Who is Kamala Harris & why we can’t stop gushing over her?

A Black-Indian American Kamala Harris, 55 made history when she was announced by Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden as his running mate. She became the first Asian-American to get a major presidential ticket.

The selection of Kamla Harris didn’t come as a surprise as the United States is in the midst of reckoning over its history of racial injustice after George Floyd’s incident. The Democrat Party Presidential candidate for the upcoming election, Joe Biden was increasingly pressed to select a non-white woman. Kamala, who became only the second Black woman senator was always the first priority for Joe Biden. Kamala Harris kept a low profile while Joe Biden was making the decision.

Harris emerged as a fierce advocate for social justice and police reform in the Senate, on the airwaves and in the streets, sparring with Republicans in the senate while criticizing the present President of the United States, Donald Trump who hails from the opposition – Republican Party.

Harris has become the first Indian and Asian descent American to run for vice-president. The 55-year-old Democrat leader is also the first African American of a major party and just the 3rd woman to run for that office, after Republican Sarah Palin and Democrat Geraldine Ferraro.

After getting appointed as the running mate, she became the first Indian American woman to run for US vice president ever from both the Republican and Democrat party.

Kamala Harris previous works

Kamala has served as the district attorney in San Francisco. She became Senator from California in the Senate in 2017. She served on the Select Committee on Intelligence, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Committee on the Budget and the Committee on the Judiciary.

Academics

Kamala grew up in Oakland, United States and earned an undergraduate degree from Howard University. She later pursued a law degree from the University of California, Hastings. Later, she joined Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and finally became the district attorney in 2003.

India connection of Kamla Harris

Kamala Harris is the daughter of Indian mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris from Chennai, a cancer researcher who died in 2009, and Jamaican father, Donald Harris, who is a teacher at Stanford University. The parents separated when Kamala and her sister Maya Harris were very young.

Kamala’s mother Shyamala gave her and her sister a Sanskrit name to connect their identity with the Indian heritage. Kamala Harris is believed to be highly influenced by her mother.

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