Irish whenever it's
Speaker:convenient. Donald doesn't know the difference between ancestry and race. He
Speaker:doesn't want to know the differences, nor does he understand the nuances of,
Speaker:of how people self identify. And so I believe that that's disqualifying for
Speaker:him. And when he mispronounces her name, Laura, he does it as a slur. He does it
Speaker:intentionally to harm her, to make people see the otherness of Kamala
Speaker:Harris. And so I post a question to Bruce when he says, Oh, at some point
Speaker:she identified as this. And at some point she identified as this. Are you
Speaker:gonna hold Donald Trump to the fire for identifying himself as Sweden,
Speaker:Swedish, even though he has no Swedish roots in his bestselling book, The Art
Speaker:of the Deal. Bruce Bruce, you're happy to welcome to respond. You have a copy
Speaker:of the book. I'm gonna try to find the passage. I don't know about that, but
Speaker:this is all I know. The ABC reporter asked a specific question, and it is
Speaker:true. And, Van, you know this from California. She did say identify as
Speaker:Indian American. Now, I don't listen. I don't really care one way or the other.
Speaker:I know President Trump didn't care, but the specific question was asked. And
Speaker:then why did Charlemagne? The God asked that specific way because he's asking
Speaker:the same thing. Okay, which one is it? You know, are you running? Are you
Speaker:running as a black American? Are you running as an Indian American? That's
Speaker:why Charlemagne asked that question. Many of us. No one cares. First, must
Speaker:it must be either or can I finish? Yes, you can finish answering my question.
Speaker:Must be either or to your point. Must it be? You know, it doesn't matter. But
Speaker:she asked the question. Where did it come from? And and listen, Biden said
Speaker:when he was running, I'm going to pick a black woman. I'm gonna pick a black
Speaker:Supreme Court. So you want? You want to talk about identity politics and
Speaker:pandering? I mean, let's go deep into this. But to ask a question, he
Speaker:answered it truthfully and guys and then you know this man, you're from
Speaker:California. You know, she used that to her advantage in her India. And that's
Speaker:cool. Who cares? But that's the that's the correct answer. She benefited by
Speaker:being Indian American. She won his attorney general, and then she
Speaker:benefited by being a black man being chosen as the V. P. So what? And that's
Speaker:that's fair. Tia, what's your response? So I guess really, that's that's
Speaker:honestly the question. Is it? How important is it? Really? How important
Speaker:is it? Really? I mean, if you look at it from the standpoint of racism and
Speaker:where he's he's trying to nitpick her her self identification as far as her
Speaker:her race or her heritage. I mean, I look at this woman. I look at Kamala
Speaker:Harris, vice president of the United States. More than likely 99.9% is going
Speaker:to be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States and
Speaker:hopefully will become the very first female president of the United States
Speaker:in the 2024 election. Not only that, but the first female of color. I mean,
Speaker:these air to characteristics that are groundbreaking, in my opinion. I mean,
Speaker:we had our first groundbreaking presidential election when Barack Obama
Speaker:was elected president and just a handful of years before that, nobody
Speaker:even knew who he was. But it says a lot about where this country has come
Speaker:from, how we've dug ourselves out of the the deep divides that we once have
Speaker:only to unfortunately find ourselves in sometimes even deeper divides in recent
Speaker:history. The mere fact that a race of people that at one time in this nation
Speaker:of ours was considered deemed and looked down upon as lesser than to the
Speaker:point that they were owned by other people could eventually get elevated to
Speaker:the point of the most powerful position in the world. Because whether you like
Speaker:it or not, the United States is still the most wealthy. We are the wealthiest
Speaker:country in the world. We are the most powerful when it comes to military
Speaker:economics, point blank. So now we have an opportunity to make history again,
Speaker:not only by electing our first female president, but we get a woman of color.
Speaker:And whether that color is black, by being of African American heritage, or
Speaker:her skin color is considered brownish because of Indian heritage, it really
Speaker:doesn't matter. This is a nitpicking thing. Now, I guess the question does
Speaker:come up, does she use that to her political advantage or has she used that
Speaker:to her political advantage in the past? If she did, she did. And I'm not sure
Speaker:that's necessarily a bad thing because she's biracial. If you're trying to, if
Speaker:you're trying to cater, not pander, but if you're trying to cater to a certain
Speaker:segment of the population, and you're, you're essentially trying to say, I'm
Speaker:one of you, me too, then it's probably just a natural thing that as human
Speaker:beings, we do that. I'm X, you're X. I mean, honestly, look at, look at the
Speaker:fact, I'm generation X. We wear that as a badge of honor. We really do. I know
Speaker:I do. I'm Gen X. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that my generation is
Speaker:better than any other generation, but we happen to be an interesting generation
Speaker:when it comes to the decades that informed us, that created us, that made
Speaker:us who we are today, how we are viewed by millennials and Gen Zers, Zoomers.
