Karen Bass

Karen Bass wearing the Kente cloth.

Karen Bass (born October 3, 1953), a Democrat, is the United States Representative for the 37th congressional district of California. In the 112th Congress, she represented the 33rd district. From 2004–2010, Bass was a member of the California State Assembly and for almost two years of that time she was its speaker.

Democrat lawmakers, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Karen Bass faced overwhelming backlash after wearing Kente cloth during their nearly nine-minute moment of silence in a photo-op staged to show their alleged sympathy for black victims of police brutality. Some fiddled with iphones while allegedly mourning George Floyd. Many users across social media questioned their motives and blasted them for missing the mark.

Author Obianuju Ekeocha posted a video telling Democrats to stop "virtue signalling" by wearing African cloth.

"In your tokenism, you didn't wait to find out that this thing that you're hanging around your neck is not just some African uniform -- it's actually the kente material. The kente belongs to the Ghanaian people, mainly the Ashanti tribe."

Kente reflects the history of the Ashanti people, from the emergence of the various Ashanti kingdoms to the development of the slave trade up to and including contemporary life in Ghana. Slavery was historically a tradition with the Ashanti, slaves typically taken as captives from enemies in warfare. The welfare of their slaves varied from being able to acquire wealth and intermarry with the master's family to being a human sacrifice in funeral ceremonies.

By the early 1800s the Ashanti had become a major exporter of enslaved people. The slave trade was originally focused north with captives going to Mande and Hausa traders who exchanged them for goods from North Africa and indirectly from Europe. By 1800, the trade had shifted to the south as the Ashanti sought to meet the growing demand of the British, Dutch, and French for captives. In exchange, the Ashanti received luxury items and some manufactured goods including most importantly firearms. The consequence of this trade for the Ashanti and their neighbors was horrendous. From 1790 until 1896, the Ashanti were in a perpetual state of war involving expansion or defense of its domain. Most of these wars afforded the opportunity to acquire more slaves for trade.

The modern-day Ashanti claim that slaves were seldom abused, and defend the "humanity" of Ashanti slavery by noting that those slaves were allowed to marry, and that their children were born free. USA Today fact checkers rated the claim as True that Democrats wore the garb of slave traders.

Dump Pelosi movement

The Dump Pelosi movement was led by Reps. Seth Moulton, Tim Ryan, Ed Perlmutter, Kathleen Rice, Bill Foster, Filemon Vela, Kurt Schrader, Conor Lamb, Jim Cooper, Brian Higgins, Stephen Lynch, Linda Sánchez, Reps.-Elect Abigail Spanberger, Jason Crow, Mikie Sherrill, Andy Kim, Haley Stevens, Joe Cunningham, Max Rose, Jeff Van Drew, Anthony Brindisi and Ben McAdams. NeverNancy Democrats vowed to

"support new leadership because voters in hard-won districts, and across the country, want to see real change in Washington."

The organizers of the Dump Pelosi movement were two white men, Seth Moulton and Tim Ryan who, for appearance sake, proposed replacing a woman with woman. Reps. Karen Bass, Marcia Fudge and Cheri Bustos all were put forward. Pelosi issued the obligatory charges of bigotry, misogyny, and sexism against elected Democrats. The 16 NeverPelosi members represent 12 million citizens, of which more than 6 million are Democratic voters. Pelosi adopted a racist and condescending attitude toward a Fox News reporter who called her out for her lack of transparency and truthfulness in negotiations.

Awan scandal

See also: Awan scandal

An Awan family member - three of which are commonly referred to as 'no show employees' - appeared at one time or another on an estimated 80 House Democrats’ payrolls. Imran worked for dozens of House Democrats as a 'shared employee' providing technical support.

On March 1, 2017, Daily Caller reported members of the Awan family were paid $5 million by Democratic congressmen over several years, many of whom serve on the Intelligence, Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs Committees.

Wasserman Shultz would encourage newly elected members to hire Imran or put his relatives on the payroll with the understanding that Imran was the one who would actually do the work –something not be permitted under House rules.

Sitting House members who paid the Awan's are Karen Bass, Marcia Fudge, Tim Ryan, Jim Costa, Sander M. Levin, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Yvette Clarke, Gregory Meeks, John Sarbanes, Jackie Speier, Diana DeGette, Frederica Wilson, Cedric L. Richmond, David Loebsack, Joyce Beatty, Emanuel Cleaver, Lois Frankel, Daniel Kildee, Tony Cardenas, Michelle Lujan Grisham, Robin Kelly, Katherine Clark, Mark Takano, Julia Brownley, Pete Aguilar, Andre Carson, Joaquin Castro, Ted Deutch, Ted Lieu, Hakeem Jeffries, Kyrsten Sinema and Tammy Duckworth. The Awans had full access to the emails and office computer files of members. Focus of the investigation by the US Capitol Police is an off-site server on which congressional data was loaded.

There are more than 15,000 congressional staff on Capitol Hill; four of the 500 highest-paid House staffers are Awans. Median salary for legislative assistants is $43,000 annually; Imran Awan has collected $1.2 million in salary since 2010, and his brother Abid and wife Hina Alvi were each paid more than $1 million. Imran first came to Capitol Hill in 2004 and Abid joined him in 2005. Imran's wife Hina Alvi was added to the payroll in 2007, while Abid's wife, Natalia Sova, appeared in 2011. In 2014 the youngest brother, Jamal, was added to the payroll in 2014 at the age of 20 with a salary of $160,000, roughly three times the average staff salary.

The brothers spent significant time in Pakistan.

Politico reported Wasserman Schultz and Rep. Gregory Meeks declined to fire Imran, and that both members have a “friendly personal relationship with Awan and his wife, according to multiple sources.”

On May 18, 2017, former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz threatened Capitol police chief for impounding evidence in the Awan investigation (See 2 February 2017). The Awan brothers were IT specialists working for Wasserman Schultz with access to DNC data and for House Democrats on the Intelligence Committee.