Kamala Harris, to enter the White House as Vice President-elect, has brought in a new dawn for the United States with a number of firsts for the United States. Harris’ election in the second-highest office in the US government is a meaningful moment in history.
In her victory speech, Harris shed light on her mother and the generations of women of all races who paved the way for her. “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities,” she said. The election of Harris, for a majority of Americans, that too a woman who is both Indian American and Black represents the first time someone who shares a core aspect of their identity will serve in the second-highest office in government.
Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, pointed out Harris’ work on rights for domestic workers and helping Muslim immigrants get access to legal counsel. Jayapal said Harris understands what it means to be the child of immigrants, what it means to be a person of color seeking racial justice. Lalita Uppala, executive director of the India Association of Western Washington, described Harris as the personification of a country telling the community, ‘you belong here’. “On Vice President-elect’s very capable shoulders rests the stories of Black Americans, Indian Americans, women and first generation Americans,” Uppala said. “When Harris referred to her ‘chitthis’ (Tamil word for a mother’s younger sister), as who she looked up to, that really addressed the strong values she stands for and the diversity she embraces with that.”
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Rita Green, education chair for the NAACP of Alaska, Oregon and Washington, said she knew that one day this would happen. “Black women are the highest-educated population in the country. You don’t hear that; we are always told how we’re less than,” she said. “We are used to being kicked down, but we keep fighting. It also means a lot of pressure is on Kamala, how she acts, the relationships she builds, what she portrays to the public. That’s going to be cast down on Black women and Indian American women too. What she portrays, that’s going to impact a lot of women.”
The New York Times has put it rightly by saying that perhaps more than any other vice president in recent memory, Harris will be carefully scrutinized for her ambitions, a level of attention that is perhaps inevitable for the No. 2 of the oldest incoming No. 1 in history.
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