Kamala Harris has been in the news recently for being selected as the Vice President nominee for the Democrats for the 2020 election in the United States of America.
This is unprecedented because Harris is the first woman of colour and the first South Asian American woman to be chosen for national office by a major political party.
If her running mate, Joe Biden wins the Presidential election in November this year, Harris will become the first woman ever to hold the office of the Vice President of the United States.
But this is not the only distinction that Harris can boast of. She has been a trailblazer, known to break barriers and challenge conventions. In her illustrious career, she has had quite a few firsts. For instance, she was the first woman to hold the position of the top law enforcement official in California – she served as the Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017. Further, she was the first block woman from California to serve in the US Senate. She was also the first South Asian American to become a Senator.
More about Kamala Harris…
Kamala Harris was born on 20th October 1964 in Oakland, California. Her father Donald Harris was a professor of Economics and was of Jamaican descent whereas her mother Shyamala Gopalan was a cancer researcher who had immigrated from India. They both were part of the civil rights movement and Harris has often spoken about how she and her sister Maya grew up in an atmosphere of activism.
Interestingly, her nomination has brought a huge cheer in the Indian and Jamaican community.
After the divorce of her parents when she was seven, Harris moved to Canada with her mother and sister. It was here that she finished her middle and high school.
Harris has, in many public speeches, spoken about her intimate bond with her mother.
“My mother, she raised my sister Maya and me, and she was tough,” Harris said.
“My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters,” Harris later wrote in her autobiography, “and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women.”
Harris attended Howard University in Washington D.C., the very prestigious historically black college. Subsequently, she pursued her studies in law from UC – Hastings College of the Law.
In 2003, she ran for the Office of District Attorney in San Francisco, winning the election and becoming the first black woman in California to hold the post. In 2010, she ran for the Office of Attorney General of California. One of her most notable accomplishments was creating an online portal called Open Justice. This platform made criminal justice data available to the general public, making the police more accountable by ensuring that the public had access to the deaths and injuries in police custody.
In 2016, Harris won her seat in the US Senate. She also ran a campaign for the President but ended it in December 2019. In March 2020, she lent her support to Joe Biden campaign for the President.
Will Harris make history by becoming the first woman to hold the office of the Vice President of the United States? Do let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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