By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on January 6, 2025
An Editorial Opinion
Bruce Fischer embarrassed himself, his wife (GOP Sen. Deb Fischer), his children, his state (Nebraska), and his country when he refused to shake Vice-President Kamala Harris’ hand or make eye-contact with her during Sen. Fischer’s swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on January 3, 2025.
This despicable moment is captured on video and has gone viral on the Internet. You can watch it here: https://www.instagram.com/dailymail/reel/DEfxTyNNVIO/
No matter what political differences we have with other Americans, we must never stoop so low as to refuse to hand a fellow American’s hand.
For the record, Donald Trump shook Kamala Harris’ hand at the beginning of their presidential debate, despite their many political and policy differences. Sen. Fischer shook her hand at the swearing-in ceremony.
Bruce Fischer displayed the same racist conduct that many of my white law school classmates exhibited when I desegregated the University of Alabama from 1970 to 1973. Like Bruce Fischer, many of my classmates would not make eye-contact with me or shake my hand. Like Bruce Fischer exhibited with Kamala Harris, many of my white classmates were very uncomfortable when they were in close proximity to me.
Many of my classmates called me a “nigger” to my face and/or behind my back. I am going to find out whether the "N-word" drips from Bruce Fischer's lips, as well.
Bruce Fischer looks and acts just like the upper-class whites who joined the White Citizens Councils that sprang up across the South during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. These whites practiced a more sophisticated form of racial hatred.
I have been to Nebraska on several occasions, and I can state for a fact that Bruce Fischer's despicable conduct does not represent the views and attitudes of a majority of Nebraska’s hard-working, decent, patriotic citizens.