Yesterday’s election win celebrates Senator Kamala Harris as the first female – and first woman of colour – to be elected Vice President of the United States.
She and incoming President Joe Biden have won against President Donald Trump and they will be sworn in on 20 January 2021. This year’s election-win spells huge for much-needed racial equality not just in the US, but across the globe.
As the daughter of immigrants, this election win sends a strong message to girls/women of colour about future possibilities, pointed out Harris. “What a testament to Joe’s Character; that he had the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exists in our country, and select a woman as his Vice President,” stated Harris. “But while I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees this is a country of possibilities. And to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, out country has sent you a clear message. Dream with ambition. Lead with conviction. And see yourself in the way others may not simply because they’ve never seen it before. But know that we will applaud you every step of the way.”
RACIAL EQUALITY ALLY
Biden’s selection of Harris as his Vice President role was groundbreaking not only for women, but women of colour. It also raises his profile as a strong ally for racial equality and change in the US. In fact, her Black colleague Senator Cory Booker, who is also working hard to stamp out inequality in the US, pointed out that her “very presence makes the institution more accessible to more people”.
As the new US Vice President, Harris will play a major role in shaping policies and priorities, alongside Biden sending a strong message about the new possibilities for both women and people of colour in the US as the nation grapples with racial inequality. During the campaign, Harris has been vocal about the need to dismantle systematic racism in the US police forces, but also across society and organisations. Many are hoping that she will live up to her promise and achieve just that.
DIVERSE BACKGROUND
This is not the first time Kamala Harris has made history. In 2003, Harris won her first election in 2003 and became San Francisco’s district attorney. In 2010, she became the first Black woman to serve as California’s attorney general, before she became the first South Asian to serve as a US senator in history in 2016. Harris, also the California senator, is the daughter of Jamaican father and an Indian mother.
Her mother Shyamala Gopalan emigrated to the US back in the 1950s from India at 19 to pursue her graduate studies and her dream of curing cancer. She met Donald Harris who had come from Jamaica to study economics during her studies at the University of California Berkeley. “They fell in love in that most American way – while marching together for justice in the civil rights movement of the 1960s,” Harris said. Harris’ mother died of cancer in 2009. Her father, Donald Harris, is a professor of economics at Stanford University. Her parents divorced when Harris and her sister were children.
INSPIRING ROLE MODEL
Harris attributes her rise to the top to her mother’s profound influence. As a South Asian and Black woman in an overwhelmingly White political landscape, she often recalls her mother’s advice: “Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last.”
Although Hilary Clinton was first woman to break the glass ceiling for women politics at this level, Harris is actually the first woman of colour to have shattered the racial barrier for many. Today, she’s an inspiring role model for all women and people of all colour, demonstrating that “dreaming with ambition” and “leading with conviction” eventually pays off.
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