Heroes and Zeros: Kamala Harris vs Steve Harvey

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It’s another round of Heroes and Zeros; this week’s winner is a politician fighting the good fight against corruption and other important issues while the loser is a renaissance man is too high and mighty to display good manners.

Hero – Kamala Harris

Politicians have a bad rep. Most Americans don’t believe a thing they say; let alone trust that they have the best interests of the country at heart. While I totally get the hesitation many have with the folks who are supposed to represent us, there are still some good ones out there. This week’s hero is U.S. Senator Kamala Harris because she continues to play an important role in elected officials doing their party to keep Trump’s administration accountable for their actions.

We need more people like Harris in the government. The Democratic senator from California has been relentless with showing the people of her state that she is committed to maintaining transparency and to following through during these trying political times. From demanding that people change their minds about addiction and treat it like a disease instead of a crime, to calling for a special counsel to probe Trump’s Russian ties, she goes hard. And with her most recent call for Jeff Sessions to reevaluate his instruction to federal prosecutors to “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense,” she is taking him to task about the realities of the failed “war on drugs.” She recently said during a speech at the Center for American Progress Ideas Conference in Washington,

“I saw the war on drugs up close, and let me tell you, the war on drugs was an abject failure…It offered taxpayers a bad return on investment, it was bad for public safety, it was bad for budgets and our economy, and it was bad for people of color and those struggling to make ends meet.”

These are the issues facing many overlooked communities, you know, the ones with the thugs, menaces and “bad hombres.” Harris doesn’t just deal with the hottest topics but brings other, just an important, issues back to the forefront of the conversation frequently. For that and so much more, she is a hero.

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Zero – Steve Harvey

You know you’ve made it when you can send a memo to your staff that says, essentially, don’t talk to me ever… unless I send for you. Apparently, Steve Harvey truly is the Head Negro in Charge. He is this week’s zero for a passive aggressive ass email to the people who work tirelessly to support his many endeavors.

It should really come as no surprise that Harvey is under fire for telling people “what they not gone do.” One of his recent memos to his staff was cold, dismissive and unapologetically diva-ish. Here are just a few of the “notices” he issued to his employees.

“There will be no meetings in my dressing room. No stopping by or popping in. NO ONE. Do not come to my dressing room unless invited. Do not open my dressing room door. IF YOU OPEN MY DOOR, EXPECT TO BE REMOVED. My security team will stop everyone from standing at my door who have the intent to see or speak to me. I want all the ambushing to stop now. That includes TV staff… I promise you I will not entertain you in the hallway, and do not attempt to walk with me.”

Here’s the thing- Stevie Harvey has a lot of shit on his plate. He hosts a few talk shows, has a clothing line, has a radio show, writes books, etc., so he’s going to have a lot of people who need to speak to him at some point throughout the day. These are all endeavors he has chosen to take upon himself so yeah; people constantly approaching him about HIS BRAND are going to happen. Some folks say that he’s justified in sending the memo and even using the tone he did, but I disagree. Harvey has pulled on the heartstrings of black Christians who have supported his every move. Thus, I would expect his approach in communicating to his staff to be a little more, say, compassionate and, ya know, friendly.

Harvey continues to come off as someone who thinks he’s above us common folk. Maybe his “connections” with Trump and other leaders (using that word loosely here) have gone to his head. I don’t doubt that one bit by the way. He is traveling the way of many black entertainers who make it then become unrelatable, unapproachable and untouchable. In all of this, he even has his peers making fun of him. Thanks for the doorbell tone Andy Cohen.

For placing himself on a pedestal high above the clouds, and wanting nothing to do with the people who make his many machines function, Steve Harvey is a zero.