Congratulations to Kamala Harris, the recently announced Vice Presidential Candidate with Joe Biden for the Democrat party!
Kamala Devi Harris, former prosecutor, former Presidential candidate, and current Senator, is also a part of the mixed-race community, being half Jamaican and half Indian. Growing in Northern California, she grew learning about both her African-American culture and Indian culture, especially by attending a Black Baptist Church and a Hindu temple. She grew up and went on to attend Howard University, a historically black university where she was very involved in school and extracurriculars. She then went on to earn her law degree and became a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California. She then went on to be the Assistant District Attorney of San Francisco and then ran a difficult campaign but successfully became the District Attorney of San Francisco. In early 2011, she won the position of Attorney General of California, becoming the first Jamaican-American and Indian-American to do so. In 2016, she ran for Senator of California and won with 60% of the vote. Throughout her career, she has been an outspoken advocate for the rights of minorities and has done much in their favor.
Although Senator Harris does identify as Black, she has still embraced her Indian culture. Notably, during her presidential campaign, she went to Mindy Kaling’s house, and together they made Indian food, with hopes of drawing more support from Indian voters. Before she was Senator, it wasn’t as widely known of her mixed ancestry, and most of the Indian community was unaware of this before she grew in status. Now, she defines herself as just “American”, which may be the best approach to this. As there become more and more mixed-race leaders, I’m intrigued to see how these people identify themselves to the masses. Will they try to “simplify” their ethnicities to make it “easier” for people they are trying to gain the trust of to understand them? Only time will tell.
Comments