Speaker:And I mean, quite honestly, it's become a fun little romp on social media for
Speaker:those Gen X social media influencers, if you will, which is interesting because
Speaker:you never would have thought that a generation X person would be considered
Speaker:an influencer, but here we are. It's a wild time to be alive. At the same time,
Speaker:I have to, I have to say this. I don't think it matters. I really do not think
Speaker:it matters. I see before me a woman of conviction, a woman of, of morals and
Speaker:ethics, someone who, let's face it, there's never going to be a presidential
Speaker:candidate that I am going to 100% say everything they did just comes up
Speaker:smelling like roses. Barack Obama to me is one of the, he's the best president,
Speaker:I think, in my lifetime. Clinton is a number two. I grew up in a household
Speaker:that was Republican. My father was a staunch Republican. He was a Reagan
Speaker:supporter, and by virtue of that and living in the house, I was a Reagan
Speaker:supporter. When my very first election was where I could vote for George H. W.
Speaker:Bush, and I voted for George H. W. Bush because that's what my father said do.
Speaker:It wasn't until a few years later where I really started paying attention to
Speaker:what the hell was going on and realized that I needed to make these decisions
Speaker:for myself. And though I did vote for Republicans a couple more times, the
Speaker:very first time that Barack Obama ran for his first term, that was when I
Speaker:said no. These are the things that are important to me. Universal health care,
Speaker:getting assault weapons off the streets, a common sense approach to how we
Speaker:handle the Second Amendment in the United States. We don't get rid of it.
Speaker:Hell no. I have guns. All of my guns, I didn't purchase a single one. They
Speaker:were all handed down to me by my father. But that's what I look at when I
Speaker:see Kamala Harris. She's 59. Okay, so she's biracial. I have no damn clue
Speaker:what all my heritage is. I've been told I have Irish. Supposedly, somewhere in
Speaker:our lineage is the Durley name. So I'm somewhat Irish. I don't know what the
Speaker:other aspects of it happen to be. It's not that I've put a lot of effort into
Speaker:it, but it's been really, really difficult to try to figure out where the
Speaker:hell the name Adkisson came from. We spell it A-D-K-I-S-S-O-N. Here in South
Speaker:Georgia, that's an anomaly. Most everybody around here is either A-D-K-I-S-O-N,
Speaker:A-D-K-I-N-S-O-N, or A-T-K-I-N-S-O-N. We have a county here named Atkinson
Speaker:County. I'm a mutt, probably, as are a lot of us. So at the end of the day,
Speaker:does it really fucking matter? I'm not voting for her because of the color of
Speaker:her skin. I legitimately, though I am happy to do so, I'm not voting for her
Speaker:because her genitalia happens to be different than mine. She's a woman. Okay,
Speaker:it will be historical if this happens, but I'm not voting for any of that. I'm
Speaker:voting for her for two reasons, and one of those reasons has other little
Speaker:ancillary reasons in it. She is the best choice out of the two choices that we
Speaker:currently have for ensuring that democracy isn't derailed, that hopefully
Speaker:we can get something done about shoring up Social Security instead of all of the
Speaker:fuckers on the right just saying, "Well, we need to do something about
Speaker:entitlements." It's not a goddamn entitlement. It's an earned benefit. If it
Speaker:were an entitlement, it wouldn't be taken out of my damn income every year. As an
Speaker:independent business owner, I have to pay my taxes the way that I do, and I see
Speaker:exactly how much I'm paying because I'm paying both portions. I don't want the
Speaker:retirement age raised. It doesn't need to be any higher. There are ways, easy
Speaker:ways, if everybody will just get on board to solve this problem. Remove the cap.
Speaker:What is it now? $165,000 or something? $175,000? Honestly, I can't remember. I
Speaker:always have to look it up. Currently in the United States, any amount over that
Speaker:cap is not taxed for the Social Security part. How in the world does that make
Speaker:sense? It doesn't. Everybody, everybody, no matter how much money you make, if it's
Speaker:a million dollars a year, you get Social Security taxed on that million dollars.
Speaker:That's not fair. Yes, it is. It is fair. But I'm not gonna vote for her because
Speaker:she's Indian American. I'm not voting for her because she's African American. I'm
Speaker:not voting for her because she's African Indian American. I'm voting for her
Speaker:because A, she's American, and she stands for the things that I want to see
Speaker:bolstered for the future of our country and our people. Donald Trump only cares
Speaker:about Donald Trump. And honestly, all you need to know, if you're a fence-sitter,
Speaker:you look at how he denigrates her. Anybody that is a challenge to him, he has
Speaker:to come up with a nickname. And honestly, it is funny to the lowbrow people. And if
Speaker:you're listening to this and you feel insulted, well, then that was my point.
Speaker:You just proved it to me. We are better than this. All this name-calling that
Speaker:comes from Donald Trump, making fun of her laugh. Hell, he makes fun of
Speaker:everybody. And the thing is, is she just lets it roll off. She doesn't act all
Speaker:offended. And that's good, but I would just simply end it here. Every time he
Speaker:opens his mouth, he 100% demonstrates and displays to everyone who and what he
Speaker:truly is. And that right there should be enough to get anybody that is on the
Speaker:fence to recognize that he's not the one that needs to be leading the country
Speaker:for four more years. We saw what a disaster his first four years were. We
Speaker:don't need four more. Anyway, that's my thoughts on the matter.
