Kamala Harris on Saturday made history by becoming the first woman, first Black American and first Asian American to clinch the second-highest office United States. The trailblazer lady, 56 is widely considered to earn a Democratic Party nomination in 2024 if Biden turning 78 in January refused to seek a second term in White House. Kamala has though not entertained any such speculation. The California senator in the past and in another first has served as San Francisco’s first female district attorney and was later became California’s first woman of color to become attorney general.
Her background in criminal justice will certainly help Biden administration to tackle the racial inequality and reform the policing in United States roiled by protests earlier in 2020. The Biden deputy is also expected to be a top adviser on judicial nominations.
The vice-president elect has also vowed to reform the criminal justice system in US, saying as she did in a town hall event last year that she had worked her whole career “to reform the criminal justice system with the understanding that it is deeply flawed and in need of repair”.
Born to an Indian mother and a father form Jamaica, Kamala who has a track-record of shattering glass ceilings set her sights to become the first woman US President when she competed against Joe Biden and others for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
“Harris always made the most sense as a running mate for Biden because she had the ability to help him unify the Democratic coalition across racial and generational lines and was able to spike base enthusiasm,” said Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist who worked with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Truly a team player, Harris despite being instrumental in gathering funds for Democratic nominee Biden in closing months of campaign, embraced a low-profile role despite being popular among the Democratic camp and party donors.
Kamala praised Biden
She made impassioned case of Biden against Trump, saying:
“Joe and I were raised in a very similar way,” Harris said of Biden at her October debate against Vice President Mike Pence. “We were raised with values that are about hard work, about the value and the dignity of public service and about the importance of fighting for the dignity of all people.”
In a speech on Saturday night in Wilmington, Delaware, she introduced President-elect and thanked Black women, saying they are “too often overlooked, but so often prove that they are the backbone of our democracy.”
“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” Harris said. “Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”
“And to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before. And we will applaud you every step of the way,” she said.
Sher acknowledged a new generation of women who cast their ballots in 2020 and remembered her mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris who moved to US from her homeland India at a young age.
“When she came here when was 19, she could not have imagined this moment,” Harris said of her mother, who died in 2009. “But she believed in an America where moments like this are possible.”
“I’m thinking about her and about the generations of women — Black women, Asian, White, Latina and Native American women — throughout our nation’s history who have paved the way for this moment tonight,” she said. “Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality, liberty and justice for all, including the Black women, who are too often overlooked, but so often prove that they are the backbone of our democracy.”
Remembering Suffragettes
She donned a white suit to remember and pay respects to suffragettes for the struggle for constitutional right to vote.
“Tonight, I reflect on their struggle, their determination, and the strength of their vision to see what can be, unburdened by what has been. And I stand on their shoulders,” Harris said. “And what a testament it is to Joe’s character that he had the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exist in our country and select a woman as his vice president.”
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