POLS-134: Spec. Topics in American Democracy Journal Entry 5
February 18, 2022
This week’s reading might’ve been the heaviest that we’ve ever had to do-all of Part 2, which was approximately 80 pages. I dreaded the what the quiz would’ve looked like, but luckily we didn’t have to as Dr. S had decided to postpone the quiz to Tuesday to allow us to have more time with our special guest. We were tasked with two things for his arrival: a 30 second to a minute presentation of our selected topic for the Personalized Democratic Leadership Development Project and any possible questions that we would have for him. I spent most of my time trying to prepare my presentation and ended up using the rest of the time doing what I do best-overthink and overanalyze. By the time I was done fixating and struggling to find the right question to ask him, the time had run out. We had been inside the mind of a disappointed and distraught politician for the past couple of weeks, but most of all I had been mourning with a grieving father. What was my question going to be ? I had no clue.
I remember sitting and wondering if an email was sent out for a dress code that I didn’t get or how’d we know to meet Congressman Raskin from the gate while Dr. S would go park his car; nervously rocking my feet because I’ve never met a US government official before. I looked back and Jamie walked through the door and I guess it caught me off guard because he put his hand forward to shake my hand and I had to think twice to remember what happens after that-comical I know. He greeted everyone and he sat beside me in Dr.S seating set-up that he wanted to be a circle. In my head, I always figured he wanted it to resemble Arthur’s circular table and we were all knights of the round table; ready to prepare ourselves to use truth to fight off the wrongs of the assumptive world. We spent the class listening to the ideas of young minds and what big or small way they thought they could tackle a problem in our assumptive world. He spent an ample amount of time with each of my peers, making sure to listen keenly with deep interest and always asking them a series of questions that left us with more to think about. I was the first to share my topic with Jamie and as I went on about how I wanted to tackle how society views community service and how I think it’ll play a vital role in building a socially conscious world, I watched as his demeanor shifted in the best ways possible. He gave off a sort of vibe made you feel so confident about what you had to say, he gave you all of his attention and allowed you to bring him on a journey of how you thought you could fix a world problem. He then brought you a quick but meaningful journey of his own, trying to broaden your perspective and give you the choice of choosing the path you wanted to take. He was much smaller than I expected, but Congressman Raskin’s demeanor emulated everything it meant to be a leader. I’ve been around many leaders back home in Jamaica, but something about how Jamie spoke about an enriched society transfixed on promoting democracy and the progression of its people gave me a little hope for tomorrow. You could hear the cries for equity and equality for minority groups in the timbre of his voice, a tone free from forceful resonance but filled with so much conviction. You could see the vision as he walked you down an era of a new dawn, a dawn that pushed people to be compelled to fight for what is right. One that promoted the wellbeing of all people, not just progression for some but for all. Jamie, the son of Washington, D.C. but father and mentor to Maryland born, came to our class and like Elijah Cummings, dared and provoked us to make things right.
“C’mon now, we are better than this,”
— Elijah Cummings
It wasn’t until after our meeting with Jamie that I realized what my question was, it was so simple because I still try to wrap my mind around the idea of losing my loved ones. I still try to wrap my head around his journey, his battle with colon cancer, the loss of his beloved son and to fear for his life in a place he never thought he could. My question to Jamie is “How are you?”. I know that his intention was to help others find solace through the telling of his story, but have you found solace. The 5th of January marked a year since he laid his son to rest and the 6th was a year since the insurrection. Have you found any solace since then? Meeting Jamie Raskin will forever be etched into my mind, I hope he has found solace in whatever way he can, I hope Tommy kisses you off to sleep at night proudly as he watches you carry on in his name.
February 20, 2022
For this week’s sketching leadership assignment, we were asked to sketch someone who realizes the precise contribution that they can make to their community and then makes it. The first person that came to mind was Mulan, a 1998 Disney film about a courageous and determined young lady determined to break free from the customs and norms of her society and thrive in a man’s world. Fearful that her ailing father will be drafted into the Chinese military, despite his history of being an extraordinary commander, she assumes the role of a young man named Ming and convinces the military that she will fight in his place. Fa Mulan always knew she stood out from the other girls in her village, her greatest dream was to bring honor to her family name and she knew it wouldn’t be by being a good housewife or wife at all. She was a warrior with a spirit hellbent on changing the boundaries of the world. She knew the risks of impersonating a man would be death and dishonor, but she knew what the military would gain with her being apart of it. Whether we interpret her as a gender-bending feminist or someone who is gender-fluid, the acceptance of her identity was the arc of her story. It sent a clear message to the public, embrace your own identity; defy what society expects. It is because of Mulan’s sacrifice and acceptance of her identity that she is prompted to act accordingly to save the Han Dynasty of China. Mulan’s strength lied in her ability to think with others and allow them to think with her, she was an impressive warrior that had heart as much as might. Her character development was mainly established as she guided her comrades in battle camp by inspiring them and by helping them to realize their own strengths and weaknesses. Even after her cover was blown, she still insisted on helping the men that didn’t see her as their equal as she knew it was bigger than a gender war and that lives were at stake.
It is said that the fictional tale stems from an old Chinese folk story called The Ballad of Mulan. A popular tale created in the Northern Wei Dynasty (386–534) to encourage girls to be brave or to “make a man out of you”. Here is a fan edit of a few clips from some of my favorite scenes in Mulan.
This previous week’s readings came from Part II of Unthinkable, these chapters picked up from Jamie’s last account of the affairs of January 6, 2021. He shares how he was guided in a sense by Abraham Lincoln in a dream stating that “There is a North” and it is these words that he carries with him to the Capitol. It is here that we truly start to see him turn his trauma into leadership as he is put in another triggering event. Despite how traumatic the course of events were, his spirit for a longstanding democratic society was still alive and he insisted that the count must go on. It was very educating to see how the electoral college actually worked and the thought placed in the election strategies. I never knew mathematically inclined elections were, that’s pretty naive of a STEM major but I meant across a variety of avenues to win an election. American Democracy and Election Process is a bit more complex than that of my own home country, Jamaica. I come from a country that is known as a constitutional monarchy, that holds a titular head of state being Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth of England, with a parliamentary system. of government. We have a representative system as our country is divided up into 63 constituencies and voters from each elect a representative that holds a seat in parliament. These 63 representatives make up the House of Representative (the lower of the two houses in our bicameral system). From our two party system, the party with the highest number of seats forms the governing party and the leader of said party becomes the Prime Minister-our governing chief of the executive branch of government. Currently, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is the governing body after winning 49 seats over the People’s National Party (PNP) 14 seats in the 2020 general elections.
Reading the last 3 chapters has helped me to gain a greater understanding of political strategies that go into election planning and how thorough one must be to prevail.
