‘Birtherism’ Conspiracy Theory Pose A Threat To American And African Democracy.

by Alagi Yorro Jallow.
Mamudu: In politics, like in love and war, everything is fair. The day you decide to jump into the murky and uncharted waters of politics, you have invited ridicule, filth, cut and slash comments, rumors, innuendos, lies, and character assassination. You will be told about your history. It is in politics that you will be told your parents are not your parents. For added effect, you will be told your father’s fathers were slaves found in the farms and brought home to serve the community. They will make stories that your parents were a social leper, “Meskin”, untouchable, belonging to the lowest caste.
Mamudu: This is the nature of politics that germinate everywhere, not only in America. Birtherism conspiracy theory poses a threat to American democracy and African democracy. President Donald Trump said Senator Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic vice-presidential nominee born in California, was not eligible for the Democratic ticket, repeating unrestrained theory among his followers that Senator Kamala Harris did not become eligible for the vice presidency or presidency because her parents were immigrants. Mr. Trump said of Senator Kamala Harris.
Mamudu: Birtherism propelled Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory, so it is not surprising that he is returned to it when seeking reelection. With the announcement that Kamala Harris has been chosen as Joe Biden’s running mate, Trump started raising questions about her eligibility to run for the presidency.
“I heard it today that she does not meet the requirements,” Trump told reporters at a White House briefing on Thursday. That assertion is false. Ms. Harris is eligible to serve according to Constitutional scholars.
However, Mr. Trump was, in effect, revisiting an old tactic: spreading a race-based and anti-immigrant crusade. He began nearly a decade ago when he began sowing distrust in the background of Mr. Obama, who was born in Hawaii. Constitutional scholars quickly called Trump’s words false and irresponsible.
The 14th Amendment makes it clear: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.” However, constitutional law scholars say that the immigration status of Ms. Harris’s parents at the time of her birth is irrelevant. Under the Constitution, anyone born in the United States automatically acquires citizenship.
Mamudu: Even in Africa, “Birtherism” has been perpetuated for years only for political exclusion. Birtherism conspiracy theory about former President Barack Obama and Senator Kamala Harris has been germinating in African body politics. For example, the former Gambian dictator President Yahya Jammeh his political opponents reportedly pushed his “birther” to be born from Mundai in Southern Senegal.
Mamudu: President Alassane Ouattara of Cote Ivoire was the Prime minister of the country under the late president Houphet Boigny. When the president died, there was a power tussle between Quatarra and Konan Bedie, the Speaker of the Parliament. Bedie, in line with the Constitution, became the president. He called for a new presidential election in which he also a candidate. Mr. Ouattara also-ran, but he was disqualified on the ground that he was born in Malawi, and therefore, not a citizen of Cote Ivoire. Bedie won the election and was overthrown by a coup led by Gen. Robert Guei.
Mamudu: In the Gambia apart from Yaha Jammeh, two former editors of the banned Independent newspaper, 2000 in the Gambia, were victims of the “Birther” conspiracy. Their citizenship has been questioned, and President Yahya Jammeh threatens to expel them out of their country of birth. Because of their editorial line of reporting.
As president for eight years, Obama’s citizenship and qualification to contest for the president of the United States of America was a burning issue. Donald Trump, now President Trump, was the leader of what is today known as the Birther Movement. Trump churned out conspiracy theories to show that Barack Obama was not a citizen of the United States of America by birth. He claimed that Obama was born in either Kenya or Indonesia. He questioned the authenticity of every evidence of proof put forward by Obama that he is a citizen by birth. At some point, Obama was forced into releasing the extended certificate of birth containing all the details of his birth. Trump was still unrelenting. He claimed that the certificate was forged. Trump had many supporters who also like him, believed that Obama was not a citizen of America by birth, and therefore, Barack Obama was not qualified to be president. Donald Trump’s belief of discredited Eastman’s views that Obama was born in the United States. Nor have Harris and Obama been the only victims of Trump’s birtherism.
Mamudu: In January 2016, Trump suggested that Senator Ted Cruz would be a “very precarious” choice for the Republican presidential nomination because he was born in Canada. Mr. Trump continuously questioned the citizenship of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, suggesting that his Canadian roots would be a problem should he win the presidency. Mr. Cruz, born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father, is a United States citizen. Ted Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, was President Trump’s primary challenger for the Republican presidential nomination. Trump called him “lying Ted. In June 2016, Trump argued that Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was presiding over a case involving Trump University, was biassed because of his “Mexican heritage.”
In July 2019, Trump said the members of “the Squad” (Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib) should “go back” to where they came from. This was a striking comment since all are American citizens. Except for Omar, all were born in the United States. At least two of the women, Ocasio-Cortez, and Pressley, likely had family roots in American society that went back further in the past than Trump’s own. The one commonality they had is that they were women of color and Democrats. For that reason alone, Trump felt he had the right to suggest that they were alien presences in America.
Mamudu: At the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2011, Mr. Obama acknowledged that he released his long-form birth certificate, and took aim at Mr. Trump, who was sitting in the audience. In 2016, he finally, and tersely, acknowledged that Mr. Barack Obama was an American citizen. “President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period,” Mr. Trump said at the time. “Now, we all want to get back to making America strong and great again.” He then falsely suggested that Hillary Clinton, his former Democratic opponent, had started the rumor.
Mamudu: A grateful President Barack Obama said he was relieved that Trump had granted him citizenship. Many believed that that statement was a pitch for the votes of African Americans by Trump. A few days after while campaigning in one of the states, he was asked why he changed his mind on the issue after eight years? Trump said,” I did it for politics. I don’t believe he was born in the country “. There is nothing to suggest he has changed his mind!’Birtherism’ Conspiracy Theory Pose A Threat To American And African Democracy.