US Vice President, Kamla Harris has given her supporters especially Indians a fresh reason for excitement, a second time in nearly four and a half years.
Kamala made history when she became the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to be inaugurated as Vice President on January 20, 2021.
After US President Joe Biden on Sunday endorsed Kamala’s name as Democratic Presidential nominee opposite former US President Donald Trump, she posted on X, “I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.’’
Kamala Harris is of Jamaican and Indian descent. With 107 days to go until election day (November 5,2024), Indians are exchanging notes on her career and family, once again.
Kamala first ran for president in 2020. She dropped out of the race, citing a lack of funds.
Kamala graduated from Howard University which takes pride in being research-intensive, culturally-diverse historically Black university.
She majored in Political Science and Economics and refers to her time at Howard as her “formative years” where she was introduced to her love of politics.
She has been listed among the iconic graduates of Howard University.
She is a member of a prominent black sorority (Alpha Kappa Alpha).
After her graduation in 1986, she attended the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and earned a law degree in 1989.
Her younger sister, Maya earned her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and her law degree from Stanford.
The 59 year old Vice President has been introduced as ‘ Fighting For The People and Delivering For America, in the biography on the White House website.
Born in Oakland, California, Kamala grew up in a diverse community and a loving extended family.
Her parents, Donald Jasper. Harris and Shyamala Gopalan Harris, were immigrants. She lived the immigrant story, straddling two cultures and communities: Indian and Black.
While her mother was a Tamil cancer researcher, her father was a Jamaican-American professor. Her father, now 85, is professor emeritus at Stanford University.
Her parents divorced when she was only seven years old. Her mother became the primary caregiver and made sure that she and her sister imbibed the Indian and African American cultures.
Kamala’s maternal grandfather, P.V. Gopalan was a civil servant.
“When I was a young girl visiting my grandparents in India, I’d join my grandfather and his buddies on their morning walk along the beach as they would talk about the importance of fighting for democracy and civil rights. Those walks made me who I am today,’’ Kamala said in a post on Instagram where she 15.3 million followers.
Kamala and her sister, Maya, were inspired by their mother, a pioneer in her own right who came to the United States from India at the age of 19 and then received her doctorate the same year that Kamala was born.
Kamala moved to Canada with her mother and sister when she was 12 and completed high school in Quebec.
Her parents were active in the civil rights movement. They instilled in her a commitment to build strong coalitions that fight for the rights and freedoms of all people.
In 2004, Kamala was elected District Attorney of San Francisco where she was a national leader in the movement for LGBTQ+ rights. Six years later, she was elected Attorney General of California where she oversaw the largest state justice department in the country.
In 2017, she was sworn into the United States Senate where she championed legislation to fight hunger, provide rent relief and improve maternal health care.
She has balanced her career well with her family life.
In 2014, she married Douglas Emhoff, a lawyer. Emhoff is the first Jewish spouse of an American Vice President. They have a large blended family that includes their children, Ella and Cole, children from Douglas’ first wife. Both of them call Kamala “Momala”
In an interview, Kamala said that she and Emhoff’s ex-wife Kerstin are “dear friends’’.
On his ‘X’ handle, Douglas has introduced himself with humility as Second Gentleman of the United States. Devoted dad. Proud husband to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Kamala lost her mother to cancer in 2009 but is committed to fulfilling her mother’s advice. “My mother would look at me and she’d say, ‘Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last.’’
Although being the President of the United States is an ambition close to her heart, Kamala said in an interview that “ there is no title or honor on earth I’ ll treasure more than to say I am Shyamala Gopalan Harris daughter.’’
