Booker, Harris, and the Reason We Need to be Angry at Trump’s Cabinet Picks

It’s rare that you can speak about black people’s anger and not get a rolled of the eyes or the wag of a finger. Black anger has, for years, decades, centuries, been  the worst thing imaginable for people. It has been the “scourge of society,” the thing that makes us appear to be beasts, the reason whites have been afraid of their slaves. That moment when a riot breaks out, or a store gets robbed by hoodlums, that is the moment when people love to point fingers and “I told you so-s” are thrust into the womb of any Brother or Sister not involved. Well, people need to shut up and let us speak sometimes.

Go no further than Mr. Trump’s cabinet and you will see the “diversity,” and the qualification of this stable genius who is “the least racist person ever.” 71% of Trump’s cabinet is white men (10% less than Ronald Reagan’s pearly-White House), while Obama employed 36%. 36% of Bam’s cabinet was women—Trump employs 19%. Most of his cabinet has no experience in the job that they’ve been placed in. Sure, many have been in government for years, but very few have advanced degrees and/or time at the helm with what they’re doing. Great example: Former Texas Governor Rick Perry has been in government for ages, however, he wasn’t even sure what his job was when he took it. And, he even stated he’d eliminate the Department of Energy back in 2011.

But we should have known there would be problems: the Commander-in-Chief had compiled a list of people who were nowhere close to being qualified to hold their positions. But that’s the least of his worries. Especially when he can’t keep a staff member for the life of him.

Here’s the thing about how difficult it is to track the numbers of people in his crew—Donald Trump has fired so many people during this early tenure. I can hardly imagine where he’s going to get the next team. Maybe he’ll have to turn directly to Russia for talent.

That brings us to actually qualified members of the prior Administration. You cannot help but feel the power of the speech of Senator Cory Booker during this deposition.

Mr. Booker lit up Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen like a cigarette. And rightfully so. Nielsen, formerly worked in security for a consulting firm at the corporation she founded, Sunesis Consulting. Before that, she was president of national security for the firm Civitas Group. And prior to that, you guessed it, more security work, in the form of preparedness and response for George W. Bush. You’re telling me, with all that background in security, all those years of resources, you can’t remember what someone said in a meeting, when it’s your job to know this? It’s not even something pertinent to the protection of the government. She’s got more than enough years of keeping top-secrets. No. This is merely a question about Mr. Trump’s feelings on which countries should be allowed into our country. Something that would normally be a matter of public record anyway.

RELATED: The Only Thing That’s A Shithole Is Trump’s Understanding Of The Immigration System And Immigrants In America 

A man who feels so strongly about immigration and who we ban from coming to America surely should have no problem saying why these people shouldn’t come into America. He had no problem saying why Mexicans shouldn’t be coming here. Let’s hear what else he’s got to say. Please have mercy and don’t say that’s “not what he meant.” Because if this man can’t express himself, if people have to explain what he actually meant, he should not be in that office, doing that job. The person who deciphered his words should be.

“For you not to feel that hurt and that pain and to dismiss some of the questions of my colleagues, saying, ‘I’ve already answered that line of questions,’ when tens of millions of Americans are hurting right now because of what they’re worried about happened in the White House, that’s unacceptable to me,” Booker said. And Nielsen sat there, with a face that reminded me of a cartoon character.

And it’s not just sad, anymore. It’s deplorable. Nielsen struggling to answer simple questions is not new. It’s so old, we shouldn’t have to reclaim our time anymore.  

Remember Ben Carson dodging questions? He did not know the numbers of housing vouchers his department was cutting. Actually, he did. He just chose not to say them, because…well…childish.

“I do not wanna open the book to look at the numbers,” said Carson, the doctor, who performed brain surgery for decades and the director of HUD, was unwilling to divulge simple numbers of how much his branch of the government is taking from people in need.

Oh, and I love this bit, from Kamala Harris. She rips into Nielsen with the same passion of Mr. Booker. I felt like I wanted to smash Nielsen with a library of books on what her job description entails, I was so riled by the senator’s words! Said Senator Harris:

“You run the Department of Homeland Security,” said Senator Harris. “And when you say you don’t know if Norway is predominantly white when asked by a member of the United States Senate, that causes me concern about your ability to understand the scope of your responsibilities and the impact of your words—much less the policies that you promulgate in that very important department.”

Formerly, Kirstjen Nielsen said, “I don’t believe he said that specifically. What he was saying, he was using Norway as an example of a country that is… ah, what he specifically was referring to was the prime minister telling him that the people of Norway work very hard, and so what he was referencing is, from a merit-based perspective, we’d like to have those with skills who can assimilate and contribute to the United States, moving away from country quotas and to an individual merit-based system.” Wow. Riveting.

But remember Bannon?

Bannon doesn’t know how to speak.

And let’s not forget Attorney General Jeff Sessions, recusing himself.  

I say all that to say this: We need to stop playing around with these people. Angry, black, and powerful, intelligent voices are showing the government how important it is to have the diversity that is lacking in places like government, while simultaneously proving how qualified people from so-called “shithole nations” really are. 43% of immigrants from Africa have degrees of higher education, while 38% of immigrants from Norway have degrees. That’s 54 countries versus that one. Luckily, Twitter came to life with tweets from professionals from many of those nations plus Haiti, El Salvador, and other Latin nations Mr. Trump doesn’t seem to like.

So, yes, we need that anger, that fire to light these people up. I’m tired of looking at white people in office who don’t know what they’re doing, bumbling around when someone way more qualified, with a better education, and the diversity to match a nation as diverse as ours, should be in that spot, making those changes, drafting the laws that will help our melting pot of a nation. Nearly all of Trump’s picks have money. And they happen to be white. For centuries we’ve been letting these types of people tell us what to do, how to live, what’s best for America. If they haven’t got it right by now, why are we still letting it happen? Get angry, damnit. America depends on it.