Update on What a Vice President does

Over the last six months or so, I have heard more people complaining about Vice President Kamala Harris and what she's not doing than I ever used to hear about V.P. Mike Pence when he was in office, for example. Is it simply because she is a Black woman?

- Thera Martin

It always seems that whenever we (African Americans) get elevated to or win an election to get into a position of power, we're scrutinized ten times as hard and expected to jump 5,000 feet higher to get the results expected of us.

For the last several weeks, I've wanted to revisit the subject of what a Vice President's duties are in the United States. However, I got caught up in doing civics columns about Donald Trump and his ongoing legal woes so that we can all witness how the American justice system works. I am glad that in today's Civics 101 column, I get to re-focus on the Vice President's office and what they do.

I think society has to remember, most of all, that the President of the United States is the star, for lack of having a better way of putting it right now. The Vice president is kind of like an understudy in a play. You gotta know all the moves, be up-to-date on current events, which nations are with or against us, and things like that. But the under-study is never supposed to cast a shadow over the main star, Period! That's the way it is. It almost sounds elementary, but there's no President on earth in America or anywhere else that would support having a Vice President who suddenly became more popular than them. That could be because a Vice President could get it in their head that they want to run for President against the current President. We'll see pigs fly first before that happens.

Having said that, President Biden, God bless his heart, has to make sure that his handlers keep the spotlight on him--most of all.

People want to know, where's Kamala Harris? Rest assured that our Vice President is working her butt off every day to ensure the current Administration looks good. She has a schedule almost as busy as the President, on some days, busier than President Biden's. Vice Presidents are expected to fill in at the many events and locations that the President cannot get to.