Kamala, Busing, & BUSD

Kamala Harris has misled the public on her years in the Berkeley Schools. She did not grow up in the big bad ghetto, only to be saved by busing.

It is important to first point out that Berkeley, California is not a large city. It covers about eighteen square miles stretching from the east side of the San Francisco Bay, up into the hills. The current population is approximately 122 thousand. This is significant because those not familiar with the region might confuse the entire metropolitan area of the East Bay as one city. Berkeley is basically a small town. There is no, and never has been, an inner city, or housing projects in Berkeley. Kamala would have you think otherwise.

Then there is the need to clarify Kamala’s integration narrative of the Berkeley Unified School District. She leaves out a lot. Berkeley schools first implemented integration plans in the 1964-1965 school year. (not 1968, as she claims.) Prior to the schoolyear of 1964, there had been three Junior High Schools, (grades 7 – 9). Willard Jr High had always been integrated. Garfield had been predominantly white. And Burbank was mostly black.  Burbank was closed, with kids shuffled to either Willard or Garfield. Stage one integration accomplished. Also of note is that a vast majority of students were never within walking distance to either the junior highs or the high school. They were always “bused”, but it was on public transportation.

Further clarification on an already semi-integrated school district is that Berkeley High School is the only high school the city has ever had. It has always been integrated. There are currently eleven elementary schools in Berkeley. At the time Kamala was a student, there were fifteen. Even prior to busing, many of these schools were integrated.

If I hear the clip, one more time, of Kamala railing about the poor little girl who was bused to school, I will scream. She was the daughter of highly educated parents enrolled in graduate programs at UC Berkeley. There is no way she would ever have fallen between the cracks and turned to prostitution and drugs. She would have the American public believe that she was bused from an area like South Central LA to Hollywood. In reality, it was less than three miles from what would have been her neighborhood school, Columbus, (now Rosa Parks), to Thousand Oaks. Although Thousand Oaks, at the time, was a pricier area of the city, it is not in the “well-to-do Berkeley hills, overlooking the bay.” (as claimed in many an article.)

As to those houses in the Berkeley Hills, times were different in the 1950’s and early 60's. Many houses built on the hill were done so on the GI Bill. These were not wealthy families. New homeowners were often middle-income and lower middle-income young couples, starting a new life after the war. It was the cheapest property in town, no stores, no public transportation, and no close by schools.

The media often refers to Kamala as a strong, independent, woman. As a strong, independent woman myself, I would consider any comparison to that political opportunist as an insult. Strong women have no need to mislead, lie, or use men to get ahead. Strong women speak out against violence even if it does not fit their narrative. Strong women are honest. Kamala is none of these.

 

Question Nancy & California Ballots

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How will Californians vote this coming November? Should citizens go to the polling booth? Apply for an absentee ballot? Or should the State mail out ballots to every person on their list of registered voters? There is no doubt that Nancy Pelosi and her minions will continue to push for mail-in ballots, an option fraught with danger here in the Golden State.

There are around 20 million registered voters in the California. Just how many of these people are still alive, registered at more than one address, or are actual US citizens, is a mystery.

My own experiences shed doubt that everything is on the up and up here on the West Coast. For example, my mother’s name was still on the books at the polling station several years after she passed. Then a few years ago I had filled out an absentee ballot before my plans changed. With my completed ballot in hand, I entered the polling station and asked the worker to please cross my name off her list. She would not do it. I explained that I was about to drop my ballot into the box and wanted to make sure I was checked off the list. Why? She asked. So that no none could come in and claim my name and vote, I said. Why would anyone do that? She asked. Then she got snippy and told me to get out of the way because other voters needed to get inside. I don’t know if anyone actually claimed they were me, but I am pretty sure my absentee ballot was never counted as results were broadcast before any precinct person had time to open all the absentee ballots.  

As to illegal aliens voting, there is plenty of reason to be concerned. California basically merged voter registration with the DMV a few years back. This is especially troubling when you understand that one can be here illegally and get a drivers license just as easily as a citizen, if not easier. And once you get that license, you are automatically added to the voting roles.

Try as I may, I have found nothing that assures me that illegals are not automatically registered to vote when they receive their driver’s license. My own experience with DMV is proof their methodology is questionable. I have been a registered voter since I was 18. Yet when I renewed my driver’s license last year I received a congratulatory letter from the State telling me I was now registered. Obviously, nothing was cross-checked to show that I did not need to be registered again.

Nancy wants mail-in ballots and I am sure she would have a response to my concerns.  Even if she has not considered the above problems with voter registration, how does she plan to insure all those California voters will get their ballot in the correct language? Currently, ballots are available in English, Spanish, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese, Punjabi, Hmong, Syriac, Armenian, Persian, Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Formosan, Ilocano. Nearly twenty languages other than English. And, I kid you not, they have an American Sign Language voting option.    CA Voter Info Guide

In fact, to get a 100% English ballot is not an option. All my voter information and ballots are always bilingual, English/Spanish. Granted, I speak Spanish well enough to read a ballot, but why should I have to do that? It is completely disorienting, trying to fill out a bilingual ballot in a dingy garage, with glaring florescent lighting, and chattering people.

Then there was last March, on Super Tuesday. I walked in, gave my name, (no ID ever required), and the lady tried to hand me a Democrat ballot. I explained that I was non-partisan and that is the ballot I wanted. We don’t have any, was her reply. Couldn’t I just take a democrat ballot?  I told her to check to make sure. I was prepared to sit there until they delivered the proper ballot, if necessary. Ten minutes later, after digging through box after box, she handed me a bilingual English/Chinese non-partisan ballot.

Personally, I love languages. I speak several of them. But I should be able to vote in the language of our nation, which is English. My father’s family were all bilingual, but they voted in English. It would never have occurred to any of them to have done otherwise. My mother’s immigrant parents learned English when they arrived in the early 1920’s. They received no language accommodations and would not have accepted any. How is it that the pride in being American and speaking English has been lost?

I do not trust voting integrity in California, and neither should anyone.